Facing Life's Winters | Teen Ink

Facing Life's Winters

March 14, 2009
By breana SILVER, Columbus, Ohio
breana SILVER, Columbus, Ohio
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

She had no words left to speak; each breath could only be used to remind her of the fact that she was still existing. The frosted trees and cloud-colored ground meant a whispery puff mingled with air for every breath, and Jenna could only bundle up in her warmest coat to prevent the cold from consuming her being.

She began to walk through the streets, which were lined with people rather than cars (no car could start running in this weather), and she clutched her purse with one frozen hand while the other took comfort in a velvety glove.

Jenna lowered her head and focused on the endless snowy ground, continuously reminding herself of the reason she walked. For Amber. For James.

For herself.

Jenna shivered in Chicago's December air, but would not turn around to the warmth of her apartment. Michael could ask her to live somewhere else as much as he liked, but Jenna would not miss James's and Amber's birthday, even if it meant walking three miles because her car would not start. Amber, whose hair color was her name, and her brother, James, would be seven years old today.

She laughed at the idea of Amber and James waking up to the frigid weather while Michael attempted to finally fix the heating she had asked him to fix for the umpteenth time, but frowned at the idea of her two children suffering from their father's laziness.

She began to walk in longer, faster strides, mumbling to herself about how Michael should have moved out instead of her, complaining that he should have at least let her keep her children; she wouldn't be walking in below zero weather if he had.

But she was the one who cheated, and though Michael had cheated before and Jenna had forgiven him for the sake of the children, Michael would not allow Jenna's one mistake to slip unnoticed. He had immediately requested her to leave after confronting her about her affair, asking that she pack up her belongings and leave the 'more responsible parent' with James and Amber, though the 'more responsible parent' was unable to fix the heat for the three months it had been broken, and the 'less responsible parent' had been walking for thirty minutes already in Antarctic weather.

Jenna sighed and kept moving.



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