The Snow Angel

It was going to happen. There was nothing, not a thing,she could do about it. The first snowfall meant three things. She was a woman now. You see, in Bravura, a place she once called home, snow was an omen. It didnt happen with a change of temperature or season. It happened when a girl fell in love for the first time. A very special girl. Every village had a special girl. Miracle girls they called them. Analia was a miracle girl. Born to Richard and Isabel Moss, she was Marked as a miracle girl. All the girls have a special mark of a broken heart somewhere on their body.

Analia, stuffed all her clothes that she liked in a huge bag that she hoped she was able to carry for a long time. She knew it was time to leave before her mother came home. Izzy they called her. Her mom loved her dearly, analia knew that, but they hadnt seen eye to eye lately and they knew why that was. It was coming.

She zipped the bag roughly, a scowl on her face, probably permanently, she thought. She didnt take shoes. She wouldn't need them where she was going.

Analia opened the front door and stepped out. The snow flakes were beautiful but the most horrible thing in the world. Something she hated, something she never, ever wanted to see. She was a woman now.

It started with kai. Always kai. Her mom tried to keep her from all people but kids find a way. She fell for him and him her. She had to say goodbye at least but looking down there was probably no time.

She thought about the feeling of his hands on her waist, of his lips touching hers so gently and of the feeling of pure bliss when they were one. It snuck up on her. The love. It had just been physical, but then the talking, the gazing, the sweetness of his words, it was always going to happen. She was pregnant. In Bravura, when it snows, it means the miracle girl is with child. Analia was 17 years old. She tried to be good, she did. Tears rained down. She hated that she was a miracle girl. Everyone would know! So she walked barefoot down the dirt road quickly filling with snow. She was immune to the cold and now because of the baby, her skin was impervious. She was changing. The baby was changing her.

Her mother wouldnt tell her what would happen only that it wasnt going to because she was a good girl and wouldnt fall in love. Her mother didnt care about her happiness. Only her own. Analia being her little girl forever.

The snow was at least a foot now. She still walked. Kai would miss her. She would ache for him so much. She loved him.

"Analia!" Someone shouted. She ran as fast as she could. It was kai. They couldn't be seen together!

"Wait!"

She didnt slow, something was happening. She looked down, there were no foot prints in the snow where she walked. She stopped dead in her tracks. She turned and saw kai on his knees praying to the gods. They wouldn't save her. She had been a whore. Why would they save a whore? She knelt down and even her knees didnt leave a mark in the snow.

"Kai." She whispered. He couldn't hear her. Where was she going? What was happening?

Her hands the only thing leaving a mark. She drew in the snow, "I love you. Goodbye."

He cried. He started to sob when he saw it. But they knew this would come. After a moment he drew a heart in the snow and laid down by her words that would be erased with more snow. She lay down on the other side of her words, staring at him. She wanted to hold him. She wanted to wipe his tears and kiss his lips so fully that he would never forget her. That was the worst part. He would forget her. He was 16. He would fall in love and marry, have a family.

Analia knew it was time. She stood up and felt weightless, pain washed over her, jolting down her spine. She cried out, dropping her bag and then all noise was silenced. She heard nothing. Kai still cried but she couldn't hear it.

She looked down at herself. Analia smiled. She was a new woman. Her stomach was swollen with her baby, their baby. Maybe the gods had answered his prayers. She knelt down and took a deep breath. No one said what happens when the baby comes, but no miracle girl is ever seen again. She hiked up her dress and pushed with everything she had. Miracle girls vanished with the snowfall so she didnt know what to expect when having a baby. Her mom told her how painful it was, but there was no pain. Blood, yes, other things she didnt recognize, yes. But no pain.

Soon a baby came and she fell in love in a whole different way. She looked at kai wishing desperately he could just see, just once, see the little girl they created.

"Kai!" She said gleefully because it was like he was looking right at her.

"Analia, how, how-

"I dont know! Your prayers!" She said so completely in awe of the happiness in her heart. He peeked in her arms and kissed her soundly.

"Let's go home." He said. Home? She got to go home?

They started to walk and people stared. They clapped and shouted in shock. The little girl cried announcing their arrival to her home. Her mother screamed when she saw her, obviously she had been crying.

"Mom." She whispered.

Kai took the baby to get cleaned up and analia felt like everything would be okay. Everything was fine.

It was still snowing, so she stepped outside with her mom and saw that she still made no mark in the snow.

"Is you're heart still broken?" Her mom asked.

Analia pulled her dress down slightly and saw on her collarbone that her heart was no longer broken.

"How did you know?" She gasped.

"Its rare. But miracle girls can find their way back if their love is true. My sweet girl." She hugged her daughter.

Years went by and the snow never stopped for more than a day. She never made a mark in it, never felt the cold for a single second, and watching her daughter grow up, with kai, was a joy she thought she would never have.

Her daughter's name was kodaline. Today she was coming into the snow and kai stopped in his tracks. Koda hadnt been in the snow before this time. She didnt make a mark. There was no mark on her skin anywhere to mark her as a miracle girl. There was actually another one in the village now.

Kai and analia decided to keep it to themselves.

All analia knew is she didnt hate the snow anymore. It was beautiful. It brought her her wonderful family. Her mom and dad loved their granddaughter to the fullest and kai never complained. He loved her. Her heart was full and everything was just right, with snow in the air, she flopped onto the ground and wished she could make a snow angel because she must have had one that day.

"No, you're the snow angel."

Analia sat up quickly. No one was there but koda and Kai.

"The lore has been washed away. You create the elements. Weve been watching from afar and you dear are the most gifted snow angel there ever was. We will be in touch."

Analia looked over at kai and thought to herself, nothing good last forever. She watched koda try and make her own angel with Kai.

It wouldnt work. She...she was a snow angel too. Miracle girls...werent cursed. They were Angel's, creatures the gods mated with eons ago.

She would wait to tell kai. All she knew is she had a paradise here in Bravura and no one was going to take it from her.