In the Snowstorm
Summary:
Eleazer, Carmen, Vasilii, Tanya, Kate and Irina, plus two lost travellers: Alice and Rosalie. There were eight people clustered together in the small house, waiting out the snowstorm. It would be a few days before the weather had improved enough for them to get outside. However, a lot of things can happen in an enclosed space in the time span of just a few days.
Chapter One:
The snow was whirling around outside like a thousand tiny, violent ballerinas. It bounced off the windows and tumbled to the ground, only to be scooped up again in the powerful wind and thrown into a wild, crazed waltz in the ballroom of the sky.
At least, that was how Tanya thought of it as she watched through the window of her family's home. They lived in Denali, Alaska, so snowstorms and cold, icy weather of all kinds were ordinary for them. And, to some, really annoying.
Take Kate, for example. She's Tanya's twin sister and, in all twenty three years of her life, she has never romanticised anything in the way Tanya does. Tanya sees the snowstorm as a rapid, aggressive dance; Kate just sees it as something that stops her going out, and keeps the whole family holed up in their tiny, wooden hut on the outskirts of the village.
There were six of them living there: Tanya and Kate, their twenty five year old sister Irina, their thirty one year old brother Eleazer and his wife, Carmen, aswell as their three year old daughter Vasilii. Their mother, Sasha, who had bought the house with the expectation of just two children, had died just a few years ago, the day after Vasilii had been born.
It was for that reason that they couldn't bring themselves to move out of the cramped house that was really too small for all of them.
Kate was frustrated. She'd been planning on going down to the village today, and staying over at her boyfriend, Garret's house and playing video games. Now, the swirling snow and whipping winds had rendered her a prisoner in her own home.
Carmen was perfectly content, which was her default state. She was happy to be at home, with the large family. She was the only one who didn't feel at all bothered by the tiny size of the house: she thought it was cosy. Carmen was like a cat: beautiful, elegant, and able to wish for nothing more than people who loved her, a warm bed and a blazing fire in the hearth.
Right then, she was sitting in a large armchair in front of the fire, with her daughter on her lap. She was plaiting the little girl's long, curly dark hair, and saying things about how gorgeous she looked. It was true: the three year old child was undeniably cute and pretty. She had round cheeks and her Spanish mother's tanned, smooth skin. She had inherited her father's green eyes and her mother's long, curled lashes, aswell as her father's straight, white teeth. Her hair hung in black ringlets; the colour was form her mother, but the curls from her father, whose hair was a wild, curly mop on top of his thin, pale face.
Irina was nearly as contented, but in a different way. Whilst Carmen got her joy from being surrounded by people, Irina got hers from isolating herself. Today, she was lying flat on her back on her bed, with her iPod plugged into her ears. It was playing Evanescence's album, Origin; with its mournful melodies and high, ringing notes, it matched Irina's personality and appearance perfectly: stunning and haunting with pale skin and chiselled cheekbones; feline, pale blue eyes and long, straight, white blonde hair.
In contrast to Irina's silence, her elder brother Eleazer was always making noise: he exclaimed about everything. At that point, whilst his sisters were either restless, day dreaming or intense, he was crying out from the kitchen about the food he was cooking. He was a chef, and an extremely passionate one at that. He was like the oil spitting in the pan: sudden and loud. His wiry form jumped about the kitchen, rapidly slicing, then stirring – never spilling a drop, despite the speed.
It was into this home of shockingly different and yet emotionally close individuals that two lost tourists wandered. Their names were Rosalie Hale and Alice Brandon, and they were in Alaska because they were travelling the world for their gap year. A gap year that had, so far, lasted about three years. When they'd started out, they'd been eighteen; now, they were twenty one, but not a year more mature or sensible. In fact, if anything, they'd become even wilder and even more rebellious.
They struggled through the raging winds and snow, giggling as they clung together and fought to keep their more-fashionable-than-warm coats tight around them. Rosalie was wearing stiletto, thigh high black boots over thin purple tights and short, black jumper dress, a tailored blazer and a large, purple and blue diagonally striped silk scarf.
Alice was dressed just as impractically in pink brogues; knee-high, candy-striped socks; a mid-thigh, floral, wrap around dress; and a thin, pale pink jacket.
They weren't wandering aimlessly, though, as they slowly forged a path through the attacking snowstorm: they were aimed for the tiny wooden hut, whose lights they could see through the blizzard. When they finally reached it, they were purple with cold, their limbs were aching with effort and their skin was stinging from the wind.
However, they were still laughing as they struggled to knock on the door with their numb knuckles. They nearly fell into the warmth when the door was opened by a plump, thirty year old Spanish woman with a toddler by her side. Her expression was a strange mixture of a confused frown and a welcoming smile.
She ushered them inside, touching their frozen hands an d murmured concerned words.
"Eleazer," she called in a thick Spanish accent. "Make two cups of cocoa with our guests."
"Oh, but of course!" he exclaimed, and there was a sound of running water and pans clattering together.
I've never heard anyone make so much noise making cocoa, Alice thought, smiling, as the Spanish woman, who'd introduced herself as Carmen, handed her and Rosalie a thick blanket each.
When the two strangers had arrived, Tanya had looked away from the dancing, pirouetting snow and was now watching with curiosity as Carmen buzzed around, being hospitable and Vasilii chattered away to them in her high, sweet voice, which was a weird fusion of Spanish and American accents.
It was clear to Tanya that the pair weren't from round here. Not only did she know everyone in the village, there clothes were like nothing worn or sold in Denali. The two strangers both had pale skin and were shivering immensely. Tanya couldn't' help but notice, as she studied them and tried to figure out their story, that they both looked shocking different. For starters, one was less than five foot tall, whilst the other was nearly as tall as Irina, how stood at six foot one.
The next difference was their hair: the short one had spiky, short black hair, whereas the tall one had long, wavy blonde hair. Next were their facial features: the blonde had a long, thin, straight nose, dimpled, pink cheeks and full pink lips; but the other girl had a tiny, heart shaped face, a pointy, elfin nose and thin, cupid's bow lips. Then there were the clothes: the blonde wore dark colours had a slight rock-chick look about her; the elfin girl wore pink and other sweet, candy colours. Finally, their attitudes were very different: the blonde was slightly hostile and arrogant, and it was clear that she knew how sexy she was; the other girl was just like her clothes: sweet, innocent, girly and childlike.
Tanya couldn't help looking at the blonde. Her arrogance intrigued her, and – as she so often did – Tanya wondered what her story was: what had caused her to appear so hostile? The blonde girl was so closed up that Tanya couldn't help but long to unravel her; to find out her secrets and see past the cold – if attractive – exterior.
Then the girl noticed her staring. She turned her head towards Tanya, sizing her up with her hard, sharp eyes. She took in how Tanya was sitting curled up on the window seat; she took in her long, thin, pale ginger hair and her small, freckled face; she saw her small, pale mouth and her large, pale blue eyes.
She decided that this girl, with her fragile form and curious expression, was no problem. She was quite plain looking, so she was no opposition to Rosalie, and Rosalie knew it. The girl's curiosity worried her, though; curious people were always bad news for Rosalie, because they always looked deeper than the callous, flippant remarks; they always wanted to know the reason and the secrets, and Rosalie couldn't bear for people to find out.
So, now, with the two new arrivals, there were eight people clustered together in the small house, waiting out the snowstorm. It would be a few days before the weather had improved enough for them to get outside. However, a lot of things can happen in an enclosed space in the time span of just a few days.