Sn0w Whit3

Yay for reasons to celebrate!

I bit my lip and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel of my minivan. It had begun to rain, and the brilliant red from the spotlight bled down with the beads of water as they struck my windshield. I ducked my head and looked at Ryker out of the corner of my eye; he was staring ahead. Completely content. He had a natural smile, the kind that never made people say "What's wrong?" If you were just not talking. I wondered why I had never seen him in school; he wasn't that much older than me.

He broke the silence first; "Sorry the sky is crying."

"What?" I asked, turning away from the road as the light turned green. A car behind me honked it's horn. I went forward and then turned right into the 24 hour gym.

"Your parents never told you that the sky is crying when it starts to rain?" He looked at me, as if I was wearing a dozen balloons over my face.

"Not exactly." I said. I pulled out my phone to tell Mallory I was here, but she had already gotten into the back seat and slammed the door.

"Ugh, you will not believe what my boss said to me today, Athena. I cannot believe it. There I was, minding my own business, trying to train this guy, and I must admit, he was pretty hot, and then--Who are you?" She spotted Ryker.

"A friend of your sister's." He said smoothly. "My name is Ryker."

"My sister has friends?" Mallory asked, raising an eyebrow. I shot her a look and she cleared her throat. "Do you have a last name, Ryker?"

"Halau. Ryker Halau."

"Nice to meet you, Ryker Halau." Mallory crossed her legs and took out her phone. I shrugged and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Which way to your house?" I asked him. He told me how to get to Rosewood Avenue and I drove there quietly. We seemed to have a lot of the same interests; we both listen to Billy Joel, watch Star Wars and old silent movies and love kids. We talked about how classy Audrey Hepburn was and how much we loved watching Mythbusters blow things up.

He directed me to a large house at the end of the road, the kind with a wraparound porch and columns in the front. From what I could see through the rain, there was a large garden off to the side. A four car garage met my car at the end of the driveway.
Ryker opened the door and smiled at me. “Thank you for driving me home, Athena. Maybe I can call you? I nodded and wrote my number quickly on an old McDonalds napkin. He smiled and shut the door, walking at a normal pace to the door, despite the rain.

Mallory clambered up to the front seat and paused, looking out the window, than back at me. “Who is he?”

“Just this guy I met at work today.” I said, putting the car into reverse and backing up the immense driveway.

“Just a guy, really? Just a guy who I happened to drive home, and who happened to be extremely hot!” Mallory struggled to see the last few glimpses of the house. “I didn’t even know people this rich existed here in Danbury.

“You learn something new every day.” I told her, getting onto the high way. She rolled her eyes deeply.

“Do you like him?”

“No! I just met him today!”

“So? Ever heard of love at first sight?”

“That’s just a load of crap made up by insecure people who become infatuated with whatever stranger they happen to see at a bar.” I pushed my glasses further up my nose.

“Oh please, Athena! Don’t you remember the story about how Mom and Dad met? Tell me that was not love at first sight.”

“That was not love at first sight. They met through a mutual friend at a party and saw each other several times after that before Dad finally asked her out. That isn’t even close to love at first sight.”

“You wouldn’t be denying it so much unless you really did like him.” Mallory’s mouth got as close to an evil grin as it could get.

“Keep telling yourself that, kid.” I told her.

We stopped at the grocery store and sped through the aisles, picking up a solid amount of food for the upcoming weekend, and the start of next week. Blank-faced clerks scanned food and asked if it was cash or credit. Ominous music played in the background. I thought about how this would be the perfect moment for the lights to turn out, and for all of us to be trapped in a horror movie. But I had just watched a few horror movies, so maybe I was just being a bit over dramatic.

“Let’s get ice cream!” Mallory said as we rounded the corner into the frozen food section.

“Mallory, we’re not buying ice cream.” I told her firmly, reaching into the cold fridge and emerging with a few pizzas.

“Why? Come on! The little kids haven’t had ice cream in forever, and you said it yourself; it’s too expensive to go out and get ice cream. We can make sundaes tomorrow! It’ll be so much fun for them.” She put her hands together in front of my face and puffed out her lower lip, pouting.

