The Forgotten Ones

Chapter 30: Cold Feet

Sunday...
        10:03 am.

  The warmth of his breath appeared before him with each exhale; the small clouds disappering in an instant. The chilly air became increasingly harder to take in, but he did so anyway, again and again for an hour. His nose had grown numb at the tip with his nostrils burning from the unforgiving temperature. His hands were one with the clumps of snow in his palms, swollen as if they had lost their ability to ever produce heat again. He should have been wearing gloves, but he didn't know better. Elias had never experienced weather such as this and he never thought in a million years he'd ever be building a snowman.

  It was definitely an ugly one--nothing like the ones he'd seen in the movies. The three pieces were misfigured, and no matter how much he tried to smooth things out, the poor thing remained unsightly. Though Elias didn't care. Ava had seemed to be enjoying herself either way and that was all that mattered to him.

"...and then Tyler said he was bringing juice. So I wanted to bring the candy, but Milly said she wanted to bring candy too." Ava ranted. "We both can't bring candy!"

"Really?" Elias said, adding another lump of snow to the base of the snowman.

"Yeah! So I told Miss A that I would bring cookies. But then Milly said she wanted to bring cookies!" She crossed her arms. "I don't even want to go to the party anymore."

"Who cares about Milly? Don't let her stop your fun Ava. Go and have a good time." Elias smoothed out the sides; ignoring the icy numbness in his fingers.

"But Miss A said we have to share with everyone." She pouted. "I don't want to share my candy with Milly."

"Well how about this." Elias shivered through a chuckle. "You get Jolly Ranchers and only give Milly the purple ones, hm?"

"Oh, yes! I hate the purple ones!" Ava hopped.

"Don't I know it." Elias shook his head, taking out his phone. Somehow he was able to maneuver his stiffened fingers, checking the time with a sigh. It had been the fifth time he'd had done so in the last ten minutes, and Ava took note. Her small frame sheepishly leaned from behind the otherside of the snowman, rubbing her flushed nose with her mitten. Her large brown eyes watched her brother silently for a while before asking softly,

"Do you have to go?"

Elias looked up at her. Her eyes held a dejected stare on him, making him quickly tuck his phone away.

"Ava-"

"Can't you stay with us today?" She pleaded. "I'm making snowflake cookies with mommy and daddy. I want you to be here too. You can go tomorrow, okay?"

"I'm afraid that's not how things work, Princess." Elias gave a small smirk. "I have to be there by eleven. I have alot to do today. I would've left by now, but I think they're running a little late."

"So when mommy and daddy come you have to go?" She asked disappointed, looking up at him in a pout.

"Hey, I'm not going to be gone forever, come on. Don't give me those eyes." Elias rubbed the top of her head. "I don't know how long it'll take but I'll be back. And I expect some delicious cookies when I do, yeah?" He rose a brow as the smile appeared on her face at that.

"Yeah." She twisted. "The best."

Taking a step back, Ava examined the snowman before saying, "He's missing something."