Sammy was a depressed child. Depressed of the repetitive nature of the world, the way people talked, and what reached importance in people’s minds. For being this way, his grades were horrible, no one liked him at school, and on this particular day a young little girl, Kim, who lived next door to him laughed at him until he peed his pants when he stood at the front of the class to do a math problem he couldn’t solve, or find. As he walked home, he thought of about a day of revenge no one would soon forget, but then a small flake of snow landed on his nose and forgetful he soon became of the day. He looked up and saw wave after wave of fresh whiteness from the sky. He looked around and saw the fresh layer of purity cover a dank, dirty ground that had been browned by snows, cars, and mud previous. He ran home as fast as he could, his excitement out pacing him every step. That night as Sammy lay, his dreams of pure anticipation filled his mind at the possibility of what tomorrow might be. A tomorrow free of complications and regret, the stuff you think about when you are that young.
As soon as he woke up the next morning he glanced out his window, and saw an alien planet of whiteness as far he could see. Neighbor’s houses were now white snow palaces with icicle pillars. The roads and sidewalk were under inches of snow. No cars, no people, no worries. Everything man made had disappeared. He quickly ran outside and took one jump from the top of his stairs and landed, hitting his face in a fluff of pure coldness. Minutes seemed like days, this was the happiest Sammy would ever be, he thought. He dug is sled out of the garage and marched towards the town sled hill.
When he finally reached the top of the hill, he saw the kids from school. He froze and watched as they seemed happy not noticing him. He remembered the days of torment and did not want that anymore. A day like this would be ruined in such moments. He started back home, but he heard his name being called behind him. He stopped mid-stride and turned around. All the kids were smiling and waving at him to come by them. He ran as quickly as he could with the biggest smile on his face, sled kicking behind him. Everyone greeted him with glee; perhaps all their torment had vanished in the wake of what this day could be. Even Kim who had laughed at him, was there. She apologized and grabbed his hand leading him to the fun.
The great snowball fight of the year was soon to start. The kids built their forts and loaded entire sleds up with dozens of snowballs. They chose sides for which to unleash their playful cantoracs, and quietly waited behind their respectful forts for the battle to start. It soon began as kids would run up to other forts and jump over them, hurling balls of snow as fast as they could. Others throwing as hard as they could without hitting anything at all. Screams of joyful fear soon became laughs as kids pickled their way through the field. The only hope was that all the fun for this moment, for the memory of this winter day as kids lived like they wanted to, would last forever. Some threw their fire haphazardly, while others chose their marks and began launching larger snowballs. Sammy spent his time on a single one carefully mashing and compacting it. He wanted to wait for the perfect moment. Perhaps he would be the hero and win the greatest snowball fight, on the greatest day in the world, of this place, for his side. He finally threw it as hard as he could at a girl. The girl was hit directly in the face, the once soft snow now burning and stinging her every nerve. Everyone stopped as they saw this, the girl was hurt but did not cry, and began laughing once again, the fun would surely continue.
After witnessing this, others began to compact their snowballs as tight as possible before they threw them, realizing they could make the others quit much faster if the frequency of these impacts increased. They had to win, they wouldn’t be able to live it down on the schoolyard without a further rematch, but the first victory would be theirs. Yet further, others began to spit on their snowballs as much as they could making a layer of thin ice allowing them to be thrown a greater distance in tact. But even more so, to inflict an increased damage point to the other kids, not teams anymore. As the one side threw theirs, the others were inflicted with greater pain and the thoughts of a greater pain inflicted on them festered. The fear one gets in the competitive notion.
Then Sid, one of the bigger kids at school, in all of his shy awkwardness but feared respect came behind Luke and threw his ice ball as hard as he could into the back of his skull. Luke fell to the ground immediately crying in pain. This was not like the snow that hit the girl. Others noticed as blood trickled down his neck. One of Luke’s friends picked up his sled and charged Sid. He raised the sled and hit Sid upon the back immediately knocking him to the ground. Sid's large stature protected him from attacks like this, but he still picked up whatever snow he could find and balled it back in the kids’ face. The snow ball fight resumed with more pain as others began to form a Sid side.
Kids began to dig beneath the snow to see what competitive edge they could find, for there was none on the surface. They found tree branches, and garbage, old bottles, and clumps, upon clumps of solid frozen earth, so perfect to aid in the barrage. A group of kids took apart a nearby, decrepit shed and began swinging at foes with shards of wood with every imaginable shard piercing through it. Smacking the face of one another did not create remorse, but desire, they did not care because the pain of the first blow could still be felt. Rapidly all that remained was but a few. Sammy, who hid from most of the carnage, climbed on a door that had fallen on young girl named Kim. She called for his help but instead he looked down and saw the girl who made fun of him the day previous, she had no name. He smiled at first, and she saw a sympathetic boy and smiled back. But then he thought about the way he looked in his bathroom mirror last night, tears down his face as his mother asked if everything was okay while trying to gather up the strength to say “fine” because he understood boys don’t cry. Then he looked at what he held in his hand once more, a giant club he’d discovered buried in the snow, the one that gave him the edge over them all. At this moment he wished he could tell Mike “I don’t wear a dress and Easter Bonnet,” and Kyle “I like to suck my thumb,” and Tommy that “I’m proud to love my Mommy.” But all he could see was this girl, and he put his words into his weapon of choice. He then took one last look at her and raised his it high above his head. He smiled as he smashed it down. Sammy dreamed that night he saw angels moving through the streets. Not a vision of peace, but perhaps it was only those that would die in years down the road. This life was not the lie he was told, but the only thing that his hands could hold.
Kids will be kids as a snowball fight always starts. Though kids walked away, not one soul survived that day, even in the fight amongst children. A stained snow covered by blood, by our true selves. What was witnessed here was not the innocence of a child but the plight of man, and in all time it can’t change. But soon snow will cover this field yet again, and no one will know or remember this day of tragedy, that is the good thing about snow.
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