"Come on, come on you stupid piece of shit! Work!" Winter screamed at the top of her lungs at the useless piece of plastic and metal in her hands. But the phone still didn't have any connection and wouldn't call one of the two numbers she had saved on her phone. "Shit" she sighed, as she tossed the phone into the back seat of her car.
"Out of all the days this piece of junk could have broken down, it had to be the one day I'm in the middle of nowhere!" Winter screamed in frustration as she slammed her fists onto the steering wheel. Then she did it again. Then, Winter snapped.
"Son of a freaking jerk pop sandwich with a pile of goddamn fucking shit!" was all Winter could say as she kicked the floor, punched the ceiling, pulled on the steering wheel and tried her best to destroy everything in sight. Luckily, nothing broke and she only managed to hurt her hands from punching the ceiling.
Winter leaned her head against the steering wheel of her old, worn down Beatle, taking deep breaths and waiting for her heart rate to go down. "You've trained for this, Winter. It's your job to help people when they blow up, not to blow up yourself" Winter whispered to herself for encouragement. Unbuckling herself, Winter opened the door and stepped outside.
It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was bright and warm, the air was clean and smelled like summer, and there were enough clouds in the sky to keep it from being blisteringly hot. "At least it isn't snowing. If this was in Atlas I'd probably freeze before help came" Sighed Winter as she looked around.
There was a lot of what was a sea of corn, or something like that, in every direction. Winters bug was pulled on the side of the road, right on the beach of grass between the corn and the old abandoned highway. Winter sat down on the pavement and leaned against the side of her car. Winter looked down and smiled, setting her hand on the rough and warm pebbles that were always getting thrown around the road. "Way better than Atlas"
Winter's smile suddenly turned into a look of stern determination as she flipping her phone open, one last time, to try and call someone for help. But the same horrible sight greeted her, just like the last thirty times she tried to use her phone: No Bars. Winter wanted to scream for a second. She was shaking with anger and wanted to throw her phone into the corn and let it sink to the bottom of it like a stone in water. Winter lifted her phone over her shoulder, but her arm fell just as quickly. Winter stared at her outdated flip phone and didn't feel anger, pride, sadness, or anything. She just felt empty. Then, she felt everything. Overwhelmed, scared, worried, hated, and just plain sad. That's when the tears came. Winter put her phone on the ground and set her head between her knees and just started to bawl like a baby.
Pictures of her father flashed in her mind, "So you take the proper education I wanted for you and turn it into something useless that you can never use? I never thought there would be a stupid Schnee, but look at what we have here! My moron of a daughter who's only good at stealing my money and lying!" Winter brought her hand up to her face, the sting of his slap and the ringing she had in her ears still fresh in her mind.
But whatever pain Winter vanished in an instant as a hammer of guilt slammed into Winter's chest as a picture of Weiss came into her mind. Weiss was like Winters clone, the only real difference between them was their heights, with Winter towering over Weiss (Something she hoped would always be the case). Weiss was a shining rainbow of joy and creativity, she loved playing the piano, singing, dancing and everything in between! But Winter felt the hot burn of a knife in her chest as she thought of how much pressure the little thirteen-year-old girl was under. Winter had been teaching Weiss how to play piano for a few months, the girl loved it and was picking up little tricks and tips after every session, growing her skill quickly. When Weiss practiced, she would make up lyrics and try her best to sound good.
One day when Winter wasn't home, their father had stumbled into the music room while Weiss was playing. He sat and watched her play and sing, drinking up the sight of his perfect daughter playing near-flawlessly. But that wasn't good enough. After that, Weiss had been forced to take almost daily music lessons and to practice for hours.
It had been going like that for a few months by the time Winter left, and she could already see the bright spark behind her sisters' eyes start to dim. The idea that Weiss would end up hating something that she used to love hurt more than any one of her fathers' many strikes ever could have.
Winter hit her hand on the street, again and again, until the small stones were scraping and drawing blood. She screamed, cried, and bled on the street. Every second getting torn apart by confusion, anger, guilt, and a sense of fear so strong it made her want to sink to the center of the earth. She was in the middle of nowhere with nobody around for miles, but Winter still wanted to just disappear even more.
Winter bit her bottom lip and lifted her head and rested it on her car, eyes still closed. Winter took a few deep breaths and just let the tears fall while she bathed in the bright sun. "How can I be so upset, but still feel this comfortable? Winter wondered aloud to nobody before closing her eyes again.
The sunlight warmed Winter's skin in such a calming way. The wind blew in the sweet scent of summer, something Winter had only smelled a few times before. But the scent still brought a lot of memories of her mother and playing with her family back in the good days. Soon, Winter let the comfort of the past take hold of her and drag her down.
Sleep was something Winter had always excelled at. When she was in high school she could fall asleep anywhere at any time, no questions asked. Her skills had only improved at college, so she could be in the middle of class and fall asleep mid-lecture for a few minutes and wake herself up when the professors got to the good part. But sleep was rare for her these days. Usually, she just tossed and turned around her bed all night, followed by coating herself in enough makeup to make the bags under her eyes disappear the next morning.
"Mom, why does Dad yell so much? Weiss asked from their mothers' lap, looking up at their mothers' beautiful blue eyes. Winter was laying on her back with her legs up against their moms' legs. Their mom always thought it was cute when she did that, even though she was getting a bit too big to be doing it these days.
"Because he's stressed from work" Mother responded with her classic smile. Their mom looked like Weiss and Winter, but more beautiful than either of them could ever hope to be. Her hair was long and luxurious, her skin was soft and angelic, and her voice was like pure silk. Overall, she was everything Winter wanted to be when she grew up.
"But why does he have to scream so much?" Winter's baby sister asked again. Winter wanted to nudge her with her ankle so she would stop talking, but Mother wouldn't like that. She was also too far away to reach, but that's beside the point.
"Well, he screams so he doesn't have to hold his emotions in. So he screams when he's stressed, but gushed over you two when he's happy" Their mother tickled Weiss with a beautiful smile on her face.
"Stop it, momma!" Weiss laughed between breaths, trying her hardest to pull their mothers' hands away from her. Winter laughed as Weiss tickled Winters bare feet, and as much as she tried Winter couldn't getaway.
"Weiss, you dork! Not me, mom!" but her baby sister ignored her and kept attacking her feet, one of the few chinks in her tickle resistant armor.
"You're a dork! That's why I'm tickling you! Mwuhahahah!" Their mother stopped her attack, letting Weiss laugh like some kind of deranged and stupidly adorable supervillain. Which she was!
"Hey, Winter" Their mother had finally put a stop to Weiss's on slot and was looking down at her with a tranquil smile that was fit for the angel she was.
"Yeah, Momma?" Winter asked as she looked up from the floor with a big grin on her face. Then her mother bent down and brought her hand close to Winter's face, moving it left and right, Winter's eyes following it the whole time.
"Boop," Her mother said as she touched the tip of her nose with her finger. Then, Winter snapped awake.