“Alright, alright! We can buy some ice cream for the kids.” She jumped up and down like a two year old who’s just found out that Santa brought them a brand new doll. “I swear, Mallory. Sometimes I think that you’re the kid.”

“What does that make you, the adult?” She teased, running to the end of the aisle to pick up the ice cream.

“Ha, ha.”

We paid for our food and headed back out toward the car. The rain had let up, but it was still enough that our hair was quite wet when we got back inside and started driving home.

Eryn greeted me at the door and ran out to the van to help with the rest of the bags. We unloaded them quickly so nothing would melt, hiding the ice cream in the back of the freezer where the twins wouldn’t see it when they went to make their waffles the next morning.

“How’s Mom?” I asked. Eryn shrugged. She didn’t have much patience for our mother, and there had been times that she had just screamed at her because she was so fed up with it. Not that I blamed her, I felt that way sometimes too. But it didn’t do much good to yell at her; nothing changed. So instead we continued to throw out bottles that we found in the house, upset because they were often expensive. I nodded at Eryn and headed up the stairs into her room, surprised to find her awake and watching television.

“Hey, Mom.” I said, pulling the elastic out of my hair and shaking my wet curls around.
“Athena. How was work?” She looked at me with bright red eyes and set aside the bowl of popcorn that she was eating.

“It was fine. I just wanted to check up on you.”

“You don’t have to check on me, Athena. I can take care of myself.” I bit my lip again. “You already do too much for me. Come, sit. I want to talk to you.” I kicked off my shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed before she compelled me to sit closer. “I’m going to get sober, Athena. You watch. I can do it. I’ll go to some AA meetings, and get myself all straightened out. You won’t have to do all of the work of the family anymore. It’ll be just like it’s supposed to be. And I’ll try and find someone nice to date and maybe marry eventually; someone who’ll take care of the eight of you and keep you safe, protect you the way that I failed to as a mother.” I nodded as she continued her speech. I’d heard it before, it was nothing new; always the same. The next day, she’d be passed out drunk on the kitchen floor by the time I got home.

“Okay, Mom.” I kissed her forehead and headed into my room where Mallory was already snuggled into bed, asleep. I turned on the TV and it was automatically on Mythbusters. I laughed at the irony and lowered the volume, heading down the hall into Patrick’s room.

A guitar lay in the corner, a few shirts covering it. A chair was covered with even more clothes, and finally Patrick, laying in his bed, talking on the phone. He put up a finger to tell me to wait, and I nodded and sat down at the foot of his bed.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, okay, sweetie? We can go to the mall or something after I work. Alright, love you too.” He hung up his cell phone and looked at me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing really, I’m just kind of upset. Mom gave me the sober speech again.” I scratched a bug bite on my arm and then looked up in time to see Patrick roll his eyes.

“Oh please, Athena. You know how she is. She just says that to say it. She doesn’t really mean any of it. If she meant it, she would have gotten sober two years ago.”

“I know.” I scratched at my arm farther. “It just upsets me. She says it all the time, and each time, a part of me hopes that she’ll change, even though the better judging part of me knows that nothing will happen.

“It’s okay, Athena. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be a miracle.” I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, Patrick.”

“Night, Athena.” I closed his door as I went out, and went into the twin’s room, then Dylan’s to check that they were sleeping. Eryn was sleeping too, and the baby was quietly snoring. I went back into my room and changed, getting into bed. I checked my phone. A new text message was waiting for me from a number I didn’t recognize.

Hey, Athena. It’s Ryker. I had a really good time, even though you only drove me home. Maybe next time we’ll actually get to go grocery shopping together. Oh well. Goodnight.

I smiled at the text message before turning off the lamp and letting my head hit the pillow so I could fall asleep.

Mythbusters PWN.

Can't wait for more! (: Only thing is it's a bit short, but apparently you're still writing it.

Yeah, that chapter isn't finished, but Lost was coming on.
And in my house, everything stops when Lost comes on. Especially because the last episode ever is on Sunday. Sadface.

