Autompne

eighteen

EIGHTEEN

I propped my feet up on the seat in front of me, glad that the plane wasn't crowded. I had my essentials in my bag and I kept them close. I wasn't excited for our five-hour flight but I was excited for what I would get to experience after those five hours. It was the day I finally got to fulfill my Make a Wish Foundation wish and I'd picked Autumn to come with me.

My mom decided to stay home and she claimed that it was to watch over our house and get a bit more time for herself but I knew it was because she wanted Autumn and I to be alone, she wanted us to make up. I could see it in her eyes—she was a terrible liar. Autumn was still mad at me but at least she didn’t say no when I asked her to come with me. It was part of my wish and even though she had the option to say no, I felt like she said yes because she pitied me. That made me upset.

The plane ride was boring because all we did was listen to music and sleep. I was mostly excited about showing Autumn the new music I spent all night downloading. Most of the songs were apology kind of songs because I always believed that music could be used as a way to speak to someone. It was my way of speaking. I apologized before we left for our flight and I kept apologizing through a whole playlist of songs. Autumn didn't say anything; she just smiled and kept listening. Halfway through the playlist, she fell asleep and I was kind of upset she didn't get to listen to the last song—it wasn't an apology song.

When we landed, I grabbed Autumn's hand and rushed to get our bags and then I saw it. A magical-looking land covered in white and suddenly it felt real. My wish was to see snow for the very first time. It was a small, simple wish but one that I'd dreamed of for so long. The only thing that separated me from making that dream come true was the large floor-to-ceiling window. This was it, I thought.

I was mad about the fact that we had to wait till we got to our hotel to do anything. Granted, I did go out and see the snow in person but it felt like I was watching a show on TV or looking at pictures. The ride to the hotel wasn't bad but I was sure that I wouldn't be sitting down for a couple of hours after we got to the hotel. My butt hurt so much from sitting and I never thought that it was possible.

Barrow, Alaska was beautiful. That was all I had to say. A simple twenty-minute ride made me fall in love with the city. It wasn't all because of the snow though, it still looked beautiful and I made a mental note to go to some places that I caught sight of on our way. After the checking in process was done, we got to our room—we were going to share a room, yes, but that didn't mean we were going to share a bed which was a bummer because in a place as cold as Barrow, I kind of hoped I'd have someone to snuggle with. I placed our suitcases near the bed and grabbed Autumn's hand.

"Let's go outside," I said and she nodded, following me outside of the hotel. It took us a while to find a place covered with a huge amount of snow. Most places were covered in snow but it wasn't enough to make snowballs.

We found a park, just ten minutes away from the hotel, and we rushed to a huge pile of snow. I hesitated for a few seconds. I took a step forward and felt my feet literally dip in the snow, causing a crunching sound to be heard. Autumn stood behind me watching me with an expression that I couldn't quite figure out. I, somehow, tumbled over a twig and landed flat on my butt. Gosh, did it really have to happen here?

Autumn burst out laughing and sat next to me, I didn't realize that I'd touched the snow with my hands until I felt them get cold. I grabbed a bit of snow in one hand and started shaping it into a ball. It felt nice in my hand and I felt really, really happy. I finally did it. Suddenly, I felt a cold material hit my face with strong force and I knew that it had to be a snowball that Autumn threw at me. Oh, it's on.

I dug my fingers deeper into the snow, pulling up a big amount and I started shaping it into snowballs, throwing one after the other at Autumn. She did the same thing until we both decided to quit and we just lay down next to each other. It was cold but it was nice. Our hands clung to each other's and we stayed there until it got too cold out. For the first time I felt myself not think about anything else and really enjoy in the moment. I was genuinely happy and it felt weird because I honestly almost forgot what it felt like.