Snowy Night

A Short Romantic Thrilling Tale

‘Close the gate and doors properly; it’s a very dark and snowy night,’ Maria instructed her eldest daughter.
‘Yeah, sure, Mom! I’ll do it,’ Lawrence replied from the coziness of her d, engrossed in her favorite crime fiction.
‘Close the gate and doors properly; it’s a very dark and snowy night,’ Maria instructed her eldest daughter.
‘Yeah, sure, Mom! I’ll do it,’ Lawrence replied from the coziness of her bed, fully immersed in her favorite novel, a new crime fiction by Sam.

Maria was feeling chill in her bones after spending a long time outside the airport waiting for a taxi. So, she fell into a deep sleep soon. Lawrence, in her room, was enjoying the climax of the novel. She thought of grabbing a cup of hot chocolate while reading.
‘It’s only 9:30 now. It’s too early; I will lock the gates before I sleep. Mama is too skeptical,’ She murmured, looking at the clock fixed on the right wall of her bed inside her room.

She grabbed the coffee and slipped back into the bed soon. The story was getting more thrilling. Sam has this captivating style of engaging his readers with growing sensation and thrill in his stories. Lawrence cannot afford to miss Sam’s new release. Aroused by the story, she suddenly starts missing Jeff. She thought of calling and having a romantic chat with him from the coziness of her bed. ‘He must be sleeping now. The lazy fellow,’ Lawrence thought. Let me try, she said to herself. She picked up the mobile and rang his number. There was no answer from that side. She waited for a minute and called up again. And Jeff picked up the call this time.
‘Hey, darling! Is alright there?’ Jeff asked in half sleep.
‘Jeff! Get up…what are you doing?’ Lawrence tried waking Jeff up excitedly. ‘I am alright. I need to talk to you, baby.’
‘Oh no…I am feeling sleepy, honey,’ Jeff was still in slumber.
‘No, you can’t. I am reading Sam and missing you,’ Lawrence said. She desperately needed him with her on such a frosty night. Snow thrills Lawrence as much as Sam’s story does.
‘Jeff, it’s snowing outside. Can you peep out from your windows?’ Lawrence tried to wake Jeff fully.
‘Let me sleep, honey. I was stuck in the traffic today while coming from the college. I am feeling chills in my bones. Trust me,’ Jeff threw a new pretext.
‘Hmm….I know. You, the sleeping bear! I will not leave you now. You need to get up and collect the snow on your palm now,’ Lawrence kept bothering Jeff.
She longed for a deep, intimate conversation with him. But Jeff felt so lazy that he was not getting her point. Jeff hung up the call, probably unknowingly.
‘Jeff…Jeff…hello…’ Lawrence kept shouting on the other end. There was no response. She fumed and felt pissed off.
Lawrence needed to go to the bathroom but had been holding it for a long time. After finally relieving herself, she returned to her book and quickly became absorbed in the story. She didn’t realize it was already past midnight.

Suddenly, she heard a soft, grunting sigh from some animal. She thought the poor soul felt cold and grunted somewhere far from her home. Then she heard something fall on the ground in the hall towards the front side. Her breaths running were faster; she was trying to comprehend the situation. The sighs and the soft grunting were constantly growing. Lawrence heard some more cluttered sounds of things near her door. Feeling terrified, she was unable to decide what to do. Her mind and heartbeats were racing faster, inhibiting her from taking any action. She was thinking of shouting out to her mom when the doorbell began ringing.
‘Oh, God! What the hell is going on?’ She was trembling now.

Then, she heard her mom speaking to someone at the door. Immediately, she barged out, eager to cling to her mother. To her surprise, her mom was conversing with the security personnel. Apparently, the security van had been patrolling the neighborhood when they discovered Maria’s main gate was wide open. Upon approaching the gate, they found that a bear had slipped into Maria’s house.

‘We will help get this bear out of your home and leave him in some safe place,’ the Security office told her Maria. ‘Please don’t keep your gate and doors open and unlocked at night.’
‘Sure. Thanks a ton!’ Maria retorted to the security personnel, highly obliged.
‘I am extremely sorry, Mom! I was lost in the book and forgot to close the gate and the door,’ Lawrence hugged her mother, sobbing.
‘It’s alright, honey! To err is human, and to learn from it is divine,’ said Maria.