The snow falls in big flakes sticking to every surface blanketing all of New York in white. While I love the snow I do not like the cold it brings. My 18th birthday is only two days away and I'm dreading it, I have a gut feeling that something terrible is going to go wrong and I know I'm not going to be able to stop it.

My mom is downstairs belting out some random tune that's on the radio while she cooks breakfast or would it be dinner? Working the late shift always screws up my schedule but the money is good and I cant turn it down. There are day people and night people, but I prefer the latter.

I pull my cover tighter around me as I shiver against the chill in the air, the furnace stopped working right around the time this storm hit and we would likely be without it for at least a week until I could afford to get a repairman out to fix.

"Ari!" My mom yelled from downstairs her voice sounded more shriller then normal. Lately she's been on edge and it was likely from the final notice bills she had hiding in her room that she didn't want me to worry about. She doesn't know it yet but I already dropped out of college to work full time at The Pressroom. She doesn't even know I paid the overdue electric bill so it wouldn't get shut off again and I know she's going to be pissed but at least we are still going to have light as long as the storm doesn't knock it out.

"Coming mom!" I quickly slide off the twin bed and pull on the pair of sweatpants I discarded on the floor last night before bed. I tie my black hair into a low pony tail and tuck a few stray stands behind my ears and run down the steps quick to get into the warm kitchen.

My mom beams at me holding out a plate stacked full of waffles with 18 lite candles on it. "Happy Birthday" she said passing me the plate to me.

"Thanks mom." I try to manage a fake smile for her before blowing out the candles and set the plate on the table before letting her wrap her arms around me in the chair.

"so what'd you wish for" she asked with a big smile on her face holding me at arms end.

"Now if I told you then it wont come true." I smile behind a lie we both know I don't wish anymore, at least not since the accident.

She gets up from the small kitchen table and I have to resist the urge to make her sit. I know she hurts and that the pain pills stopped working some time ago, but she won't admit it she's to proud an stubborn.

"Maybe you should call off tonight, we can go catch a movie or get something to eat maybe." The look on her face was almost pleading because she knows I will say no.

"No sorry, it would be impossible to find someone to cover me on such a short notice." But in reality the money was just to great to miss with rent due and all the overdue bills we really couldn't afford for me to take off.

"Maybe some other time then." She sighed before turning to clean the dishes in the sink. She had been a single mother since my fathers passing almost six years ago. She had tried and I really shouldn't be so hard on her, but how cant I it's not like she was involved in the accident. I absent mildly rub the scar on my forearm. I never forget the smell of burning rubber and flesh, the clash of metal and the wailing of sirens and that big bright white light.

"Maybe we can go out on Monday I can try to get Amy to cover me." I say with a happy smile to give her some ray of hope.

" It's a deal! Though Ari I do really hate you working these late shifts so many strange people coming and going, its just not safe." She says though I'm already halfway up the stairs.

"Jason takes care of us, he wouldn't let anything happen" but her words send a shudder down my spine anyways.

If I would have know what would happen I would have stayed home, I wouldn't have left her, I would have tried to change her fate but that's a foolish idea thought by a foolish girl who doesn't know anything.

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