she's always a woman

o n e

"frosty the snowman, was alive as he could be, and the kids all say he could laugh and play just the same as you and me!" i sang as my small skates glided over the ice.

a smile grew on my face as snow lightly fell to the cloud-like ground.

i giggled and flew along the sides of the frozen pond just as the sun began to melt its way into a cotton candy illusion.

glancing over to the bench that stood beside the ice, i saw my father. his hands were cupping each other as a look of melancholy stained his usual, joyful face.

"daddy!" i giggled and made my way over to him. "come play with me, daddy!"

"dianna, sweetheart, come here." he said in a deep, serious tone.

he latched onto my hands and kneeled down to my dainty height.

"come skate with me, daddy!" i whispered and placed my forehead against his, allowing a grin to be plastered on my face.

his eyes brimmed with tears as he choked on his words. his cheeks blushed as his hand reached up to rub his scruff.

"daddy... are you ok?"

my youthful smile soon faded.

"dianna, honey, when mommy was driving home from the rink this afternoon... well," my father's voice stuttered as he bit his lip. "well a mean man bumped mommy's car with his truck."

"is mommy ok?" i murmured.

he look at me as his lips trembled.

"no, dianna. no. mommy isn't coming home anymore."

my body flung upwards as my eyes rapidly opened.

sweat dripped down my forehead and spine. my lips continued its quivering as my breath hitched. my hands reached up to my eyes as i began brutally rubbing the sleep out of them.

my window was pitch black with no signs of the rising sun. it was still early.

knocks against my bedroom door interrupted my actions.

"come in." i groaned and plunged my body back into the white blankets charted on my bed.

"come on, get up. we've gotta be to the rink in a half hour." my father stated whilst opening the door.

"what time is it?"

"5:30. i've got an a.m. practice with the boys at seven and wanna stop by the credit union before. let's go."

i moaned as he exited my room.

i huffed and dragged myself to my closet, grabbing random clothing off of the cluttered floors.

the wintry air from outside traveled in through a crack in the window and hit my nude body as i undressed, causing goosebumps to spread onto my curved figure.

i placed a cropped sweater painted in baby blue over my torso following a pair of light gray adidas originals. fixing a nike baseball cap on my bedhead, i threw on my white converse and grabbed some mascara and lip gloss off of my vanity.

"dianna, come on!" my father yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"i'm coming!"

i situated the strands of hair in front of my face and ran downstairs as my father was exiting the garage door.