We Can Love Again

New Love

They were making all the kids at the school go home early due to the freak snow storm. To keep things from getting absolutely chaotic, the teachers were instructed to keep all their students in their respective classrooms until their parents came to get them. The roads were said to be getting very hazardous though, so not many parents were able to make it all the way to the school.

Henry was fairly used to this ordeal- he wasn't scared. Maine was unpredictable like this on a regular basis during the end of winter. He just did what he always did, which was talk to his friends about video games, occasionally pulling out his Nintendo and playing something mindless. Still, this was Roland's first time in a situation like this. Henry asked his teacher if he could go see how he was doing, but she told him that nobody could leave, not without a parent. So he sat back down at his desk, trying to take his mind off his little brother.

After an hour or so passed, about three quarters of his classmates had left with their mom or dad. Henry didn't want to start worrying, but he did anyways. His mother always came and got him as soon as she could- he told himself the roads were probably really bad. Then he remembered that his mom couldn't drive. But he had another mother and two fathers available to pick him up too; where were they?

Through the only window in the classroom, all that could be seen was pure white. Henry couldn't remember the last time he had seen the weather so horrendous. The classroom was beginning to get boring, mostly because all of his friends had left. Their moms offered to take Henry home, but he shook his head and told him that his mom was coming. He worried about Roland more and more as he sat there in his desk, wondering how he was handling all of it.

His teacher finally offered him her cellphone after there were but five kids left in the room. Thankfully, he had memorized all of his family member's numbers. Some of the calls went through, and others only had static on the other end. But none of them answered.

"They're probably just stuck on the road..." He attempted, though that excuse was getting old.

His teacher didn't know what to say, so she gave him a comforting smile and went back to grading papers. Henry set his head down on his desk, feeling something form at the pit of his stomach- maybe it was just anxiety- but it didn't feel good at all. The boy stayed like this until he heard a rushed voice call out his name.

Popping his head up, he was surprised to see none other than Mother Superior standing at the door, her baby blue shawl speckled with snow.

"Mother Superior... What are you doing here?" Henry asked, "did my mom send you to pick me and Roland up?"

Standing up and fetching his backpack, he made his way to her, only to see urgency in her face.

"Henry... We got a call around an hour ago from Emma- your mom- saying that your mother started having labor contractions. That's all we know. She's having the baby, if she hasn't already."

The twelve year old's face paled substantially. "What do you mean you don't know? Isn't she at the hospital now?"

Blue glanced down at the boy sympathetically. "The call came from Granny's diner. They weren't at the hospital when I was there twenty minutes ago, so as far as we know they're still at the diner. The traffic is all jammed up outside Henry, nobody's been able to drive in this storm. There isn't any way to get her to the hospital-"

"There has to be a way!" Henry exclaimed, panic filling his vision, "she had to be okay, so does my sister!"

"I know, I know, we're doing everything we can do get down there." She told him, putting her hands firmly on his shoulders. She had no intentions of telling him that there was no possible way to get there, except by walking.