"Sorry the sky is crying." Hehe, I love that line. x3 How do you always manage to make your stories so entertaining but meaningful at the same time? *-*

I am getting ADDICTED to this story!!! I've never heard any others this good!!! It's AWESOME!!

shadowsowner888 wrote:"Sorry the sky is crying." Hehe, I love that line. x3 How do you always manage to make your stories so entertaining but meaningful at the same time? *-*

I don't know... I just make the characters talk like people with their own personalities. I don't know what you mean by meaningful...

SoxPaws wrote:I am getting ADDICTED to this story!!! I've never heard any others this good!!! It's AWESOME!!

Oh, good. That means a lot to me. Thank you.

No problem, Keri. I'm serious, I think this is the best one on the site so far.

Thank you very much. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I posted the rest of chapter three.

It's so flipping awesome! You can totally tell that Ryker and Athena will end up together.

Well, by meaningful, I mean they're not just shallow stories. :3 They have points, they're mature, they're real.

The rest of the chapter was great!

Jesus4Eternity wrote:It's so flipping awesome! You can totally tell that Ryker and Athena will end up together.

Thank you.

shadowsowner888 wrote:Well, by meaningful, I mean they're not just shallow stories. :3 They have points, they're mature, they're real.

The rest of the chapter was great!

Ah, I see. Thank you.

Chapt3r 4

I twitched awake from sleeping at a steady beeping that I didn’t recognize at first. I catapulted out of bed and sprinted down the hall. The smoke detector was going off like crazy, the smoke parading of the kitchen oven. My mother lied in front of the oven, passed out. I didn’t know whether she was drunk or not, but she was definitely not anywhere close to consciousness. I dragged her out of the kitchen and then sprinted into Patrick’s room.

“Patrick! Patrick, wake up!” I screamed, throwing clothes at him to wake him up.

“Whuah..?” He groaned as he squinted at the bright lights of his room.

“There’s a fire in the kitchen; we have to get everybody up. Go get Eryn and have her help you get the little kids while I get Mallory to help me.” I screamed as I ran out the door. I ran into my room and shook Mallory, who responded immediately and jumped out of bed. I grabbed my cell phone and then we went over to pick up Mom and take her out of the house. The twins ran out behind us, followed by Dylan and Eryn. Patrick held Genesis close to him. She screamed into his chest as he ducked out of the house. I dialed 911 as fast as I could, fumbling over the buttons.

“Nine, one, one, what is your emergency?” A cool voiced woman said.

“My house, there’s a fire. Fifteen West King Street. There’s no one inside, we got everyone out safely with no injuries, except to my mom. It’s in the kitchen. Please, come!” I screamed at her.

“It’s okay, Miss. Someone will be there very, very shortly. Would you like me to stay on the line with you?”

“No it’s okay, we’ll be fine until someone gets here.” I hung up the phone as Dylan tugged at my shirt.

“What?” I asked.

“Mr. Guppy and Biter are still in there!” Dylan squealed. I groaned at my misfortune and handed the phone to Patrick, just in case. I sprinted inside and recoiled at the force of the thickest smoke that I had ever seen or felt. I coughed sporadically and dove through the black smoke, headed to the heart of the house using only my memories.

My eyes were closed as I felt my way past the heat of the kitchen and trudged through more smoke on my way to Dylan’s room. I picked up the turtle out of the tank, avoiding it’s bite, and then scooped up the fishbowl. I remembered that the twins had hermit crabs living in their room, and I couldn’t leave them behind.

I pulled the collar of my shirt up over my nose and mouth, taking a large, deep breath before submerging myself to the smoke. It hit me like a wall as I opened the door, and the heat was nearly unbearable to my face. I held the animals close to me as I slunk further down the hall into the twins room to pick up their hermit crabs.

I grabbed them and then turned back as more smoke funneled in behind me. I looked out the window, but it was the highest point of the house. I figured I could get back to the front of the house, using Dylan’s room as a base so I could get another deep breath before running as fast as I could to the front door. I braced myself and dove back toward his room.

A crack made me freeze right before I opened his door. I watched as the floor in front of me crumbled, and the heavy smoke sunk straight into it, heavier than the air. I screamed and ran into Dylan’s room. I went over to the window and flung it open, punching the screen out, scratching the knuckles on my right hand.

