Author's Note; This is one of my first attempts at writing a short story. I'm pretty unsure about the ending. I've already re-written it three times. So, this may get changed... eventually. Also, dark and depressing themes so read with caution.
I heard you calling my name from across the lake on a cold, dark Winter afternoon. I was sitting on the bench -you know, our bench- which was now collecting snow all around me. How did this happen? I wondered, thrusting my gloved hand into the pile of snow besides me. I wiped as much as I could away, revealing roughly drawn graffiti, crude drawings of male and female anatomy, and words painted in languages I didn’t know. How could they have done this to our bench? There’s nothing that could be done about it now. Even if city workers painted over it, the kids would come and graffiti over it again. There was no stopping it.
I could hear the laughter of children playing on the hill behind me, sledding down on anything from actual sleds to trash can lids and boogie boards. But the snow was getting heavier every passing minute, and the looks on all the parents’ faces were turning from joy to worry, and then eventually to sorrow. The wind was screaming in my ears, was entering me through every pore on my body and collecting in my bones. I had three layers of jackets on, two hats and a scarf, a pair of gloves, a pair of boots, and two layers of sweatpants. I was still cold. My feet were trembling, my fingers were numb, and I could feel the hairs on my legs standing up. I used the scarf to cover my face up to just below the eyes but I could still see my breath piercing through it. Almost thick like fog, my breath was. I was always cold, I reminded myself solemnly. For as long as I could remember. Winter was your favorite season, but I hate it with a passion. I never told you that, though. Your smiling face as the snow fell onto the top of your head, onto your eyelashes, gathered in the creases of your jacket... I would sacrifice anything to see you happy. I did sacrifice. I sacrificed it all.
And there I sat, and there you were calling my name from across the lake. When I looked out I could have sworn I saw the top of your shining hair amongst the falling snow. I knew it couldn’t be true, but I wanted to believe it with every cold fiber of my being. I reached out a hand and looked out again, but you were gone.
If you were there, I wanted to see you. To feel your hand in mine, the way we used to under the dinner table where no one could see. To feel your head on my shoulders, your arms wrapped around my neck. To feel your lips against mine, our tongues dancing. Our hips in perfect sync on the bedsheets, our bodies warming each other, gasping for air and moaning softly. To experience the rush of those nights when you’d sneak into my bedroom to see me. The days we’d sneak around after our classes finished, ending up wherever your car would take us.
I was thrust back into reality by the sound of your voice calling my name again. The call was soft and shy, almost like a whisper, but calming and beckoning. I stood up from the bench and made my way over to the frozen lake, crossing the runner’s track that circled around it and ending up at the frozen water’s edge. The snow was falling heavier now, and the wind was howling forcefully through the dead trees. Snow crunched beneath my feet. Parents were now dragging their children away from the hill and trying to get home as soon as possible. Worst storm since ‘02, they had said on tv. Plan for power outages city-wide to last possibly as long as a week, even longer in some areas. Nobody believed them because they’re usually wrong. I didn't care either way.
Standing at the lake’s edge, I looked out desperately to the other side. I couldn’t see you, but I could still hear you calling me. I placed one foot out in front of me, putting it down slowly onto the ice. I began shifting my weight, putting it all on that one foot to make sure it was stable enough for me to stand on. Once sure that it was, I placed my other foot onto the ice. Slowly, I began to walk forward, testing each step as I went along. My eyes were fixed on the scene ahead of me. I couldn’t see you, but your voice was getting louder and louder.
It was five years ago, on a day like this, when you first introduced me to your family. I was terrified, and even though I didn’t want to tell you that, you knew anyway. You would say later on that you could see it in my eyes, and in the way my body trembled softly. I had never been more scared than I was the moment I stood facing your front door. But in the end, your family had shown me more love than I had ever known in my life. Thinking about this memory now, stray tears escaped my eyes and froze before they could fall.
Your voice was still calling out to me. I was at the middle of the lake now. All of the memories we shared together came rushing back to me suddenly. For an instant, we were in your car driving down the turnpike, blasting our favorite songs and headed towards nowhere. Then we were in your bedroom, making passionate love for the first time. All the times we took the bus to the beach, and the times we would walk along the train tracks wrapping around the city. Then there was the time we got lost in the woods and the ground shifted beneath us. I could have ran but I didn’t. Instead I jumped and fell through the ground, the soil, the water...
...Until there was total darkness around me. I let a final puff of air escape my lungs, and I smiled.
I could finally see you, and we could finally be together. After hearing you call my name, from across the lake that cold Winter afternoon...
