“It’s cold.”
Will’s words emerged from his mouth upon lazy clouds and hung in
the crisp air. He stamped his feet on the
porch of his fiancée’s family cabin and blew into gloved hands.
“There’s a trail through the woods.” Marie pointed to a tree-lined path lit by the
full moon and hundreds of stars pricking through the sky. “It’s beautiful after a snowfall.”
The snow was thickly crusted. It crunched and squeaked beneath their
feet. Every step they took hovered on the
seemingly solid surface of the snow before crunching through.
Marie fell through up to her knees. She hauled herself back up, laughing.
“Walk in my boot prints,” Will said.
She walked behind him, staring at his back. With every step she took in his path, her
heart sank. She’d followed him
everywhere: to high school. To
college. She’d even followed him to her
job. She realized she’d been following
people all her life. Had she agreed to
marry Will out of love or in order to have someone to walk behind? Would this be the extent of their lives
together, he leading, she following?
He paused.
Wrapped his arms around himself. “I
hate this weather,” he said, not turning around to look at her. “Let’s move south after the wedding.”
“I like it here.”
He turned.
Grinned his dazzling grin, slow and easy and bright as moonlight. “You’d do it for me.”
She shook her head.
“You wouldn’t be able to stay here on your own.”
She removed her glove and slid the ring from her
finger.
His smile disappeared. “What are you doing?”
She took his gloved hand and pressed the ring into
it. “Your love no longer holds sway over
me, Will.”
Then she stepped from the path and headed into the
woods, forging a path of her own, her boots breaking through the snow at every
step.
And the snow falling into her boots gave her an unexpected rush of pleasure.
Labels: fiction Trifecta Writing Challenge