Page 31 of When the Snowman Whispered
“You are the light. Never forget that. You are everything positive about life, and your father didn’t want positive. He wanted darkness. He ran to it.” She sighed again. “And that’s all that I want to say about that. It’s late and time for bed.”
“But—”
“You have school in the morning.” She kissed me on both cheeks and stood. “Goodnight, baby.”
How could I use my mother’s knowledge in this situation?
She was the one that always had me whisperingeverything is okayto myself. She’d said it around me enough in the toughest of situations. She claimed that one had to believe everything would be okay for it to all work out. And sure enough, every time things went rough and chaotic, I chanted everything would be okay each moment of each day, and suddenly, everything would be better again.
That was the one thing that stuck with me.
It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.
I looked back at Remy. “I’m putting a snow jail around you because that’s the only thing that makes sense in my head. So far, you haven’t done anything to make me hurt you, but understand this,” I did my best to look threatening, “I have the power to destroy you in every way. You don’t want to fuck with me.”
Wind whipped. More snow fell.
Again, I had no idea if this was some response from Remy or the other spirits. Nothing could be taken lightly anymore. Everything in each moment would be studied and analyzed from here on out.
I spent the rest of the afternoon building small jails around Remy and the freaky ice threesome. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that the little prisons would hold them, but it was worth a try. What else could I do? I could’ve raced away from the property, but then would they find me? Wouldn’t the girls and I have to eventually come back? Would it be safe to come back?
I didn’t have answers for those questions and I didn’t know anyone else who’d been through a similar situation. I’d have to make all the first mistakes myself and be a lesson to others if I ever considered telling anyone else.
Either way, I had to be positive about the entire situation. And when the moonlight came and the darkness too, I would whisper God’s name and hope for the best.
Everything’s going to be okay.
Chapter 7
Faith
I
finished the jails for my snow creatures. The cells were two big boxes with ceilings. It had taken me forever to figure out the design.
I wasn’t a fan of jails.
I’d never been locked up, but many of my friends and family found themselves in cells for things that shouldn’t have put them behind bars. Later many were found nonguilty or given a lesser charge. Regardless, all of them were changed when they came out—more violent, less hopeful, and so angry.
Due to that, I believed those jail cells not only limited their physical movements, they confined their minds. Locked up their psyche.
Mom would say that when a person dreamed of being in jail it meant that something or someone was imprisoning their soul.
This winter, I’d been having a lot of nightmares about jail—being dragged into a dark cell and fighting for my life behind bars.
That was why it was so difficult to put anyone behind bars.
Even ones made from snow.
Icy bricks, stones, and branches served as the foundation. I’d formed four bars in the front of each cell with my chain saw.
If jail cells negatively affected humans, then what would this do to my snow people? Am I making the situation worse?
There were a few times I stopped making the cells and tried to think of another plan. It wasn’t always good to cage animals and think that we would see each other as friends after they were free. But what else could I do? I was only one woman out in the snowy woods. No one would believe me.
What if I’m crazy and just imagining all of this? Maybe that’s why they only come alive around me.
Back and forth, back and forth, my mind zigzagged and bounced within my skull. I started talking to myself and then I shifted to apologizing to my snow people. I bet I looked like a mad woman, mumbling incomprehensible words as flickers of bitten snowflakes sprayed across my face and stuck in my hair.
