I woke up to the sound of my dog scratching at my door. Slowly, I got out of bed and made my way to the window. As I looked through the frost covered window-pane I was filled with a sense of excitement. "Yes!" I exclaimed. "Today will definitely be a snow day." I raced down the stairs only to find that I was the only one awake. "Well, I guess I should check the school closings." I rummaged around for the remote, and turned on the T.V. I waited for the screen to come up, but it remained completely black. I tried to turn it on again, but nothing happened. "Huh, I guess the batteries are dead." Right as I turned around to grab some more, the T.V. turned on. "Okay, I guess it was just a delayed response." I sat on the couch and waited for an image to appear, but nothing happened. The only thing on the screen was an eerie swirling gray mist. It had a hypnotic effect to it; like I was being dragged into the screen.
Suddenly, an image started to appear. A little girl dressed in olive green slowly walked into the picture. She looked to be around the age of eight, and she seemed to be from a very wealthy family. Her dress was very ornate, and very old-fashioned. When she looked up I couldn't help but gasp in shock. Her eyes were blood-shot, and she had a terrible gash on her forehead. She was holding a doll in her right hand. I looked at the doll, and noticed a small golden key tied around it's neck. The key was attached to a blood red chord. All of a sudden the girl began to talk, "Come play with me Jenna." I shuddered. How could she know my name? "We can have lot's of fun together; I need someone to keep me company Jenna." I wanted to scream, but I felt as though I were in a trance. One by one the lights in my house started to break until the only one left was in the living room. "Come play with me Jenna," the little girl repeated. I closed my eyes, now too afraid to keep them open. Then the last light broke, along with the television.
When I finally opened my eyes, I was in my room. "It was all a dream. It was all just a dream!" I took a deep breath and looked up at my skylight. It was covered in snow. "Well, I guess the snow wasn't a dream." I climbed out of bed and walked over to my dresser, which was still only half assembled. My mom and I were in the middle of getting everything sorted after our big move from Texas to Vermont. I liked the snow, but I can't say that I liked much of anything else here. There was barely anything to do, and most of the kids had known each other since kindergarten.
I got dressed, and walked downstairs into my kitchen. My mom was in front of the stove making pancakes. "Hey sweetie, are you ready for your first formal day of school at Jefferson High?" "Oh yeah mom, I can't wait to be the only new kid. Not to mention I'm a Junior, so by the time I make any real friends it will be time for graduation." My mom gave me a stern look and handed me my pancakes. "Don't start with me Jenna. You know this move hasn't been easy for either of us. Especially after the accident." I quickly interrupted, "Oh my gosh I'm going to be late for school! Bye mom, love you!" With that I grabbed my backpack and ran out the door.
I hated it when she brought up the accident. That night is something I never want to think about, let alone talk about. All the screaming, confusion, and feeling completely helpless was something I could never forget. No matter how hard I tried. The images of what happened would always flash through my mind, and make me go back to that moment. The moment that everything changed. "I need to keep my thoughts positive." I said to myself. "If I am ever going to survive here I need to leave everything that happened in Texas behind."
As I continued walking I noticed that I was approaching the school. It was an old building, but it had been taken care of over the years. Suddenly it started to snow again. I looked up at the sky, and saw a bird soaring through the air. "Why can't I be like you? Why can't I be free to soar through the air? Away from all of my pain and confusion." I then closed my eyes and let the snow fall on to my face. I put my arms out and began to twirl. I kept twirling until the only thing I could think about was the cold air on my face, and the snow crunching beneath my feet. I was beginning to feel dizzy, but I didn't care. Then all of a sudden my legs gave out and I collapsed into the snow. I laid there, and just stared up at the sky. Watching the snow fall all around me, and then I began to make snow angels. I decided that I would be happy if I never moved from this spot; it was just so peaceful.
"Excuse me." I froze. "I believe you are in my way." I sat up and saw a gorgeous boy looking at me. He had light blue eyes and jet black hair. He was giving me an intense stare, but I could also see kindness portrayed on his face. I immediately stood up and started to brush the snow off of my clothes. I could already feel myself turning red. "I'm sorry, I was just making snow angels." Yeah, like that helped your case, I thought to myself. I looked up again and saw a smirk on his face. "It's totally not okay." He said jokingly. "I could have been seriously injured if I had tripped over you." I realised that I had been laying in the middle of the sidewalk. "Yeah, I should probably be more careful of where I decide to lay down next time. Not that I randomly lay down to make snow angels all the time, or just randomly lay down." Keep talking Jenna, you are doing great. I quickly tried to change the subject. "So anyway, I'm Jenna. What's your name?"
"It's nice to meet you Jenna, and I'm Colin. I don't think I have ever seen you around here before." Oh yeah, I forgot this was a very small town. "Yeah I moved here from Texas, but I don't have a Southern accent because both of my parents are from the North. I have been home-schooled most of my life, so I was never really exposed to strong Southern accents." I was beginning to ramble.
"Oh well that's cool. Since we are almost to the school, you might as well walk with me the rest of the way. We wouldn't want you randomly laying down and causing an accident now would we?" His half smile almost killed me. "No we wouldn't want that." I said maybe a little to cheerfully. We then proceeded to walk to the school.
