Frozen Angel

     Bali

  The silence draws my eyes open with a snap. The usual buzz of traffic and people is non-existent; the hush frightens my heart more than the banging and clattering of activity. 

 My shoulder creaks as I sit up in my small bed, the squeaky mattress bringing me solace in the overwhelming silence. Even my sisters are silent, their numerous mouths are open wide, but only the peaceful melody of snores emerge. 

  The world must be ending, silence is not our city's strong suit and is oftentimes impossible to find unless you're in the wrong part of town. 

 I slip from under my pink quilt as silently as possible and creep to the large floor to ceiling window that leads to the old fire escape. With a flick of my wrist, a single strip of white highlights my little sister's face and causes her to rustle and turn away with a pronounced humph. My face must convey the shock the rest of the city and my family would feel when they finally rolled from their beds and saw what awaits outside the window. 

 A blanket of white snow lays over everything, the grates of the fire escape at my feet are invisible, our plants that died ages ago are weighed down by lays and lays of thick snow. In a quick unwithdrawable choice I clammer out of the window and plop my bare feet into the snow, the cold grates dig into my feet painfully as I slip through the snow. The cold nips and strokes my nose and ears as I lean against the railing in front of me, the snow soaking into my top with my face to the biting wind. I can feel the cold leaking into my thin top and pants, my toes begin to sting painfully along with my nose and ears but I ignore it and close my eyes and breathe. But as soon as I do, I'm disturbed by a call, if the voice is to be believed the individual is worried about my safety. I snap my eyes open and look up; the boy is about my age with pin-straight black hair, a lanky form and a crooked grin that would draw a blush from my cheeks if I wasn't freezing.

 "Um, hello?"

    Mace

  "Hello! I was a bit worried about you. You look near frozen to death with your eyes closed like that in such thin clothes." My smile doesn't waver as I speak, it never does. Especially after I made such a fantastic discovery. 

  A nearly frozen angel, her eyes closed as her brown curly hair brushed her lashes, her face turned to the heavens in longing that upon discovery drew a choked gasp from my lips. It may be a bit creepy but I stood there in shock and watched her, memorized her features to my memory; her nostrils were a bit too large for her face, her hair was frizzy and unkempt (as to be expected at such an early hour), her eyebrows were a bit too bushy, and her shoulders were usually large. But by golly, I couldn't stop looking at her. Her top clung to her stomach as I watched the melting snow creep up her torn baby blue pajama pants, only when her form wracked with shivers did I snap out of my haze. To which, in a split-second decision, I asked if she was ok. I watched, intrigued, as her eyes snapped open accusingly, her chocolate brown eyes fixed on me as they glittered gold in the rising sun. Her reply was instant and bitingly sarcastic but drew an even larger smile to my face. 

  Now she stares at me as if expecting something, so I slip my legs between the bars of my fire escape and lean forward against the bars and watch her. She sighs and pushes off the railing, my ankles hang by her shoulders as she continues to watch me.

  "So ya gonna unlock the... The thingy? I don't know what its called." The question leaves my lips with a flick of my wrist to the locked trapdoor like contraption that separates our fire escapes. Her eyes don't leave mine as she back towards the large window of her apartment until she slips in; I remain where I am, my butt freezing in the melting snow as I feel myself freeze over. A sudden clammer sounds from the window.

   "Bali! What's going on?" The nasal voice of a toddler sounds, ringing on the metal bars of the fire escape. 

 "Go back to sleep Minnie, no school today, sleep." The frozen angel's voice is quiet and soothing, I can practically see her stroking her pinky down the toddler's nose to lull her to sleep. 

  I begin to stand and go back to the warmth of my apartment until her voice is directed at me and is followed by a resounding clink.

 "Hey, where are you going? I brought blankets and hot chocolate." Her voice is soft and uncertain, slightly wavering. I don't think she is often so kind but the unusual circumstance drew the cold from her heart and splattered it across the sky leaving only warmth inside. 

  I clammer down the cold slick ladder to her level and she hands me a steamy cup of hot chocolate; one sip confirms that it's only nuked chocolate milk. A large pink horse quilt is draped over her shoulders and she opens it to me, I have to bend down a bit to fit inside but I do with a grin. 

  So there we sit, two strangers who have lived so close but so far for so long. If I only I knew my neighbor, just 6 feet below my feet every day was a frozen angel. 

  We talk about surface-level things, we talk about trivial things and teenage drama. She likes My Chemical Romance and I like Taylor Swift. We talk and talk until snow sits on her eyelashes and latch onto my hair.

Finally, we retreat to our apartments, but not without looks of longing from my eyes that followed her as she climbed back into her window to her lovingly noisy apartment and I recede into my gravely silent bedroom.