The Fall

When Summer meets Winter

I can't remember the last time I saw Winter, but for now I enjoy the warmth.

I sat on the seaside, watching the kids splash water about, dogs chasing frisbees. Life is good.

But sooner or later this will end.

A young woman approaches me.

"Excuse me sir, will you rub sunblock on my back?" she asks me.

I smiled and nodded,  and she lay on her tower as I rubbed sunblock on her navel.

She bites her lip and winks at a couple of girls at a nearby ice cream truck, giggling as they ate ice cream on their tables.

"You're hot." she says.

I smile. "Always."

"What's your name?" she asks me, smiling mischievously.

"Summer." I reply.

She smiles in delight. "Your name suits you a lot."

I chuckled.

I finish applying sunblock to her and she gives me a kiss on the cheek. She writes something on my arm with a pen.

I look at it and realize it's a phone number. I look at her walking away giving me the "Call Me" sign.

I smile as I settle back on my towel.

Life is good, I thought to myself.

A cold front is coming. God, this seems bad. Whenever the cold comes, usually I just leave this place.

But why?

I have been doing that for years, and yet I never understood why.

I must stay. I must see what happens.

I walked on the park, the cold chilling my bones. Damn, I should probably leave now.

The children frolicked in the park, not minding the cold. They played on seesaws and merry-go-rounds.

"Out of the way!" a young girl screamed at me.

I saw a girl riding a bike at full speed, and I managed to side step.

She hits my right foot and tumbles out of balance.

I groaned in pain, my foot feels numb.

"Watch it will you?!" I yell at her, oh God I'm already angry. Hot-headed might I say?

She gets up, and  pulls her bike up.

"Sorry." she says in a small voice. When she looked up, the whole world froze.

My God, what sorcery is this? How can such a beautiful girl exist?

She was white, very white. Her blue eyes glistened  like the deep oceans. 

Her blue dress waved as the wind picks up.

"Uh, huh, hi." I stammered.

She smiles. "I'm really sorry for hitting you, I just come so fast." she says.

Now I'm sure she does not mean what I think she just meant. She looks so beautiful and innocent.

"I'm fine. gonna take a lot more than that to hurt me." I reply.

she grins as she reaches out her hand. "I'm Winter."

Winter? Winter? My mind keeps repeating the words over and over again.

I took her hand, dumbfounded. I can't believe it.

Her hand feels so cold, and I remember it has always been. 

I took her palm, and placed my index finger on it.

"dibs" I said.

she gasped. She leans forward inspecting my face.

Her eyes glistened with tears and painfully she says "Summer?"

I hug her tight. She grabs me tightly.

"Where have you been? Why do you leave?" she asks me.

"Because you're always so damn cold." I replied.

She slaps my arm playfully and laughs.

"How long has it been? It seems like forever since I last saw you." she says.

"Yeah, that's cause you always stay at Canada." I tell her.

"And you in Mexico?" she replies, crossing her arms.

"Got a lot of compadres there." I tell her with a wink. She laughs wholeheartedly.

"Hey, lets get some ice cream. I'm sure you'll like that." I told her.

She links her right arm with mine and with her left waves for me to walk.

I laughed as we went to the kiosk, with her on my arms, skipping like we were still children.

"Do you think this suits me?" Winter asks. She pulls out a blue ribbon from her pocket.

I grab the ribbon and clip it on her hair.

"Yes. Yes it does." I tell her.

She sighs.

"Remember when we were children and Mother Nature let us play around?" she asks.

"Yeah, I remember we caused so many floods that she has to break us apart." I say, sighing sadly.

I paddled downriver on a small boat in the park. She sat beside me, paddling the water with just her hand.

I noticed when she touches the water, it immediately freezes.

"It's been a while since I saw you Summer. I barely remember your face." she says.

"You're still as handsome as I can remember."

I chuckled and made a check sign with my hands and put it under my chin.

"I'm perfect" I tell her.

She cups water on her hand and throws it at me.

The cold water hits my face, disorienting me.

I fell from the boat, screaming.

I can hear her yelling at me, but the water made it sound garbled. 

I reach for the water's surface, and feel her hand taking me.

I cough as I reached the boat. 

"Are you okay?" she asks.

I cant say anything. Now I remember why I left. The cold, it kills me.

"Please don't go, I just saw you for the first time in ages!" she begs me.

"I can't stay Winter! I'll die!" I yell at her.

She runs to me and hugs me, but this time instead of love, I felt pure cold.

I screamed in pain. she lets go.

"Summer, oh God, are you okay?" she asks.

"No! I am not fine! Can't you see Winter? You're killing me!" I scream.

She looks at me in horror. "But, I, I just wanted to-" 

"No! I have to leave." I yell as I turn my back on her.

The last I saw of her, she was on her knees, hands on her face crying in despair.

My conscience takes the best of me. I left her. The girl I loved.

I run back to the park as the leaves turned to gold. 

I can see the children playing with the fallen leaves.

"Winter!" I yelled.

"Winter!" My feet gave up on me, the cold was too much. If I stay, I might die.

I walked weakly, I checked the campgrounds, the boats, the stables. Winter wasn't there.

Then I saw her on an old monument. A place we would always go as children.

"Do you remember Summer? The days when we climbed this statue?" she asks as I approached.

"Yes." I tell her, my voice cracked.

"I fell from this statue, and you caught me. You smiled as you held me in your arms. It was then I fell for something else." 

She faced me, tears in her eyes. "I fell for you."

I couldn't do anything but stare at her.

"You know why they call this season fall, Summer? Not because the leaves fall, but because I fall."

she takes my hand and smiles as she squeezes my palm. "I fall for you. Always."

I hugged her tight. Hugged her like I'm never letting go. She feels warmer.

She kisses me, and I let the cold take me.

The young woman approaches me. The same woman on the same beach.

"Hey Summer, mind if I join you?" she asks.

"Yeah, I would. She'll be angry."

She raises an eyebrow. "She?"

"She means me." Winter says glaring at the woman. 

"oh." she exclaims as she slowly backs away.

"Dang, you got cold eyes." I tell her, and Winter chuckles.

She hands me an ice cream and she hastily licked hers.

"By the way, the ice cream truck was pretty far off, how is this ice cream not melted yet?" I ask.

She grabs my arm with her hand and I felt the cold freezing my blood.

"Okay, jeez." I tell her.

she laughs.

I put my arm around her shoulder, and we watched the golden sunset.

"Are you ready for the fall?" I ask her.

"I'm ready for the fall." she replies.

 

Reviews

[Constant]

Enticing! I was sort of hoping that fall would be a person, but I loved the story regardless!

[Michaela]

this is an awesome play on the seasons. I was drawn in right from the beginning, I had to keep reading in order to figure out what was going on, who the characters were, and why it was getting so cold so fast. A great start to keep the reader captured. I adore the Romeo and Juliet type love they have. Also the ending two lines just tugged at my heart strings. Great read! i look forward to reading more of your writing.