frigid {jack frost}

f i v e

f i v e

Elsie was in her room, sitting on the window seat that she found herself at often, tracing the frost on the glass. Still in the winter months, it was cold and the heating needed to be up at all times. Even though it was warm everywhere in her house, it wasn't in her sleeping quarters. Being wrapped up in her wool comforter and wearing her favorite knee-high socks were her heat source, but she was still shivering. It wasn't because of the cold, but because of the news she's awaiting to get. Even her dad's famous hot chocolate couldn't calm her down. Never has she been this nervous before, and if that's true, she can't imagine how her parents feel.

She was trying to focus on something else, like how the snow drowning her backyard was beautiful, or how she's lucky her mom and dad didn't make her go to school that day. All that could occupy her mind, though, was something she wanted out immediately. El started to panic, thinking about the unthinkable, so she quickly lifted the window from its hinges in attempt to get some fresh air. She gulped down some breaths of the chilly atmosphere, smiling slightly at how the freezing breeze managed to cool her down. The snowflakes prancing in the wind kissed her cheeks as they danced by, but that just made her smile a tad more. Who knew winter could calm down a fidgety red-head in need of a hug?

"Honey?"

Her father's soft voice alerted her, but from the little crack in the simple word, her worries reappeared. Elsie turned around cautiously, raising her brows at the tall man at her door as if asking for an answer she secretly didn't want to hear. Her mother had been complaining about a bunch of abdominal pain and severe cramps, and if that wasn't enough to make someone's face pale, the woman had been bleeding a lot lately. Elsie knew it as a sign of a period, but that made no sense to her. For the past two or so hours, her parents were at the hospital, trying to figure out what was happening, and apparently they're back home.

El was hoping her dad was just being his usual self and tricking her to think something horrible occurred, but then again, the look on his face was too sincerely sad. And that caused her stomach to twist into thousands of knots already.

The man with an impressive go-tee, other wise known as Elsie's bubbly and care-free father, had opened and closed his mouth multiple times before he decided to just let it out. With those simple five words, the family's life had a down slope that none of them thought they'd get off of. The comforter dropped from the 15-year old's shoulders after she had made a quick dash into her dad's arms, not only concerned about how her father felt but also how her mother must feel like a pile of dirt. Elsie didn't worry about how she felt at the moment- just about how her parents were dealing with it. She, once again, was a bottle full of emotions that she has kept under a tightly screwed cap, and she didn't plan on releasing everything on a day like this. Five words let her know that another day would be better.

"Your mother had a miscarriage."

February 14, 2013

Elsie's hair was being tugged and pulled at, but also made into a beautiful creation by, none other, her little cousin Sophie. The 2-year old was trying to put it into a decent pony tail for the party the Bennett family (and now that included El) was invited to for the lovely holiday that is Valentines. She always managed to leave a piece out, thus making her huff and start all over again. The strands of amber-red were slick through her tiny fingers, and it was all too much to grip in one hand, so group by group of hair, Soph attempted to make a masterpiece.

Elsie was leaning her elbow on the window seal in the room she shares, her chin in her hand, her eyes watching the light snowfall dot the glass and flood the backyard. The coolness of the window didn't just prick her fingertips, but it also spread throughout her whole hand, sparking her veins and giving her a shock of chills. It reminded her of how she felt with a certain spirit, and she swore that was crazy. The whole situation was insane, of course, but no matter how many times she closed her eyes and tried to convince herself that it wasn't real, it wasn't true, that it was just a temporary crush, these flashes of him, his beautiful creations, his heart-swelling smile appeared. And she knew she hadn't seen him smile all that much. Actually, she hasn't seen him smile truthfully at all.