29

I asked Christian to give me some privacy. He went to deal with his wounds and cleaned up the place after the attack.

    I cried for a few more minutes.

    When I stopped, I remembered when Mom first told me about the superstition about snow. I had noticed that some people didn’t like snow and treated people, who were born at a time when there was snow, badly. I didn’t know why, so I asked Mom.

    “That has only been the case since the last war with the ghouls ended,” Mom explained. “Ghouls have power over snow. They have used it a lot during the last war and killed a lot of people. People remember bad things when they think of snow, so they handled it badly.”
    “Why?”

    “When people are dealing with negative emotions, they don’t always handle them well. Sometimes they lash out when they’re in pain. Or they release their feelings in a bad or harmful way. They decided to demonize snow and say that everyone who was born when there was snow is insignificant. That way, they could take their anger out on these people.”

    “Even though they’re innocent.”

    “Yes.”

    I didn’t think that I or any of my friends would do that. Mom never believed that crap and it made her want to prove it wrong even more. It made her feel like snow was supposed to be special to her.

    “Because they were mean to you, you decided not to take it?” I asked.

    “Yeah, besides, I always liked snow and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

    “I don’t believe that superstition either.”

    Mom wished for me to have skin as white as snow so she could solidify her connection to snow and how it isn’t a bad thing. I remembered how Mom said she associated snow with the most important person in her life.