The Little Snowflake

            It was dark and silent. All to be heard was the wind, roaring like the angry and violent monster that it truly is. Something dark moved through the small town and across the white landscape of snow and ice. A person. They wore a pitch-black cloak that covered their head and body. There was white hair poking through it, along with pale skin. Their face was thin, a woman. Her cheeks were a rosy pink, from the cold, just like her thin lips. Her eyes were hidden by the cloak, but what really stood out the most about her, was the bundle of light blue blankets in her arms.

            Her cloak was flying behind her, revealing a long and thin white dress, due to the harsh winds and snow. She was pushing herself through the mounds of snow in her path. She grimaced at a particularly cold breeze that stung her cheeks. She finally came to a halt in front of a small and snow-covered house. A bright light shone through one of the windows.

            The cloaked figure crept closer to the window, peeking inside. A young woman with short blonde hair pulled into a small pony tail was revealed. She had tanned skin and beautiful sky-blue eyes. She wore a simple gray sweater and white pajama pants. She was smiling at the young boy that was playing in front of her. Her smile was small, but it showed a tremendous amount of love for the adorable boy that was crouched before her, playing with small toy cars.

            An older man suddenly appeared in the doorway to the living room. The boy obviously shared the man’s raven black hair. He also had his father’s pointed nose, thin lips, and high cheekbones. He had his mother’s blue eyes and tan skin tone.

            The man wore a bright and wide smile as he gazed upon his small but happy and beautiful family. He finally turned to his 6-year-old son and tip toed towards him. The boy continued playing with his toy cars, oblivious to the ridiculously tall man sneaking up behind him.

            The man, suddenly and silently, picked the boy up earning a high pitch shriek in surprise and placed him up on his broad shoulders. The loud and happy laughter could be heard from outside the closed and frosted window. The cloaked figure could still be seen looking inside at the small loving family.

            The woman smiled, almost sadly, at the scene displayed before her. She knew that it was finally time. The family was perfect for her plans. She would come back when the time was right. How long she’d be gone, she doesn’t know, but she hopes that it wouldn’t be too long.

            She sadly walks to the front door of the small house. She gently, almost tenderly, places the bundle of blankets on the cold porch in front of the white door. The blankets revealed a pale face, a babe, barely a few days old. There was a tuft of white hair, a trait passed down from his mother, on his small head.

            The child was silently and peacefully sleeping, oblivious to what was about to happen. The woman placed something rather large around the baby’s chubby neck that was taken from her own. It was a necklace, much too large for him. On the end, held a small golden star with a silver crescent moon next to it. Engraved on the blue blanket wrapped around him, was a name. Daniel.

            “Farewell, my little snowflake. Know that I will always love you, to the moon and back.” The woman, tenderly caresses the baby’s cheek, crouched next to him, “Someday, I will return, but right now, it is much to dangerous for you to be with me. I’ll miss you, until then.” She softly whispers into his small ear.

            She then stood from her crouched position. She slowly, almost deliberately, walked to the menacing door before her. Tears began to roll down her rosy cheeks from her stormy grey eyes. “I’m sorry.” She whispered hoarsely. Before she could change her mind, she swiftly knocked on the door and ran, not to be seen for many years to come.

            A minute had passed in silence, when the white door finally creaked open. It was the same woman, from moments before, that was seen inside. She looked around, confusion in her eyes.

            “Who would play a prank in this kind of weather?” She asked herself, shocked that someone would go so far for a measly laugh. It was then that she chanced a look down. Her sky-blue eyes widened in disbelief.

                “A child?” she questioned, still in disbelief. It was at that moment; the baby began twitching in discomfort. Large surprising golden eyes opened, revealing the child to be awake. The child began moving his head this way and that. It was almost like he was looking for something, obviously his mother that moments before ran away. His eyes started welling up with tears of distress.

            “Oh no, oh no, don’t cry.” The woman picked the baby up and gently started rocking him. “Please, don’t cry. Everything will be alright.”

            Her soothing and kind words were lost upon the child as he let out a wail anyways. The cry echoed through the still open door and into the house. The house that was previously full of joyous laughter was now full of a child’s cry for a lost loved one.

