The Ghosts of Melbrew [1/12]

Chapter 17) Footprints in Snow

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[ Monday, November 28th, 2016 ]

          “I didn’t think that it would snow so early!” I said to Cameron as I caught him on my walk to school, first day back from a short Thanksgiving break. The streets were already sprinkled with salt, as a blanket of white covered the grounds in an inch of cold snow.

          “Yeah.” He said, slight clouds of his breath could be seen in the air, “Sometimes it’s early, and sometimes it’s late… though I suppose that’s just how the weather works. For a first snowfall, it’s pretty decent.”

          “I’ll say,” I said, gripping my dark purple coat as the chilled wind blew past us in a whistle. It blew my hood off of my head, causing my hair to fly around. I took my hair and put it in a quick side braid, and flipped my hood up again, using my hands to hold it in place. My face was freezing, and I wished that I had some kind of mask I could wear to heat my face.

          “It’s a good thing that we explored around last week. Imagine how cold it would’ve been underground if we did it now instead! And travelling through the woods with all the snow! I don’t even know if we’d be able to find it!” He said.

          Cameron wasn’t dressed too differently to how he usually was; he was pretty set and stone in his sense of style, no matter the weather. He wore black skinny jeans, black winter boots, a thick black coat, and one black glove, as he couldn't wear one on his broken hand. His old bright green hair was now a dark green, which matched his eyes, he must’ve re-dyed it the night before. He smiled at the cold, and his cheeks turned red as the wind nipped his face. Accompanied by his piercings and eyeliner, he was most emo teens’ fashion dream.

          When we entered the school it was still rather cold, the heating system wasn’t the best there. Cameron put his gloved hand to his face to try and warm it, and I followed him through the halls to Dominik’s homeroom. We sat in two free seats in front of him.

          “Oh, you brought Emmy this time!” He said, lifting his eyes from his book. He placed a little string marker in it before closing it.

          “Yup. Ran into her this mornin’. The cold really hit hard last night.” Cameron said, taking off his coat.

          I looked at Dominik. He too had winter boots, dark blue jeans, and a thick red coat. It was heating up a bit, so we joined Cameron in taking off our coats. We all laughed when we saw we were all three wearing slim long sleeve black turtlenecks.

          “Hey guys, I like your style!” I said.

          “Great minds think alike!” Cameron said.

          But then I realized something, "...Hey, wait a minute! You two live at the same place! How is Dominik already at school?"

          "He does that sometimes," Cameron said, "Man won't get up at 9:00 for an exploration, but will get up at 5:30 to get to school by 7:00. He’s the REAL madman, not me!”

         "I've been here since 7:12". Dominik said. I checked the clock on my phone.

         "It's 7:43! Why?!" I exclaimed.

         "I like sitting in the room and reading. I could do it at home, but then I stress about getting to school on time. If I get to school early to read, then I don’t have to worry about checking the time and breaking my focus!"

          “Damn, that’s actually smart.” I said, “I respect that.”

          A few minutes passed as we chatted, and the bell dinged to signal students to their homerooms, so Cameron and I left. When I reunited with the pair in our computer class, Cameron was about to go off on one of his crazy rants. What brought it on? No clue.