Snow Falls

Chapter One: That Cold Winters Night

It was a cold winters night, as I looked out the window of my bedroom, I saw the snow falling heavily. Papa was not yet home, and my mama was waiting patiently by the fire that was keeping us from freezing to death. We are poor, and all we had was each other, papa, mama, my little sister Eliza and I. I was watching outside when we heard a bang on the old wooden door. I saw my mama jump at the sound before quickly getting up to open it. Her body was small and frail, and the years of being poor had not been kind to her. When she opened the door, the freezing wind came wooshing through our small home with a vengeance, as if it were upset from being left outside. Our fire flicked wildly at the breeze, threatening to burn out. My mama seemed surprised to see a man that was not my papa at our door but quickly ushered him inside before the wind could really do any more damage to our fire. The man was large and had a cap in his hands as his face sank. My mother seemed panicked as they talked. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he made her cry, and then he left a coin pouch on the small table before leaving without another word. After a while, I saw my mama stand up from where she had fallen in a heap of despair and walked over to where my sister and I slept. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. She stood over us for a moment before leaning down and kissing each of our heads. As she smoothed our hair back as she leaned down and whispered in our ears, ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’ I then felt her lean back, and counted the footsteps she took away from our beds. I heard the jingle of the coin pouch that had been placed on the table, I felt the cold wind burst through again as she opened the door. I heard it shut and I remember lying awake all night until sunlight poured through our tiny window, and she didn’t come back. I never saw our mama or papa again.