winter tale

Whispers of Winter: Unveiling the Mysteries of the Snowy Season

• Short story
• Poetry

								
It’s the 21st of December. I always look forward for this time of year. It's my favorite time of the year when the whole world changes color. Where you can see and feel the glistening snow, the feeling of the frosty air stinging your cheeks. The way the cold air escapes your mouth when ever you speak. Winter. How I love winter. I got up this morning at 2:23 am. I got up and grabbed a coat from my hanger, turned on the coffee machine and walked to my balcony and slid the door open. I put my arms on the balcony banister, I can feel it. It wasn’t on the forecast this morning, but I can feel it, I always know, I can smell it. I love winter, I love going sledding, and also one of my favorite winter activities snowboarding, building a snowman, having an epic snowball fight with friends, snowshoeing, watching snowfall, baking cooking with my family every other week, and- I knew it. It's snowing. I went inside and poured myself a cup of coffee and put on my cozy blizzard crochet hat that my friend Lauren made for me last winter and walked back to balcony and enjoyed my cup of coffee while watching the snow fall. It's now 7:50 am, I slept outside on the balcony. I woke up late for school because I hadn’t heard my alarm ring. "Cj what are you doing still not up the bus leaves at 8:15!!'' my mom yells. "I know I accidentally fell asleep on the balcony last night and couldn’t hear the alarm clock." I got up fast, brushed my teeth grabbed my backpack and my breakfast and ran to the front door. "WAIT I'm RIGHT HERE!!" I said waving as I watched the bus leave. "Great now I have to walk to school." As I was walking on my way to school I saw this PERFECT pair of sledding items on the display window of a winter sports shop. But it was really, really expensive, I could never afford that kinda money. I was thinking right at that moment about getting a summer job next summer and save up to buy one for next winter, but I don’t even think a minimum wage job in one summer can get me anywhere with getting even half of that money. I arrived at school 5 minutes late and sat down next to Lauren and Ann, my two best friends, the best people on earth. "What happened? Why weren’t you on the bus this morning?'' I woke up late and had to walk to school. Good thing I did though I saw this perfect snowboarding pack of stuff, I looked at it, and it was calling out my name, it's mine, I want, no in fact I need it. "So? Did you end up buying it? Or are you planning to?" "No. Not yet at least, not in the next to decades. It was $700 I can NOT afford that kind of money." "Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe we can find another way though." Ann said. "I hope so." The bell rings. Lauren and I have English class next. So we walked there together. "Cj look!" as she pointed to an ad poster in the hallway. I began reading it as we got closer. It was a poem contest, "poetic showdown. Write your own original poem, winner receives a cash prize of $750." "Omg omg omg omg." We both screamed at the same time. "You HAVE to participate in this. You can buy that snowboard collection you like." Right. But Lauren is forgetting one thing. I cannot for the life of me write a poem, and definitely not an award-winning one. "Yeah but Lauren I cannot write poems, I can barely even write." "It's okay, you'll figure it out Cj you always do don’t worry!" Lauren said. Lauren gave me the courage and I signed up for the contest. The school day ended, and I went home and told my mom about my whole day. She got excited for me and wished me good luck. I still have two more weeks to write this poem. The first thing I did was go up to my room, googled tips on writing poems and started following them, first I needed something to write about. I chose roses , since they were the first suggestion on Google. And I went to a public library took my laptop and my AirPods put on my favorite playlist and took my pen and paper and nothing, literally noting, my mind was blank, I couldn’t think of what to write. I spent hours writing then tearing up the paper scrambling it then throwing it to the side. I spent the whole day in this terrible cycle. I gave up. Not only that, but I went home exhausted and disappointed. My mom noticed my shallow and gloomy face. "What's going on? Are you okay?" "Yeah I just couldn’t think of what to write for my poem. It's okay though I still have two weeks more to think." "It's okay sweetheart you’re a smart creative young girl I know you can do it." "Thanks mom." I got up to my room and fell asleep. The next morning I woke up and it was a Saturday morning. I can start with my poem with no distractions of school or anything. I poured a glass of coffee and put my headphones on and spent the whole evening in my room writing, erasing, scrambling, over and over. "No this isn’t good enough" "no I hate this" "what even is this" "what does that even mean." This was the hardest task I have ever gone through. I took my headphones out. The next few days I just focused on school work and took a break from the contest. "How's the poem going ceej?" Ann asked. "Not good. Not good at all I can even think of one word to write. I have no inspiration at all. There's only 3 days left and to be honest I think I'm gonna bow out because I honestly just can't do it." Ann looked at my direct in the eyes and said "Look I know it can be tough but remember that I believe in you, we all do. Me , Lauren ,your mom and most importantly you have to believe in your self too, you can do it. Go get that snowboard." Ann's words really encouraged me and put my hopes up. I got home from school and sat on my porch next to my cat Milo. I took my notebook out but still nothing. I started to think about how I'm gonna disappoint my mom and my best friends and myself. I laid back on the chair and forgot about the poem and started talking with Milo about how I love winter and about the weather today and spent a whole five minutes talking about it. Then I suddenly got up from my chair and started talking about how much I love winter on my empty notebook page, of course I erased and scrambled a bit but after two days I've finally done it. I wrote a poem! I got so happy I called Lauren and Ann as soon as possible to tell them, they were so happy for me. The next morning I went to the school theater and saw all the people performing their poems. I went backstage and started rehearsing my poem. "Carissa jade." I'm up next. I walked up to the stage, and started: In winter's embrace, the world turns cold A blanket of snow, a sight to behold. Frosty breath in the crisp, chilly air, Nature's stillness, a moment so rare. Frosty flakes falling from the sky, covering the ground, oh, how they fly. Trees adorned in glistening white, sparkling like diamonds in the soft moonlight. Footprints left in the freshly fallen snow, A path to follow, where it may go. The sound of laughter, bundled up tight, As friends gather 'round, their spirits alight. Warm fires crackling, a cozy retreat, hot cocoa sipped, a winter's sweet treat. Snuggled under blankets, stories unfold Winter's magic, a tale to be told. My friends and family and everybody that was there started clapping and I felt so proud of myself. Even if I didn’t win, I did this. After a couple of minutes everybody was done with their poems, and it was now time for the judges to decide. ""Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce the winner of this poem showdown… Carissa jade!" I was shocked and happy and couldn’t and still cannot express my happiness at that moment. I got up the stage and said " I would just like to say thank you to my mother and my two besties Ann and Lauren I literally wouldn’t have been here without them and their help and support and encouragement." I was handed an award "Congratulations Carissa on your outstanding achievement!"
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