Chapter 1
Her first experience with ice wasn't all that fascinating. No, not something as simple as an ice cube, though the clusters of frozen water and trapped pockets of air were admittedly just a little bit fascinating...In that early December morning was her very first snowfall. At first it wasn't anything too spectacular; she’d stirred awake in the middle of the night parched and decided to trudge down to the kitchen for a glass of water and that was when she saw it. White, feathery blobs that seemed to dance carelessly past her window, landing on the frigid ground, adding to the ever growing sheet of virgin snow that was already there prior.
Amelia Riga was Italian born and raised. Not once could she remember it actually snowing in Rome sure, there were a few, large rainstorms, but for it to actually snow in Rome was almost unheard of. Not even her grandfather had experienced such weather in sweltering, sunny Italy. She could remember being able to sunbathe atop her roof well into the fall months and only being a little bit chilly, the act came much to the dismay of her parents and delight of the neighbors. Many afternoons were spent sprawled out next to Eliseo, her little brother, pretending to be annoyed with his constant chattering, but actually feeling completely content and even a bit lethargic in the lazy afternoon sun. That was when life was easy and simple.
And then they had to move to godforsaken America. New York, to be exact. It wasn't too bad at first. They'd arrived in late April, when the Earth was warming up and the weather wasn't so terribly chilly. Their grandfather having taken them in revealed to be the owner of a small, Italian restaurant of which they worked after their school activities like Eliseo had always dreamed of doing. It wasn't easy, for their English wasn't the best at first and there were some Americans who weren't so keen on the new foreigners. Quite aware of the stereotypes that Italians had and because of that Amelia really did try to be on her best behavior. Italy was miles away and she missed her home, but she and her brother had a pretty good life here, and Amelia wasn't about to jeopardize that.
But enough about that. Because it was snowing, damn it!
And to set the current scene, she was living on the first floor of a rather small apartment complex that overlooked an unkempt, overgrown garden she estimated that no one had cared to prune the area in at least four years, and since the Italian quite enjoyed gardening, she would know. The garden population consisting of gnarly, old trees and browning crab grass only seemed to further prove her theory. In truth, she hated that her room looked out over this ugly plot of land, but this place was cheap taking into account her pitiful ‘allowance’ from her grandfather as well as her own diminishing funds. Quite simply Amelia couldn’t go and buy some pricy flat deeper in the city perhaps not even when the year was out least she get another ‘job’. Scowling out the window, she trumped back to her barren room and crawled under the heavy blankets, taking a short moment to reach over and flip the room heater's switch up to a cozy level. It was then that she decided she didn't like the snow, especially not when she lived in a much-less-than-gaudy apartment with horrible heating.
Some hours later she awoke to a shrill screeching so queer to her that it took her a moment to realize that it was just the sounds of the harsh winter winds desperately trying to penetrate through the window. With an overdramatized yawn Amelia pawed at her cheeks and eyes, relieving her cornflower blue eyes of that crusty sleep idly wondering what exactly it was that caused such a thing. The snow seemed to have become much more relentless, the wind was so harsh that the screen on her window seemed to have been ripped out and blown away she noted, rather annoyed, that she'd be the one who had to pay to replace it. Well, at least she had an excuse to call into work today and say that she couldn't make it. Not that she thought her grandfather would be too keen on opening up the restaurant in weather like this.
Hours were spent just staring out of her porch window, huddled underneath one of her thick blankets and glaring at the fast-falling flakes of ice and clouds, which were giving absolutely no indication of this appalling weather letting up any time soon. Just great. She'd read through all of the books sitting on her shelf and the radio signal wasn't coming through so there wasn't much to do. With a sigh she lifted the steaming cup of coffee up to her lips, nursing it with care as the bitter liquid trickled down her throat and warming her. Something about the snow gave her a sense of isolation and heavy loneliness; she felt as though she was the only living being in this quiet world, for even her neighbor across the way who usually satiated interchangeable pretty little things in skirts quite loudly she might add, had become deathly silent.
For most of the day the only sounds in her apartment were of her sipping at her coffee or quietly padding across the chilly wooden floor to brew a new cup. Lonesome, but peaceful. Maybe she could get used to this weather now that she had moved far up north, she expected to see it quite often, given that the next time a snow storm started up, she'd get to enjoy this kind of relaxed quiet again. A 'winter wonderland' was truly an appropriate description. That unkempt plot of land behind her apartment suddenly didn't seem too ugly; the way the snow piled up on the limbs of the dead trees looked almost beautiful, and there were enough of the fluffy flakes that the dead grass was no longer even visible...
Of course, this wasn't something that was going to last forever, nothing ever did.
“Amelia!" Her door slammed open as her overly-affectionate brother clambered in and decided to rip the peacefulness away from her “Do you see the snow? It's beautiful! Can we go to the park? Can we? Please?" Eliseo smiled cheerfully, kicking off his snow-covered boots and throwing off his jacket before practically skipping over towards the elder Italian.
"Yeah, sure..." She muttered, placing her coffee down and offering an arm. "Come here, it's cold." She offered, wrapping the blanket around Eliseo once his lithe body cuddled up to her side. Although she had decided that she didn't like this weather, it had put her in an oddly compliant mood.
"Thanks, big sister." Eliseo cooed happily. Not much more was said as the pair turned their gazes out the window, save for Eliseo’s occasional chatter about something that Amelia only half listened to. Every now and then she would make them each a cup of coffee, but the majority of the day was spent watching as the icy snowflakes collected outside of her suddenly not-as-ugly apartment view.
