Through the Window

Through the Window.

Cold.

Wet.

Slippery.

Dangerous.….

Those were the thoughts that were running through Jade’s mind as she watched the snowfall from her upstairs window. She hated wintertime. The snow brought to memory the accident that had happened three short years ago. She remembered the wetness, the cold as it seeped through her clothes, her skin, and right into her soul. 

It had been three years and she still didn't know how long she had been out in the weather and the nightmares still came and still kept her up at night. She would wake up after those dreams damp with sweat but the memory of that frigid, harsh night caused her whole body to quake, she would be shivering so hard.

As Jade looked out the window she couldn’t help but be transported back to that night. It was like any other night, she could still remember how the wind cause her hair to blow up off her shoulders and the exhilaration that set every fiber of her body on fire. She loved being out in the snow. The city looked like a huge snowglobe after a child had shaken it with abandon.

She had decided to take a shortcut home that ran through the park. She loved to see the trees on the walking trail after the snow had coated the branches. Her favorite part was seeing how the weak afternoon winter sun made the trees look like they were made of crystal. 

She had always took this route home after a snow and pretended to be a princess in some far off land made of nothing but ice. She could carry on with this daydream for hours on end. Sometimes to the point that when she finally made it home, her mother would be waiting at the door fussing about her getting frostbit. 

Jade would just tease her mother about being too protective after all, she couldn’t wrap her mind around something so magnificent be dangerous. This was what she had done for as long as she could remember, or at least as long as she had been old enough to venture outside without an adult.

As she rounded the corner, she could see the park a short way up ahead. Her forehead wrinkled as she felt a kind of gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach, almost a feeling of foreboding. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but something just felt different, off somehow. 

Ignoring what she chalked up to being a silly girls jitters she went into the park. She followed the crudely made wooden signs that pointed the way to the walking path. She was ready to escape into her private world of make-believe. Her own private wonderland. 

She got to the walking trail just as the sun dipped behind the clouds. The lack of light threw Jade into shadows but that was fine with her. She loved that the winter months keep most partons away from her special place. As she made her way along the twisted path deeper into the wooded area of the part she still could not shake the feeling of unease that crept up from somewhere deep in her heart. She resisted the urge to sprint back to the openness that was now just beyond her view.

Deeper and deeper she went on the path that she knew so well. She knew every twist and turn on the path, every hump in the dirt, and every rock in the path that might cause one to stumble. This was her special place and for some reason, she wanted to be anywhere else but there at the moment. 

She felt the wind pick up all around her and she noticed that the trees did not look so flattering in this light. She picked up her pace as she turned to look behind her, she was still the only one that was on the path. 

She was just being a silly girl she told herself. She was allowing her imagination to run away with her. She looked back once more to make sure she was alone. She turned around and ran into a fist that slammed into the side of her head. 

Jade saw black. Everything had gone black. All she could concentrate on was the throbbing of her head every time that her heart would beat and her heart was beating so fast in her chest it felt like hummingbird wings fluttering against her rib cage. 

Suddenly she was violently jerked up from the ground and hit again. This time she was rendered unconscious. The blow had split her lip and blood now oozed down her chin. Her face was already swelling and turning purple. As she lay there on the ground she started to feel herself come back around but couldn’t quite break through to the surface. She thought she could feel someone going through her pockets but it was too tempting to slip off into the nothingness that was trying to engulf her and that’s just what she did.

Jade woke up but couldn’t open her eyes her face hurt her head hurt and she was stiff. She tried to take a mental account of all her limbs. She couldn’t feel her legs, she couldn’t feel her hands, she couldn’t feel anything at all. She finally managed to get her eyes to corporate and open.  

The world around her was pitch black, the sky was overcast, and she had no clue what time it was or how long she had been there. She sat up enough to realize that she was covered in a blanket of snow and her body was so numb that she didnt know if she could manage to get off of the ground. 

She closed her eyes again and prayed to God that she was able to get up and move. She had never been so scared in all of her life. What happened? How did she get hurt in her perfect pretend world? What kind of monster would have done this to her in her own private place? 

This soundtrack of questions kept playing in her head as she tried to pull herself up into a sitting position. All at once a sharp heart-stopping pain that shot through her head. Had lightning struck her? 

She laid back down on the frozen ground. What was she going to do? She was in trouble here and she had to think of something fast. She imagined the blood in her veins turning into red crystals just like the crystals on the trees. She remembered her mother worrying about her staying out too long and getting frostbite. She thought about all the teasing she had put her mom through about being overprotective.

All of a sudden she remembered her cell phone in her back pocket. How could she have forgotten about the things she spent most of her life on? She reached in her pocket to get the phone. She was going to call……..

Her phone was not there. Where was her phone? She checked the rest of her pockets the best she could, only to find that they too were empty.  Slowly the memory of the hands in her pockets just before she lost consciousness came rushing back to her. 

She had been robbed! Someone had hit her and took her things. What if he/she was still there, in the woods, waiting to see if she was going to wake up? She was terrified. What the hell was she going to do now?

Somewhere inside her, she knew she had to find to will to get up off the ground and make it home. That was what it was going to take to save her life, Sheer will power and she knew it.

Once again, she tried to pull herself up and once again the pain struck. She did not lay back down this time. She knew if she did she would end up laying there and freezing to death.

The next thing she knew, she was up and running. She didn’t know how it had happened or where she got the strength from but she was doing it. This time as she passed the trees she did not stop to admire the beauty of nature.

She was running for her life. She rounded the last corner and saw the back of her house come into view. She had to keep going she couldn’t stop now. She took all she had and pushed her body to its breaking point. 

She made it to the stairs leading up to the wooden deck she had spent many hours playing on as a child. As she hit the top step, she hit the ice on the porch and fell face-first onto the porch. Once again her world faded to black.

When she awoke she was sore but warm, afraid to open her eyes again she listened to her surroundings and took note of what she felt. She was in a bed, she knew that much and the area smelled of chemicals, sterile ever. She could hear the low beeping of a machine close by. She was in the hospital! Thank God she was safe.

She sent a week in the hospital healing from her ordeal. She talked to numerous policemen and answered the same questions over and over. She had not seen him or her. She could not tell them anything. The police decided it was just a random mugging and the perpetrator was probably miles away.

The ride home was scarier for her than not knowing who had attacked her. She was still sore and her phone was gone but what was more important was that the love she had for the snow was gone. She could not even look out the window and watch it fall. When she tried she was ushered right back to the park and the freezing night she almost lost her life. 

Jade’s memories faded and she was back in the widow of her bedroom watching it snow. She knew today was going to be rough on her. Today she was taking back what had been stolen from her today she was going back to her favorite place! She refused to live in fear any longer. Three years of fear was enough. Yes, her mind was made up and she was ready to face her fears. Bundled from head to toe she headed to the door. 

Her heart felt like it was trying to beat free from her chest, her mind was racing, and she felt like she was going to pass out. Her hand shook as she reached out for the door. As she opened the door the sunlight hit her face making her squint. The sun was not strong today but it was bright enough to bother her eyes. She looked down at the ice-covered front porch and she took a deep breath and stepped out onto the porch and into her freedom……

By: Karen Dunaway