First Snow of the Season

First Snow of the Season

Samuel J. Cutlip

January 7,2019

Olivia Markfield was peacefully sleeping, with curtains drawn, the sun peeking up. Her bedroom walls and floors were tainted with the faint orange glow of the sun. Sorrowfully, it was a school morning and Olivia would soon have to wake to her annoying, buzzing alarm clock. But what Olivia was oblivious to was that overnight a thick, white blanket of snow had silently fallen on the quiet village of Nisswa, the first of the season. Located in central Minnesota, southeast of Minneapolis, Nisswa is flanked on all sides with beautiful lakes, excellent for ice skating in the winter. 

Suddenly, Olivia’s alarm clock began blaring. Groaning, she groggily opened her eyes and aggressively slapped the bothersome contraption to make the noise stop. Without knowing it, she quickly slipped into a deep restful sleep once again. When Olivia woke, she glanced at the clock, it was 9:00 o'clock! Why hadn’t her mother awakened her? She was over two hours late! Hurriedly, Olivia dressed, brushed her teeth, and then pounded down the stairs. She abruptly halted when she reached the bottom of the stairs. Looking through the glass door, she noticed that two feet of snow had piled outside. 

It was a wondrous sight for the young Markfield. A nine paragraph essay about early American history was due today, of which she had only completed six paragraphs. With all of the snow outside, knowing that there would be no school today, the relieved Olivia resolved to finish her work later that night. 

Her phone was resting on the countertop, Olivia, while slurping down a bowl of cereal, asked her friend if they wanted to go sledding and ice skating together. Immediately, Sophia Davis, her long-time BFF, replied, they would go sledding and ice skating at 10:00 o'clock. 

Olivia eagerly slipped on her snow gear, grasped her sled and ice skates and was off. As she was trudging down to the lake to meet Sophia, she marveled at the stunning landscape around her, the sun was shining, yet the air was crisp. The treetops were lathered in the purest white linen imaginable. Falling snowflakes appeared as silver drops glistening on her winter coat.

“Hey, Olivia! Over here,” Sophia’s cheerful greeting cut through Olivia’s amazement of the white world around her. Olivia quickly spotted Sophia gracefully gliding across the thick, ice-covered lake.

“Sophia!” Olivia gushed. She was always overjoyed to see her friend again. Slipping her ice skates on, she marveled at the elegance of Sophia as she floated across the ice. Olivia stepped out onto the ice to join her friend. They skimmed over the ice together, wind whipping through their hair. After several races form one side of the lake to another, all of which Olivia lost, they were done ice skating. Olivia and Sophia gathered their ice skates and sleds and began trudging up the steepest hill in Nisswa toward Olivia’s house. 

All the children nicknamed this hill ‘death drift’, and with great reason too. The hill was at a 70% grade, and at the end was a sharp turn ending in a huge, icy snowbank. Carefully the girls climbed halfway up the precarious hilltop. They decided one would stay at the bottom of the hill, and help the other stop so there were no injuries.

Afterward, with no injuries or broken bones, the girls huddled in the Markfield's basement, sipped hot chocolate, and watched a Christmas movie. Around 3:00 o'clock, Sophia left Olivia to do her homework and headed for home. That night, after eating dinner with her mom and dad and dutifully completing her early American history assignment, Olivia made her way upstairs to where her bed was calling her and fell asleep, dreaming about another day just like that one. 

When Olivia woke up the next morning, she bolted down the stairs. Quickly eating breakfast, she donned her snow gear, grabbed her sled, and then rushed outside, only stopping briefly to kiss her mom and dad goodbye. It was the second snow day in the week and Olivia wasn’t going to miss it for the world. 

Today, Olivia and Sophia had resolved to have a competitive snowball fight in the woods between the Davis and Markfield homes. First, they had to each build snow forts 50 feet from the other. After this was completed, they began crafting snowballs. The fight was on! For fours hours they battled, trying to take the other’s fort with brute force. Soon both snow forts were utterly destroyed, and the girls were wet and tired. The day was coming to a close, and the girls parted. 

Just as Olivia had wished, the day had been wonderful, just like the day before. Unfortunately, all wonderful things come to an end, and so did the snow days. The day had been warmer, the sun shining, melting the snow significantly, and the snowplows were on the roads. 

