Chapter 8: Snowfall (written from August 14th to August 15th, 2020)

The next day...

I woke up earlier than usual. The cold air engulfed me, triggering a shivering frenzy that shook my eyelids open. I thought the draft came from the center of the room, so I scooched myself toward the wall. Instantly, I realized that was a mistake. The parts of the floor that were free of body heat were ten times colder, and I shot up and hit my head on the ceiling. I was undeniably awake now. So this was what extreme cold felt like?

I soon noticed other Betas going through a similar experience. They all shifted a bit before shooting up like somebody pinched them. I found my way to Loretta who was already awake. The instructor was looking outside with a concerned look. I sat next to her as the wolves behind us woke up one by one. We watched in silence as a shiny crystal-like object elegantly fell to the Earth. I never expected it to shine as bright as it did against the contrasting darkness of the early morning. It was a beautiful little thing. The moon's light made it resemble a falling star. It had a unique shape. Few things in nature looked as geometrically immaculate.

"That, my dear Kate, is a snowflake," said Loretta. "Notice how it sits on the ground without melting."

"I thought it was supposed to snow in winter," I replied.

"It is, but this is unusually early. The first snowflake shouldn't come until at least a moon from now. If the ground is already this cold, then something isn't right. I had never seen this before... Well... I'm sure it's just a really early season this time around. We can adjust." Loretta turned to other Betas. "Up, up, up! Alphas never go back to sleep!" I didn't think the Betas could. The cold air had quickly proved itself to be a formidable character within the sleeping quarters.

After I retrieved my schedule bone, I headed out with Loretta. The air hugged me tighter. and I struggled to breathe. I was being attacked from all sides like a billion mosquitos were sucking me dry from every square inch of my body. I knew someday I would get used to this, but I wished it would happen faster. Loretta noticed me struggling, so she nudged me from behind. She then did the same to everyone else.

I stopped for a moment to take a look at my schedule bone. The surface of it had been damaged since my chattering teeth disfigured the inscriptions.

"I did the same thing!" said Hutch, showing off his disfigured bone. However, Hutch was visibly dealing with the cold much better than me.

"You can't speak! You have longer fur!"

"What do you think of this winter so far?" he asked.

"Challenging... but I like challenging." He chuckled after I smirked.

As the day went on, the cold was unceasing. The classes continued as normal, and I tried my best not to be distracted by the outside where snow was piling up. On my way to my health class, I noticed the snow had made its mark everywhere. Other than the ground and air, it was in the trees and on the backs of my classmates. When I first felt it through my paws, it did feel like a powder, a cold one anyway. After that, the cold didn't seem to bother me anymore. And it seemed this sentiment was quickly catching on. The piles of snow were tempting. I really wanted to jump in and play as I did with the leaves during the fall. But I knew I shouldn't. I knew the instructors were just waiting for a Beta to do it, so they can scold them. Playing around was a puppy thing and an Omega thing and we were becoming neither.

I thought of Humphrey. I still felt bad for pushing him away despite the fact that it was necessary. He probably wished he could play with me in the snow. I then thought of his Omega-to-be status. Assuming he went to Omega School like he was supposed to, he was probably spending countless hours with his fellow peers. Maybe Humphrey would think that hanging out with a future Alpha wasn't such a good idea in hindsight and he would stick with his ilk for the rest of his life. Yeah... I needed to forget Humphrey. He was holding me back. I'm a Beta now.

Later...

Lunch had begun. I exited the health class den and made my way to the butchering stone where the kill was already prepared. An instructor told us the Alphas had eaten another kill earlier, so we could dig in right away. Because it was below freezing, they didn't want any meat to sit and become stiff. After I ate my share, the blood from the meal began to freeze on my face, which was very uncomfortable. I tried to wipe the red ice off my cheeks, but I accidentally dropped my schedule bone. It rolled down one of my forelimbs and down a small hill. I went after it and when I got close, my legs collapsed and my face met something hard. "What the heck?!" I exclaimed. The ground was smooth, too smooth to be made of soil, but it wasn't rock, for it was semi-transparent. That was when I remembered there once was a puddle here. It was ice! The most I had ever seen in one spot. I never thought an entire space of water could freeze so solidly. The surface was so smooth that I had slipped on it. I looked ahead of me and saw the bone two feet away, lying on the ice. I tried to stand cautiously. I didn't want to risk another fall, so instead of taking a step forward, I stretched out one of my paws. I could barely reach it. I then felt someone's cold nose nudge my butt. I was nudged forward but too harshly. I lost my footing and fell again. I looked back and glared at the wolf who nudged me.

"Sorry," said a wincing Hutch. "I was trying to help."