            “Janet, who on earth is at the door?!” The man from earlier appeared in the cold doorway.

            “Oh, Haden. I opened the door only to find the baby. Just look at it’s eyes.” She said, obviously distressed over the whole situation. “What do we do?” She asked, hoping he would have all the answers to this shocking problem.

            The man, now known as Haden, looked thoughtfully at the small wailing baby. He sighed.

            “Bring it in, the cold won’t do the child any good. It looks to be only a couple days old.” Janet looked relieved and let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in.

            They both walked into the house, closing and locking the door behind them. As the two of them walked through the hallway the, the baby began to settle down. Hiccups and quiet sniffles were let out every now and then as the baby looked around curious. Pictures of the family together and individually littered the white walls of the hallway. The baby began to tire as the couple got closer to the doorway near the end of the hallway.

            As they walked slowly through the hallway, Janet and Haden talked. Their words, becoming harsh whispers through the all but silent house. They whispered, as to not wake their young son, whom was put to bed when the parents heard the knocking on the wood door.

            “I know what you’re thinking Janet, and the answer is no.” Haden glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He saw how she clenched her fists while at the same time keeping a gentle hold on the baby. He saw how she stared defiantly forward with her startling blue eyes, piercing the very air before her, like a knife cutting through butter. He also saw that she wouldn’t take no for an answer and that she would find a solution to get her way.

                This was why he fell in love with her. Yes, he mainly married her for her intoxicating looks, but he also fell for that stubbornness that possesses her when someone says no. He loves that determined look she gets when thinking up plots after plots to get her way. In the end, this is what causes a lot of fights between them. If it wasn’t for their son, Jason, they probably would have filed a divorce a year into their marriage.

                “So, you’re just going to give the baby away to a family that very well may be abusive?” She hatefully glared at him, “I thought you better than that, Haden.”

                “I know that you don’t like it Janet, but think about the financial situation. Do you really think we can handle another kid?” He tried to reason with her.

                “What financial situation?! You know what I think?” She moved right into his face, staring him down as if daring him to answer. They both stopped in the middle of the hallway. Everything became so silent that a pin dropping could break the tension in the hallway. “I think you’re just scared to take in another kid.”

                Janet suddenly and quietly sighed and turned to continue walking down the hall. It almost seemed like he won the argument, when she suddenly stopped to turn and look him in the eye. It seemed as if she was looking into his very being. She had seemed to find what she was looking for, because she turned away from him and went into the kitchen next to her. He quickly followed after and entered the large kitchen.

                Janet swiftly placed the now sleeping baby on the black marble counter next to the sink. She began to rummage through different drawers looking for something. The tiny baby looked to be soundly asleep, but if memory served Haden right, it wouldn’t last long. Janet’s voice pierced the silence, bringing Haden back to reality.

                “You and I both know that we have enough money to care for another child.” She quietly whispered and cut him off before he could rebuke her statement. “I only ask that you’d give it a chance.” She turned to face him and he saw the desperation, pleading with him, in her eyes.

                “Think of Jason. He has been begging for a younger sibling. He doesn’t even care if it’s a boy or girl. He’d be ecstatic when he sees the baby, but that happiness will disappear when he realizes you mean to give it away. Do you really want that on your conscious?” She asked him. “ Just look at the baby, really look at it, before you answer the question.”

                Janet already knew his answer before he even spoke. It was clear in the way he gazed at the child sleeping on the kitchen counter wrapped in blue blankets. He took in the child’s pale skin and rosy cheeks. The white tuft of hair resting atop the small head and the closed eyelids hiding sunny golden eyes. He the saw the name engraved on the blanket, wondering how he and Janet never saw it. Haden knew, in that moment, that he would love this small child until the day he died.

                He lovingly sighed, “Ok. Welcome to the family, Daniel.”

                It was that one sentence that brought many years of laughter and tears. Years of precious memories. One sentence that made a previously small and content family truly whole. And Haden loved that child until the day that he did die. Little did Haden know, that the child he allowed into his family and home, would change the world as they knew it.