Theories of Global Warming

~Lee~

 I stared at the ashes of my friend's sizzling on the sidewalk. They were gone, and I watched them burn.

"Lee!" a young girl screeched joyfully. I turned around to see a small, third grade girl with snow colored hair that went down to her waist, skipping towards me, a giant boxy smile plastered onto her face.

Once she approached me, I realized it was Arum when she was eight years old. Her eyes, while bright with hope, had dark bags underneath them. Back then, she didn't know how to deal with her mental state, which caused insomnia.

"Lee, do you want to go to the park with us? Provence and Terry are going too," she exclaimed, looking at me as if I was still the same age as her.

Before I got the chance to respond, she disappeared. My vision shifted to Provence's back yard... But it seemed different. It was coated with snow, and her swing set was gone.

In front of me stood Arum. This time, she seemed older and a couple feet taller. Her once long hair was cut down a bit above her shoulders. Her bare toes were squirming in the snow as she looked up at me and smiled.

"Guess what, Lee? It's snowing!" Arum said in amazement. I nodded slowly, unsure of what had just happened. "It's not hot anymore," her voice dropped to a monotone drawl for half a second. She covered her mouth.

"Uh... Arum?" I walked closer to her and hovered my hand over her shoulder. My eyes widened when I realized that the snow that was dropping was almost camouflaged by her skin. I wasn't sure why I was so surprised. She was albino afterall.... But I never realized how white she actually was. This sounds typical, but Arum was like snow white, she was actually as white as snow. In fact, she put that Disney princess to shame.

"You guys still won't live a happy life," she sighed. I stood and waited for her to elaborate. "The air may be starting to cool but that doesn't mean everything. Provence knows that. You all know that. This is just a sign it's getting worse."

We just watched each other for awhile until she waved and sunk into the ground.

***

I opened my eyes to see Provence bursting into my room, out of breath. She still was dressed in her blue pajama pants and purple tank top.

"Get up," she huffed, tossing my covers off of me, "there's a tornado watch."

"How do you know that? There have been no alarms yet," I yawned, throwing my legs over the side of the rickety bed.

"When hot and cold air mix, there's a tornado," Provence started to explain, "I got suspicious and checked the local news," she shrugged.

"Do we have to go in the basement?" I drawled, "the alarms haven't even sounded yet."

"We're not going in the basement, Lee."