Sn0w Whit3

NNNNNNOOOOOHHH SHE CAN'T DIE!!!!! Well, maybe I should shut up. Of COURSE she can't, but she won't, will she? (At last I hope not)

We'll have to see.
It'd kind of make for an interesting twist, don't you think?

I don't know...I know I'D rather she live, but it's YOUR story.

Hehehe, that is true.

Ohmygosh. Keri! *-* I'm having an adrenaline rush right now! That chapter was so perfectly epic.

Thank you, Shadow.

Strange things happen when you dream, you realize that your life isn’t as bad as it sometimes seems. Sure, we have our flaws as a family; drunken mother, no father, eight kids… but, what family doesn’t have flaws? And, truth be told, aren’t we lucky that our flaws are this minimalistic? We do have a house to live in, after-all. Do we anymore?

“Hang on, miss, hang on.” I heard. My eyes drifted back and forth from an infinity of dreaming to the bright lights of the ambulance. At least, that’s where I assumed I was. The needles poking into my arms, and the tube of oxygen slapped to my face made me think so. I opened my eyes widely and stared above me, curious of what I was seeing.

“Where are the kids?” I tried to say. My speech was slurred and difficult to understand. The man above me made a face, but it was a kind, understanding face that said “I know what you’re saying; I hear it all the time.”

“The little ones are with the older boy; Patrick?” He asked. “Can you move your toes?”

I raised my eyebrows, thinking how odd of a question it was. I wiggled my toes fine, followed by my fingers and following his finger with my eyes. None of it was difficult.

The ambulance arrived at the hospital in a flash of red and blue lights, followed by sirens and stretchers. Nurses barked orders at each other on how to keep me alive. I don’t think they realized how alive I already was.

They scared me as they poked me with more and more needles. I found myself holding the fireman who had saved my life’s hand. It was rough from working in the extreme heat, but also gentle, like a kitten.

I grasped with my eyes at his light golden brown ones, glad as they caught me, and didn’t let go until I was rolling down the halls on a gurney, and even then, his rough velvet hands were still clutched in my own. The walls of the hospital were white, the ceiling white, the lights, white. Everything about this hospital screamed monochromatic to my eyes, which only hurt the headache I had more.

I assumed the nurses were saying something, though what it was, and whether or not it was directed at me was difficult to determine; one of the drugs they had given me made everything sound underwater. I felt my eyes dip backwards into the confines of my brain and I felt my will to stay awake follow it, giving up, defeated.


Children dressed brightly in dresses far too expensive for me to purchase danced around my legs; hitting them in the same places to the steady beat of a rhythmic drum that did not exist. They did the same on my hands, my face, my feet, my stomach, every inch of my being, pulsing with the rhythm of life and pain simultaneously.

I pushed the children away, trying desperately to get them to stop the rhythm, but they wouldn’t. They were latched on like leeches, stuck to me, sucking out more than blood; vital organs, and all of my energy. My legs began to feel heated, fire. There was fire near me where the children hit my legs.

I tried harder now, forcing them away, trying to get them off without hurting them. Still it did not cease. I began pushing them, throwing them, not caring whether they were hurt. It wouldn’t work.
I let out a scream.

“Whoa!” Patrick squealed, jumping up as I screamed. Nurses came running in from the door and began checking my vital signs, searching for the source of my scream. I focused on breathing and grabbed Patrick’s hand. “Are you okay?” He asked.

For the first time since the fire, and I didn’t know how long that was, I looked down at the rest of my body.

I was propped up in a hospital bed, gown and all. I pulled the blankets back to see that I had a cast on my right ankle, and bandages going up both of my legs. My left arm wrapped in bandages splinted. My right had barely anything on it, a few bandages, including one on my knuckles. My head was wrapped with bandages, and I felt scratches along my face. I was having trouble breathing, and judging from how I couldn’t move, I guessed that a few of my ribs were broken.

Tears fell off my face onto the hospital gown. I ignored them and turned back to Patrick. “Where are the kids?”

“Don’t worry, all of them but Eryn are with Mallory. Eryn is down the hall with Mom in case she wakes up again.”

“Mom was awake? What did she say?”

“She’s fine, don’t worry. She said that she was stupid. She got drunk in the middle of the night and was hungry, so she tried to make herself something to eat, but she passed out. She can’t believe that she was the one who started the fire.” He paused, as if he was unsure whether he could go on. “She’s checking herself into rehab as soon as she’s discharged from the hospital.” My eyes widened.

“I seriously doubt that, Patrick. It’s not even funny that she can joke around with us like that after she nearly killed all of us.”

“She feels horrible, Athena.”

