Fan Fiction ❯ Winter ❯ Winter ( Chapter 1 )

I watched my father, an old man but still as stubborn as he always was. The cane he carried was oak and the same dark red or maybe brown color as the pipe he refused to remove from his mouth. I sighed as I folded up the last bit of his clothes and put them in the suitcase.

 

Snow can wait I forgot my mittens. Wipe my nose get my new boots on. Get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter. I put my hands in my father's gloves.

 

Music plays in the background like a movie and the silence between us was long but comfortable. In his silence, I realized how much we were both going to miss this house. True, I moved out years ago with a family of my own but I never had to really say goodbye to my home.

 

I run out where the drifts get deeper. Sleeping Beauty trips me with a frown. I hear a voice, “You must learn to stand up for yourself because I can't always be around.”

 

My manicured nails trace over the scar I left on the wall of my old room just before I moved to my own house. I remember being in this room and sitting with my dad on the bed, him holding me tightly while I cried. I never really wanted to leave the nest so when the time came, I was afraid. The memories chill me because they are so clear in my mind.

 

He says When you gonna make up your mind? When you gonna love you as much as I do? When you gonna make up your mind? Cuz things are gonna change so fast. All the white horses are still in bed. I tell you that I always want you near. You say that things change, my dear.

 

My dad walks down the stairs with an old German Shepard following him. Her name is Aja and she was Asa's pup because he had passed away years ago. It seems pets only appear immortal. Aja follows him quickly like her sire used to but slower because daddy can't run recklessly down the stairs like he used to. I sigh mentally thinking how I miss that old dog.

 

Boys get discovered as winter melts. Flowers competing for the sun. Years go by and I'm still here waiting whither where some snowman was. Mirror, mirror, where's the crystal palace but I only can see myself. Skating around the truth who I am but I know, dad, the ice is getting thin.

 

The old house is almost completely empty waiting for it's new owners to move and make it a home again. The living room still had its blue carpet but it was faded from the years probably to be replaced when they moved in. At a rumbling noise, both my father and I turn to the heater to see it roar to life. We both smile at each other, silently reminding each other of all the winter nights, I cuddled up against my daddy from the cold.

 

When you gonna make up your mind? When you gonna love you as much as I do? When you gonna make up your mind? Cuz things are gonna change so fast. All the white horses are still in bed. I tell that I always want you near. You say that things change, my dear.

 

I walk outside to carry his suitcase to my car because soon we would be leaving for good and I would take him to his new apartment with mom. After the bag was snugly stuffed in my trunk, I walk to the back yard one last time while it was still ours. Mom had already taken the horse fire ring to the new apartment but the ashen circle stayed its mark betraying where the huge bon fires once burned.

 

Hair is gray and the fires are burning. So many dreams on the shelf. You say I wanted you to be proud of me. I always wanted that myself.

 

I heard footsteps behind me; uneven because of the limp he was burdened with. I felt arms come around me and hold me tightly. He smelled of tobacco, the good kind like cherry or vanilla, it was comforting. Even though, age had shrunk him, my daddy still towered over me.

 

“I'm gonna miss it, you know? As much as I hated this house when we lived here, I'm going to miss every memory that was ever made here.” He applied a little more pressure around me at my sad words. “Daddy, I think I'm ready to say goodbye now.”

 

He kissed me on the top of my head as he had done so many times as a child. “Yea me, too.” He spared one last longing look at the old blue house before going to my car and getting into the passenger seat. “Me, too.”

 

When you gonna make up your mind? When you gonna love you as much as I do? When you gonna make up your mind? Cuz things are gonna change so fast. All the white horses have gone ahead. I tell you that I always want you near. You say that things change.

 

My dear.