Mini Short Stories: 2020 Volume 1

Snow

I couldn’t breathe. It was everywhere and suffocating me. I kept trying to cough it out, but it was so cold and tiny. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think except for the realisation that I could really die. I gasped my last breath and woke up suddenly out of the nightmare.

Disorientation made me stay in bed. The dream was weird and this place was new. I stretched to get some circulation going and my memory began functioning again. It was January and it was snowing. I was not buried under it, but tucked away under a few thick blankets while still able to watch the snow fall heavily outdoors. I was cold despite the heater being turned on, but then I remembered the hall greeter admit that the heating was being fixed. It was January in Vancouver, Canada and I had just started my first semester at the University of British Columbia.

I had spent my last Christmas and Old Year’s in Trinidad. Family and friends had done their best to make it memorable. I had joked and laughed in all the parties and even on the way to the airport. I nearly bawled on the flight overcome with homesickness. Yes, all six feet of me was ready to get them to turn back the plane as a strange combination of terror and sickly-sweet anticipation overrode me. 

Still, I had made it all the way here. I had checked in at administration and gotten access to the dormitory. Then there were campus tours and competitions plus groups to sign up and informational sessions about my major in Biology and Art. I distracted and exhausted myself well, but I didn’t need to be a Psych major to understand that I still missed home. I troubled me to admit that I missed my overprotective mother and my father who cracked stale jokes. Now I was up at an ungodly hour, very cold and a little lonely. That nightmare had made sleep too uncomfortable.

I went to the dorm lounge and mostly international students were hanging around looking overwhelmed. I suppose that I looked the same. I chatted with a group of 6 other students. Although each of us were from different countries and continents, this new experience of being away from home by ourselves for the first time created a bond that would last our entire lives.

However, we didn’t know that yet. We were just interested in sharing a warm cup of chocolate, reminiscing on the past and pondering about our futures. Despite the new environment our future was of our own making. All we needed to do was keep moving forward to accept it. That’s what we did.

•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•¤•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•¤•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•
Welcome back!

Snow is deadly in dreams apparently. 😅.

Have you experienced snow before?

This character really misses his family and home despite his opportunity to attend college overseas.

Would you look forward to studying overseas? Or would you be too homesick?

Comment💬. Share🤝. Follow.👀
▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•¤•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•¤•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•▪︎•