The maroon school bus pulled in front of the Marksfield’s home at 6:45 a.m. sharp and Olivia hopped on. Why was the school’s bus maroon? The school’s mascot, the Red Panda, was a maroon color. It was their mascot because the school board thought Red Pandas were energetic and kind, which was what they wanted for their students at NMS (Nisswa Middle School). When the students clambered off the bus, Olivia scoured the crowd for Sophia. She was standing close to the entrance staring at her phone. Olivia trotted over and they walked in together. Olivia and Sophia were in the same homeroom and talked as they waited for class to begin.

“Have you heard?” Sophia quietly questioned, “A drunk driver is on the loose around Nisswa. He is causing havoc and the police are trying to catch him. But after one day, they have nothing.” 

“Wow!” replied Olivia, wanting to hear more. 

“Yeah. His name is Blade Ranger. He is tall, with black hair and a huge tattoo of an eagle on his upper right arm.” Sophia replied smartly, “The police are offering a $5,000 reward for his arrest.” Of course Sophia knew this, her dad was the chief of police there in Nisswa. Olivia was jealous of Sophia, having a dad with that cool of a job. Mr. Markfield, Olivia’s dad, was a boring old construction worker. 

As the last bell rang, Olivia sprinted to the exit, eager to be away from school. Beep, beep, beep! Olivia’s phone rang with a text from her mother. The text read ‘Cannot come pick you up right now. Can u walk home? Love u! Sorry!’ Olivia was expecting this, her mother was a very busy event coordinator with a lot of customers. Since the bus had already left, she stepped up to the crosswalk to head for home. Looking down the road, Olivia noticed something peculiar occuring, blue and red lights were flashing. There was something else, but a tree was blocking her view. Olivia started walking across the road and immediately halted in horror. Swerving in the center of the road was an old, rattling truck, barreling straight toward her. Olivia froze with terror. With each passing second, the outcome of the danger became clear. Olivia Markfield was going to  be crushed by the oncoming vehicle! She was vaguely aware of someone calling her name in a desperate tone, but she couldn't move. Just before the truck slammed into her, Olivia glanced at the driver. He had black hair, and an eagle tattoo. It was the drunk, the man who was causing chaos everywhere, Blade Ranger. Everything went black. 

Olivia woke up at home, but something felt wrong as if her spirit and body weren’t connected anymore. The house was empty. Her mom and dad were nowhere to be found. “Was this all a dream?” Olivia asked herself. “No, it couldn’t be. It was so real,” she reasoned. 

Immediately, Olivia resolved to find her parents. As she was walking toward the door, a sudden dizziness and a painful tug in her gut suddenly came over her. Olivia stumbled and tripped toward the door. She awaited the crash, her head colliding with wood, but nothing happened. Terrified and amazed that she had not been hurt, Olivia stood up. She had floated through the front entrance! What was happening to her? 

Then, she noticed a soft growling and drool dripping onto the patio. Olivia spun her head and spotted her dog, Pickles. Her brown and white spotted dog was staring straight at her, his long fur was bristled on the back of his neck. “Pickles. It’s okay,” she said reassuringly. The look in his eyes was empty, as if he was only sensing she was there, not fully seeing Olivia. Olivia decided that her dog was tired, so she quietly backed off the patio toward the street. 

Walking down the driveway, she spotted the Markfield’s neighbor, Mr. Smith, grumbling about taking the garbage out as he hauled a heaping trash bag behind him. “Thank you God!” Olivia whispered and bolted toward their neighbor. She halted right before him and began blubbering about her odd night. She told him about her parents not being at home. 

The next thing that happened was horrible! Mr. Smith turned to walk toward his home, completely ignoring the young, terrified, girl crying in front of him. Boldly, Olivia stepped in front of her neighbor so he would listen to her desperate plea for help. But Mr. Smith walked right through her, she wasn’t even solid! 

She started crying and ran off into the night, tears streaming down her face. She determined that this must be some elaborate prank or a dream that she would awaken from at any moment. 

After running halfway down the block on the snow packed sidewalk, Olivia stopped short and glanced behind her, thinking she heard footsteps . She swore that something or someone was behind her, but she couldn’t see anybody. Scanning the quiet street behind her, the snow-blanketed bushes, the half-shoveled driveways, her eyes finally fell on the sidewalk itself. There was nothing in the snow that covered the sidewalk. Not even her own footprints. 

Olivia’s mind reeled as she came to the horrible conclusion. Desperate to be wrong, the young Markfield jumped up and down trying to make a nick in the snow. Nothing! Alarmingly, she knew the truth. The facts of the past several events all made sense: falling through a door, her dog not fully perceiving her, Olivia’s neighbor walking through her, and now, no footprints in the soft snow. She wasn’t going to wake up from this nightmare.