Next: Snow Warning
Prompter: Wolfsongroar
Prompt: Maddie notices how odd it is that her son isn't bothered by the coldest blizzard in history.
Warnings: None
Wordcount: 574
Snow Warning
The Polar Vortex hit Amity Park like a sledghammer. Temperatures plummeted to record lows, arctic in nature, as a heavy blizzard coated the city in white.
Snowdrifts clogged the roads and piled up on doorsteps, several feet thick. Walking through them, the snow crunched underfoot, frost covering the upper crust so thick that it could almost hold a grown adult's weight. Only a few minutes outside, even in a full winter coat, was enough to chill anyone to the bone.
Maddie Fenton holed herself up in FentonWorks and was happy enough to stay there. Even with the heater cranked on full blast, the house was almost unbearably cold. She'd even gone as far as to swap out her hazmat suit with some heavy lined jeans and a thick sweater, resisting the urge to just huddle under a blanket all day. Regardless, she was not stepping foot outside today unless she absolutely had to; anyone who did, in her opinion, was insane.
Which was why she was surprised when the backdoor swung open, admitting a cold gust of air. Maddie looked up from the stove, soup ladle paused mid-stir, to see her son slide into the kitchen, wearing little more than a windbreaker around his shoulders.
"Hey Mom," said Danny, cheerful.
Maddie shivered, feeling the cold air bite at her ankles. "Close the door!"
A sheepish look, and Danny shouldered the door shut. Howling wind pushed a burst of snowflakes inside through the gap before the entrance closed.
"…Sorry," Danny apologized. His face was flushed and his hair windblown, speckled with snow, but he seemed otherwise unaffected by the weather. "What smells good? Is that chicken noodle?" he asked, sniffing the air.
"Daniel James Fenton." Maddie said, and her son's back stiffened immediately at his full name. "What do you think you're doing? Where were you?"
She knew he'd been restless—cooped up inside with the rest of them, since school had been cancelled. But the vortex had crippled the city; it was cold enough that cars wouldn't start and any businesses that didn't qualify as snow removal or emergency services were shut down. Why was he outside? Where had he gone?
"Uh, I was just… out. About." Danny replied, vaguely.
"Wearing that?" she motioned ot the windbreaker.
"Yeah," he said, peeling off the petty excuse for a coat. "You wouldn't believe how windy it is out there today."
Wouldn't believe—Maddie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Danny, it is literally fifty below outside. Where is your jacket?" she pressed.
He shrugged, making an 'idunno' noise. "It's really not that bad out there," he argued, wringing out the bottom of his t-shirt, which was damp with melting snow.
"Young man," Maddie said, "March straight upstairs and change into something more appropriate this instant." How he hadn't died of hypothermia yet was a complete mystery.
"But Mom—" Danny started.
He stopped suddenly, a white mist escaping from his mouth. He shivered, the tremor traveling straight up his spine. At last, Maddie mused, the cold was catching up to him.
"Uhhhhh you know what, good idea," Danny said quickly, all but darting out of the room.
"And take your shoes off!" Maddie scowled at the trail of slush he'd tracked in.
To that, she got no answer, only the thundering footsteps stomping up the staircase. Maddie sighed. Teenagers.
At least Danny wasn't one of those boys who wore shorts in the middle of a blizzard.