Quote:
It was like any other light, winter snow. It was chilly and clouds hung in the sky but if you looked up you could swear you could still see the stars. The snow falls gently and coats the ground in a light layer--but these aren't normal snowflakes. Mixed in with the regular snow, crystalized snowflakes seem to be falling. These are roughly the size of a quarter and are light and hollow. They are fragile, like glass, but glisten like a fine cut gem. No one can explain this anomaly, but these small snowflakes won't melt. And they are all over Destiny City. You can find them gently falling to the ground, or lying in the fresh fallen snow. They don't seem evil--but they do make for some cute keepsakes!
Word Count: 569
Snow is beautiful. The way it falls, the way it covers everything in pristine white, the way it softens the harsh edges of the city. It really made the season feel festive. Factor in the colored lights that her porch was strung in, her entire house looked like some festive. Sadly though, when it snowed it meant that Jessie had to go and shovel or her store couldn’t open so when she woke one morning and saw the white dusting they had received in the night she knew what she had to do. Bundled up the brunette made her way out into the cold morning air with a shovel over her shoulder and a bag of salt in a bucket.
Humming a little holiday song off tune she got to work, quickly clearing the front walk, unaware of the sparkling flakes that she absently buried and broken under more snow as she flung shovel full after shovel full of snow off to the side. She didn’t see the delicate objects flash in the muted light of the dawn even as she dusted the walk with salt, snow and ice crunching under foot. She wasn’t quite awake even though the exercise and the cold were doing a pretty good job keeping her moving.
It wasn’t until she had changed her attention to the garden that she started to spot the snowflakes. At first she just thought that they were normal flakes that were catching the rising sun’s light but the more she cleared the more she realized that no, these flakes were unnatural. Placing her shovel off to the side, resting against an evergreen bush, Jess knelt down to study the remarkable objects. First she just looked, once you’ve lived in this city long enough you become rather weary of strange things, but soon she couldn’t help but want to touch. It took a matter of seconds for her to pull her gloves off and to gently pick up a flake, marveling in the intricacies of it. It was so light! The flake she held gently in her hand was rather large for what it was but still so small. Fragile yet strong. It didn’t melt in her hands like a normal flake would, rather it just rested there glistening in the morning light like a fine cut gem or a fallen star.
The sudden sound of a barking dog had Jessie jump slightly, her captured flake slipping from her fingers to shatter upon the brick paving stones of her courtyard. The destruction of such an object brought a slight gasp of pain to her lips even as she searched the ground for any remnants hidden among the normal snow and ice. It was truly a shame to lose something so beautiful and fragile. With a sigh Jess went to get up, it was cold and she still had work to do, but she paused and once more picked up one of the crystalline snowflakes. They didn’t seem to be ‘evil’ or have any dark intentions for all their strangeness and they were just too beautiful to just disregard them. So before she got back to work Jess collected a few of the flakes and carefully placed them on the porch, gently resting on top of her gloves, where they continued to sparkle in the light as the brunette quickly, yet with care, cleared the garden walk of remaining snow.
