I don’t think I’m crazy, but part of me is hoping I am. I’m almost afraid to post this, for fear of finding out it’s happening in other places. I know if I try telling people “offline”, they WILL think I’m crazy and that won’t help anyone.
People don’t think about all the snow they bring with them; into their cars, office, home, everywhere. Why would they? It’s just snow after all. Once inside, it only takes minutes for remaining snow stuck to your jacket and boots to melt. It’s just a normal part of winter. I know I never really thought about it. Not until yesterday morning.
It started snowing here in Portland Maine on Wednesday. I know other parts have been dealing with rough winter weather, but this was our first storm of the season. It wasn’t even that bad of a storm. A bunch of us left the office early, but that was probably more due work being slow. The snow was just an excuse to leave early. My girlfriend and I work at the same company, so I went home with her. It wasn’t snowing that hard, but there was decent amount of accumulation. We brushed the snow off the car windows and headed home. Once home, we had snow on our gloves, jackets and hats. Again, like any other winter storm. It was an uneventful night. She had some baking to do, to prepare for Thanksgiving and I had some Dragon Age to play.
We had to get up early the next morning. We were spending Thanksgiving separately, with our families, so she was going to drop me off at my parents, then head to Manchester to hers. She was going to come back on Friday. It must have been because I was tired, that I chose to ignore the first signs, that something was off. There was some snow on the window sill. Just a little bit, so I figured she must have opened the window briefly, when I was in the bedroom. Then there was our jackets, which still had last night’s snow clung to it.
There also seemed to be more of it, if only just by little bit, then from what I remembered last night. She didn’t seem to notice and I was still waking up and too tired to care. She grabbed her jacket and I saw some snow fall to the ground. I grabbed my other jacket, since the one I wore the previous day was more for riding my bike at night. I kissed her goodbye, when we got to my parents and she left, on her way to Manchester. I really hope that wasn’t our last kiss.
Thanksgiving was nice, but pretty much the same as the last few years. Our’s consists of breakfast, parade, dog show, movie then dinner. Boring, but nice. My girlfriend texted me shortly after she got to her parents, saying their power was out. It was out in many places both in Maine and New Hampshire. That night, my sister dropped me off back home. What greeted me, when I opened the apartment door, was shocking, to say the least. Snow, everywhere. There was at least a foot covering everything. Snow tumbled into the hallway, when the door opened. It was really cold to. Colder than it was outside. I could see that the kitchen window was broken. A tree must have fallen or large branch, breaking the window, letting in the elements. Still, it seemed like entirely too much snow, considering it was only snowing through the morning and not that hard. The shards of glass that still remained in the window didn’t look right either. They were white, covered in thick frost.
I got my landlord (he lives in the same building). He was more shocked than I was. He said he was here all day and didn’t hear anything thing break. No trees, branches or windows. He insisted that he will take care of it and that he’ll cover any hotel costs until they cleared it out and fixed the window. He must have felt guilty about not noticing all day, since he wouldn’t accept my help and said he will have someone come and help him. I was tired and worn out, so I didn’t object. I called my sister to have her pick me up, so I could stay at my parents’. I tried calling my girlfriend, to give her the bad news, but it was going straight to voicemail. She had forgotten to charge her phone the night before, so it must have died and she hadn’t been able to charge it yet. I wish I still thought that was the case.
I couldn’t shake the image of our apartment, covered in snow. It didn’t seem natural. That was when I remembered about the snow on our jackets. There was also snow on our gloves when we got home. Wouldn’t that have melted before we got home? It’s not a long drive, but with the heat on… It doesn’t matter now. I went to work this morning, tired from lack of sleep. Not a lot of people showed up. I know that’s not abnormal, for the Friday after Thanksgiving, but I mean people who were planning to come to work today, didn’t show up and we were are having trouble reaching them. Fear was starting to really set in, but I didn’t know exactly the cause. Why hadn’t she called me yet? That was running through my mind a lot this morning. One my coworkers, who I consider a friend, was one of ones who didn’t show up. I figured if I drove over and found he was just running late for some dumb reason, my fears would go away. He’d probably think it’s weird that I was checking up on him, but it didn’t matter. I needed to do this.
As soon as I saw his house, I knew my fears were justified and panic started to creep in. Some of his windows were broken, the others completely white. I almost turned the car around, right then, but I slowly pulled into his driveway. I wanted to make sure he was okay. Maybe he wasn’t home, like I was. No, his car is still there. He’s still there. Sitting on his couch, his frozen gaze, looking at a broken window. Snow everywhere. Everything cold. That’s what I saw when I went inside. I can sadly say, it was the most frightening thing I will ever see. His eyes were frozen white, any visible skin was an unsettling shade of blue and his arm, had fallen off and shattered into hundreds of pieces. It happens fast, I know that now. I think it grows slowly, so it needs to let more inside, before it can… i don’t know. Maybe that’s how it feeds.
I’m at my parents now. I didn’t tell them what I saw. How could I, when I don’t know what I saw. They asked why I was brushing and sweeping all the snow out of the house. I asked them to not go outside. That was a mistake. We should have left. I forgot to check the shoe closet. Five minutes ago, while I was typing this, I heard a window break downstairs. It’s getting cold.
–
Credits to: eJawa
Comments