“Since when are you sticking up for her? She’s the one who put us in this situation, and I don’t want to hear it. She can go to rehab for all I care. Good, all it’ll mean is that we don’t have to spend the money on her alcohol anymore. Better for the family.” I looked away from him toward the windows.

“God, Athena, how can you do that? She’s given us so much—” I looked directly back at him, my eyes like daggers as I interrupted him.

“She has given us nothing. Don’t you get that? We’ve provided for the rest of the family—”

“For two years! Who took care of you the other seventeen years that you were alive?”

“Dad did. He did all the hard work. Mom did nothing.”

“Dad’s dead, Athena. Mom is all we have.”

The door creaked open and we looked up to the sight of a firefighter. He seemed farmiliar, though I couldn’t exactly place where I knew him from.

“I hope I’m not interrupting something…” He said. I narrowed my eyes. “Hi.” He looked at me. His eyes were soft, and caring. They darted around the room, as if looking for something to save.

“Hello.” I answered. My tone was flat and unemotional, almost judgmental.

“I… I wanted to come and see that you were okay.” His fingers twitched nervously together, his whole body seemed nervous.

He had crystal blue eyes, the kind you see in movies, and sandy blond hair. He reminded me of my father, but in a younger, burlier way. Moving toward me, he sat down next to my bed in the chair closest to the windows. His hand hovered over mine. I stared at it, almost daring him to touch me and see what would happen.

The moment I felt his rough hand, a thousand memories flitted back into my brain.

“It’s you.” I said.

“Who are you?” Patrick asked.

“My name is Zac. Zac Coleman.” He answered. I stared into his crystal eyes, trying to think of the perfect way to say thank you. They all sounded too corny for my taste…

“Okay…” Patrick caught my gaze. “I’m going to go check on Mom, Athena. Come find me if you need me.” I nodded as he left.

“I…”

“You don’t have to thank me.” He interrupted. I was taken aback. “I was only doing my job.” Zac looked down at me with those crystal eyes. I felt my body freeze over in molten ice as he scouted my cuts and bruises. “Apparently I didn’t do too good a job, you’re looking pretty broken to me…”

“You did what you were supposed to do.” I sighed, it hurt my ribs. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have gone back inside.”

“It was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen a nineteen year-old girl do.” He said. I felt my cheeks flush with happy embarrassment.

“I’m sure you say that to all of your damsels in distress.” I told him, attempting to brush a piece of hair out of my face. It hurt my arm, and I paused and put my hand back down.

His gentle touch brushed the piece of hair away for me. “I don’t meet many damsels with two full time jobs and seven kids to look after, who still manage to fight fires to save turtles and gold fish.”

“Don’t forget about the hermit crabs.” I laughed, though it hurt.

He chuckled. “You’re an amazing person.”

I looked down, away from him. I had never been treated like this before. It was an odd feeling. “You’re not so bad yourself.” I told him. His grin widened to stretch to his ears.

“I… I don’t… I don’t want…”

“You don’t have to say it. Am I too young for you?”

“What? No! Of course not. I’m only twenty-two! It’s just… I don’t want things to happen too fast. It might… not be good. And you have so many kids to look after, especially with your mom going into rehab soon.”

“How did you hear about that?”

“I could hear through the door… You guys were talking kind of loud.”

“Oh, I guess we were.” Guilt pulled at my heartstrings. I needed to apologize to Patrick. “Zac, I don’t want things to happen to quickly either. After the fire and everything, we don’t even have a place to stay, and—”

“He didn’t tell you? You guys are going to be staying in the firehouse with us for a while. It’s the least we can do. You don’t have any money or anything…”

“I know.” I looked up at him, and put my hand on the side of his face. It poked me slightly. He reached up and put his hand on top of mine, and we sat there for several minutes.

....dude, that's awesome.

But who's Zac?

The fireman from the beginning of the chapterrrrrrrrrr.

Oh, right. xD

Oooh la la. :33 I like this feller.

Me toooooo.

I just finished reading it! I love it, I can wait to read more! It was beyond awesome! Be-awesome!

Haha, thank you very much.

Ooh, I like this! It's very good.

Thank you very much.
Actually, this is on hiatus until I'm finished completely with my first TwigWriSum novel. :/

Congratz on getting this featured!

Thanks.

I like this story I'm gonna keep reading as you post more

Really good story! i really like it so far! But im slightly confused. at the beginning fo the chapter you said that he had brown eyes and then he had blue eyes at the end of the chapter. mabey im just reading it wrong. i dont know... anyways great job

this is so cool it should be an rp
AWSOME WORK

Thank you.
Edit: I'm working on this story right now... You may see some of it today.

Yay! Can't wait!