Snow Angel

 

Allie Logan was in the back seat of her parents red Ford Escort staring blankly towards the dark  sky, hoping to be the first to see the snowflakes the weatherman had been talking about all week. Her forehead pressed against the window so she could feel the cold. Truth be told she was trying to drown out the constant arguing that she heard coming from the front seat. She used to listen to them intently when they kept her awake at night because she thought that if she listened she could find a way to fix them.

“Dad,” she said without taking her head away from the cold window, “Can we stop somewhere so I can go pee? I’ve had to go forever now.”

“Damn it Allie,” he began, clearly upset by the argument that was occurring in the front seat, “I told you before we left that you should have gone.”

“Rick stop,” her mother, Jane pleaded, “she is 10 years old, and if she has to pee she has to freaking pee. Stop being a prick.”

“Fine,” he said as he let out a defeated sigh, “We will stop at the next place we come across, but I swear to you Allie if you have to go again ten minutes after we leave there I’m slapping the piss out of you.”

“I won’t,”she said,”I promise.”

Allie knew she could never keep that promise. For as long as she remembered she had to go pee all the time. Her mom told her sometime last year that potty training her was the hardest thing she ever did in here life, because she always had to go. She readjusted herself in more of a lying down position and stared at the night sky.

This stretch of I-75 in Ohio seemed to go on forever with no gas stations or rest stops anywhere. It ended up taking a great deal longer to find a place they could stop so it took about an hour before they came across anything. The drive felt even longer to Allie since the arguing had stopped, but it was replaced with a painful silence. She had just started to fall asleep when she was jerked out of her sleep.

“ Jesus damn,” Rick said as he hit his hand on the steering wheel. “Is this the only rest stop on this highway? There’s no damn place to park.”

“Dad!” Allie screamed in excitement, “It must have snowed here already, look there’ enough snow so I can make a snow angel.”

Rick used to think it was cute that Allie constantly wanted make snow angels whenever there was snow on the ground. One morning when she was 6 it had snowed the night before, and Allie begged to go outside to play. She was out there for hours, and had made snow angels on every square inch of their yard.

It was at this point that Rick had decided that it was a little weird. Now any time they went out and snow was on the ground, she threw a fit until she was allowed to make snow angels. To be fair though, that was the only thing she was ever adamant about, so she usually won.

Rick drove around the parking lot for another 10 minutes before finally finding a spot. It was at the far end of the grounds, past the car parking, and even past the semi parking. Before Rick even got the car parked Allie burst out the door and ran at full speed towards the amazing spot under a pine tree where the snow was the perfect depth.

“Damn it Allie wait,” her father shouted after her.

“Leave her be Rick,” Jane said.

That was all it took. Rick was so tired of the fighting, he just wanted 5 minutes to himself away from Jane.

Jane headed towards the bathrooms, while Rick lit up one of the many cigarettes he was hiding from Jane. As far as she knew he had been smoke free for over a year. Rick leaned against the Escort and stared at the sky, much he same way Allie had done on the way here. For the rest stop being so busy it was oddly silent. Rick assumed it was due to the fact that it was 2am, and like his mother always said, nothing good happens after 1am. He relished the silence and could have stayed like that for hours.

While Rick was savoring the last smoke, he would ever have Allie found her own corner of heaven. Sprawled out waving her arms and legs back and forth staring at the sky, she couldn’t have been happier. There was no sky to be seen, which was of course due to the snow that didn’t show even a hint of stopping.

Jane walked out of the building, with her eyes on the Taurus. She could see the light on Ricks cigarette the moment she stepped back into the cold and put her hood up.

“That son of a bitch,” she was whispering to herself, “ I knew he was still smoking, I am so sick of his shit.” Ignoring the man she walked past as she spoke to herself, she only had eyes for the betrayal she saw at the other end of that cigarette.

“Hey,” she screamed as she stepped onto the parking lot, “What the hell is that huh? I thought you quit over a year ago huh?”

Rick rolled his eyes, knowing that this argument was going to take up the entire trip home. He took his last puff, and flicked it on the ground, having no interest in looking at Jane as she approached.

“Just get your daughter and get in here so we can get the hell home,” Rick said, still not bothering to look at her. The past few years have made it so Rick didn’t even think it was worth being nice to his wife. To him she was a bother that was only sent to him, to bother the hell out of him. At times he was fairly certain that, he couldn’t even stand to look at his own daughter, because she shared the same green eyes he saw in Jane every time he looked at her.

As Rick opened the door Jane ran up to him and slammed it shut.

“No,” she said, “How about you go get your daughter Rick.”

The way she stared at him, Rick knew this was going to be one of the things he had to give in to. She was determined to win this battle, and probably the next six arguments, since in her mind, anyway, Rick had just done the most evil thing imaginable.

“Whatever,” Rick mumbled, and he walked away towards the picnic area where he thought Allie had went to.

Rick approached the tree and knew he was right, because he saw the snow angel that Allie had undoubtedly made. There wasn’t just one snow angel though, and there wasn’t a million of them like she had made at home before.

“What the,” he whispered as he stared at what was in the snow.

Allie was no where to be seen. Not even her footprints. In the snow was the snow angel that Allie had made, and another one. Made by someone taller and wider.

“Rick,” Jane yelled from the car, “I’m driving now move your ass,get your daughter and lets go.”

Rick didn’t move.

“She’s gone,” he said to himself.

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Conclussion of this coming at the end of the week. SHare it! Reblog it! Comment. I would very much appreciate it!