A Year of Winter

fifteen

January 14th, 2013

Well into the second week of January, I still hadn’t heard a word from Winter. 

Her attendance at school was normally sporadic, and at times she disappeared for days. Though, she’d never quite disappeared for a week straight. And while I knew her carefree nature quite well, it still unnerved me that she might be off somewhere, getting in trouble or being put in danger. 

Her inbox must’ve been flooded with my texts from the past few days. I scrolled through my unanswered sent messages, finding ones dating back from the winter break.

‘I even haven’t read the next few chapters of The Decampment. Looks like you’re beating me.’ [Sent 12/31/12 at 10:32 AM]

‘Happy New Year, Winter! I’ll try not to get too drunk.’ [Sent 1/1/13 at 12:01 AM]

‘Do you want to have a book club session soon? I’m far too behind you at this point to prove how literarily superior I am to you. I should fix that ASAP.’ [Sent 1/3/13 at 11:21 AM]

‘Winter, you there?’ [Sent 1/4/13 at 3:23 PM]

‘Just so you know, I’m eating pancakes right now.’ [Sent 1/6/13 at 9:12 AM]

‘Are you coming to school today?’ [Sent 1/7/13 at 6:30 AM]

‘Winter, we need to talk. As soon as possible. And you need to start answering my texts, I’m getting worried.’ [Sent 1/7/13 at 2:12 PM]

‘Will you be here at all this week? We need to talk about something.’ [Sent 1/8/13 at 8:15 AM]

‘Winter, are you alright?’ [Sent 1/8/13 at 3:01 PM]

‘Can you call me?’ [Sent 1/11/13 at 10:51 PM]

‘Winter?’ [Sent 1/13/13 at 12:31 PM]

‘Please?’ [Sent 1/13/13 at 12:32 PM]

I closed my phone, feeling my nerves creep back up on me yet again as my mind raced, the endless possibilities digging frightened thoughts into my brain. I didn’t know what to do, or who to talk to. Neither Andrew nor Noelle cared about what happened to her, and Hattie was too taken with her own life to listen to the problems in mine.

The day passed as usual; I went to each of my classes, and in lunch, sat with Tyrone instead of Noelle and Andrew. After the whole fiasco with Noelle, it was getting increasingly difficult to be around her and Andrew at the same time, where I felt both of their judgmental stares on me at once.

Plus, at least Tyrone tried to help.

“Bitches are crazy, Henry,” Tyrone told me as he took another bite from his sandwich. “Winter’s probably having a stereotypical white girl problem, like, she didn’t get her iced coffee in the morning, or some shit.”

I immediately responded: “Winter’s not like that,” I said, almost defensively as I played with my own sandwich, pulling apart the pieces of it, hunger having left my stomach long ago.

Tyrone chuckled, shaking his head, “I know, I know, Henry, I was just joking,” he said. “But don’t sweat it, dude. I’m sure she’s just letting off some steam. I mean, it’s not the first time she’s run off.”

I nodded, wanting to believe that Tyrone was right. I sighed, “Yeah, but she’s never been gone for this long. Plus, she hasn’t been returning any of my texts.”