Blizzard Spirit

3- The Blizzard

Morning came to Anchorage, Alaska, and I crept to my clothes and put on the warmest shirt I found. Thank goodness Benjie bought those parkas, I have absolutely no idea how I could survive one minute out here without it. As I put it on, mom and Benjie woke up and noticed too, how cold it was. The thermometer measured 45 degrees.

When we walked out of the room, Inuit and normal Americans laughed at our weakness to the cold. "Aye, out der' is only four-tee degrees lad. Tis' warmest weather in a long time." Said a scruffy man, directly to Benjie. He was supposed to be the toughest of the bunch, but he didn't rise up to be what I thought. Though, like I did predict, coming to Alaska with the dramatic weather change did take a toll on us. We could barely move the whole day captivating ourselves to the room we rented. Outside our lonesome window laid a beautiful landscape I wished I could explore for myself. I tip-toed with my winter boots on to the diner on the other side of the road. The snow melted over-night which uncovered the little greens of the ground. It was supposed to be spring, and covered in flowers, but I knew I was unfamiliar to this area.

Off in the distance I heard a howl. 'Aroooo!' then another in perfect harmony "Arooo!" It send chills down my spine. I could tell whatever they were communicating with the other wolves wasn't good, I just felt it deep down.

As I entered the diner, a lady with a sweet smile greeted me. "Hey girly, would you like a cup of cocoa? Coffee? Where ya from?" She could obviously tell I wasn't from anywhere around here. Almost like a whole world away it felt like. "Hi, I would like some cocoa and a turkey sandwich." She smiled again with her teeth and I listened to the rumble of the snow machine outside. "Where ya from again girly?" I thought about what I was going to say, but I just stuck on the truth, "Ridgecrest, California. I arrived here yesterday at noon. It's like opposite universes here and there." She laughed and brought me my food. "California, huh? I wanted to go there once, they have some really pretty mountains down there." I had no idea. I've lived in California all my life, and I didn't even know they had mountains. "Thanks, yeah, I love California. I was kinda forced to be brought here. My stepdad wanted to." I stirred my cocoa and drenched my face with the warm steam. "Forced? You didn't want to come to beautiful Alaska? Girly, this place is magical." She left with a smirk. I'm starting to feel everyone's not on my side anymore.

After I left the diner and had nothing else to do, I decided to walk around town and get used to the cold. The scruffy man did say this was the warmest weather he'd seen. I watched little boys play with dogs that seemed oddly similar by the looks of wolves. I was surprised, but impressed all the more. The city consisted mainly of the airport, lots and lots of small houses and cabins and little quaint stores. It was kind of nice here. Everything so simple and small. The sky was clear again, but this time I wasn't homesick like before, I felt strangely enough, at home. It scared me, how I can change from hating the cold to dreaming of it like it was the Bahamas, I couldn't describe in fine detail what it was like, but it surely was similar to something supernatural.

I heard again the howling of the wolves, this time it was a reminder of what he warned before. I can't decode all of what he said, but I knew in my mind what he was trying to get across. My big fluffy parka comforted me all through my walk. My legs were stiff from all the driving and flying. I remembered that I was going to get on yet another plane to our remote cabin. So remote, it was fifty miles from the smallest of towns is what Benjie told me and mom. I hoped it would give me some sort of space from the real world, like a temporary veil. That reminded me again of Katie's message. I had to answer somehow, not even the worst of friends would leave an apology hanging. I recalled the time me and Katie spent together. I was almost always at her house after school. We met each other in fifth grade onward, which meant we have known each other for five years. I sighed, I knew I still liked Katie deep down and that what she did wasn't her fault.