“Patrick!” I screamed. He spotted me and handed my phone to Eryn, running toward me.
“Athena, you have to jump. The guys are working on going at the fire from the outside, but the structure of the house is too unstable where you are, they can’t get to you.” The words haunted me. I wasn’t going to make it.

“I can’t jump from here, I’ll die!” I paused and looked at the pets in my hand. “You have to catch these, I’ll drop them down, please, please catch them!” Another crash behind me made me turn around; the fire was eating through the wood floors and starting on the same wood floors that covered our basement. I swore under my breath and then turned back to Patrick.

“Drop them.” He said. I nodded and dropped the turtle, followed by the tank with the hermit crabs. He caught both perfectly. Then I dropped the fish bowl. Half the water spilled over the edge, but Mr. Guppy survived in the remaining water.

I turned around as the frame of the door began to crack. I thought about what would happen when the fire reached the oil tank, and shuddered. What had Mythbusters said about the oil tanks? I couldn’t remember in my panic.

I figured that I had to get as far away from the pending explosion as I could before it happened. I dove into the back of Dylan’s closet, and I saw a small box. It was wooden, with intricate markings that covered the front and sides. I doubted that Dylan even knew it was in there. I opened it to find pictures of my father when he was young, my mother when he was young and them together, pictures of us as babies, family portraits from the year before Genesis was born and other memories.
A tear rolled down my face. I brushed it away and grabbed the box, running back to the window.
“Patrick? Patrick!” I screamed.

“I’m right here!” He yelled back.

“This too. This needs to be saved.” I dropped it and he caught it, unsure of what it was, but willing to keep it if it was important to me.

He nodded and then ran off to stay with the children. I saw the fire trucks, desperately trying to fix the fire that was eating our memories.

Another crack behind me made me jump. The floor beneath my feet cracked and sagged. I grabbed onto the area rug and hung on. The floor collapsed completely. I hung on for dear life.

I remembered strange things, my father telling me that he loved me the day before he died. My mother, kissing me, helping me open my presents when I was four. The day Genesis was born, the day Mom had her first drink. I remembered my night with Ryker last night. I remembered everything, I just hoped that I would be able to say tomorrow that I remembered what happened today.

The heat on my hand was getting worse. I looked below me. The floor was ten feet down, a broken ankle, at least, not to mention the oil tank was down there. But better to let go than to fall. I let go of the rug and felt the sharp crack as my ankle hit the floor of our basement. I screamed out in pain, and looked around. I was still in the fire. I jumped up, grabbing onto the nearest wall and trying to work my way to the opposite side of the room before it would explode.

My ankle killed as I trudged over, smoke engulfed my lungs and blurred my vision, making me forget what I was trying to do. I shook my head and took another step, falling straight into a small pool of burning fire. My arm screamed in the pain of the fire, and pieces of the floor above me started to fall. One fell directly on my ankle, impairing me I couldn’t move under the burning piece of debris. I held my breath and hoped for the best.

The explosion was immense, it knocked the piece off the floor above me off of me, and into the wall next to me, but threw me at the wall. I felt my head crack against the wall behind me, and felt the fire of the explosion with every fiber of my body. I fell, limp to the ground, more of my body was broken than I could count. But I prayed that my family was okay. I looked up, and I could see the stars right before a voice rang out.

It sounded like my father’s.

Yay! Are you gonna write it sooooon?

Maaaaaaaaaybe.

Pleeeeeeese?

Okay. I just wanted to write a blog post before I wrote some more.

Yay! *hyper* MOREMOREMORE

Lol, Amanda.

Okay, Chapter four is up.

Chapter 5 will be here when it is written.

OMG. o.0 Scary. Mooooooore.

Tomorrow.
I'm trying for a chapter a day, so you should see more tomorrow.

Yay!

*hyperventilating* THE MAIN CHARACTER CAN'T DIE IN CHAPTER FOUR!!!! YOU CAN'T WRITE A BOOK ABOUT A FUNERAL!!!!!!

Sorry, I'm melodramatic. xD

Fire... hmm, interesting twist. I loooooove it!

Yes, fire. And thank you.