Freeze by Jordynne Loomas

She finally made it to the bus stop; it was a rather long walk as her house was on the other side of the neighborhood. It felt like an even longer walk when it was so cloudy that she could not even see where she was stepping. The wind was strong, and it was so cold that her ears were burning. She tried to use her hair to cover her ears to hopefully make her ears warmer, but it did not work as the wind was too strong.

She stood trying to find the bus’s lights, hoping that it would come soon. She tried to zip her coat up higher so that it covered more of her neck, but the zipper would not go up any higher. She felt her cheeks start to burn as she tried to bury her head in her coat. She felt her legs start to get numb as the wind blew faster. She grabbed her water bottle expecting to take a drink, but instead found that nothing was coming out of her straw. As she opened the lid and looked inside, she found that most of the water was frozen. She felt her heart start to quicken, and her breathing slowed.

She started to look around for anyone to tell her what was going on. She could feel something inside her was off. She knew she could not make it home in time. So, the only thing she thought to do was ask for help. Suddenly, she noticed that no cars had passed her in her walk here, no joggers had run by her, no dog walkers had waved hello to her. Where was everyone? In her panic, her oversized glove fell off and as she kneeled to grab it, she saw it was frozen. Shocked, she dropped the frozen glove only for it to shatter.

Her heart started to quicken so fast despite her breathing slowing. As she looked at her burning fingers, she saw her fingertips starting to freeze.