Magic of a Moment

    One day, a small boy was trudging through the cold, wet, and, due to the eastern sun, blindingly white layer of snow which covered the world around him. His long, messy, dark brown hair stood in stark contrast to the pure white crystals. The snow covered the child’s neighborhood like a huge, white blanket, only interrupted by the light trail of footprints which the boy had left behind. Amidst the freezing weather, the boy was dressed in old hiking shoes with obvious wear and a couple tears, short blue jeans which revealed an inch of his lightly shaded and bare knees. Above his jeans, he exhibited a dark grey windbreaker enclosing a brown, tight-fitting, long-sleeve shirt. Despite the frigid weather, the boy had no hat and was slightly shivering.

    However, the boy kept walking. He didn’t know where he was going, but the child’s cruel foster parents’ house was not the place. Be that as it may, the child knew that he would rather freeze in his little neighborhood, cold and alone, than suffer the torment and rage which would await his return. As he stumbled along the frosty road, the child passed from house to house. Never once did he inspect what was behind him.

    Awhile later, the boy began to grow tired. By now the sun was overhead and some of the white crystals had turned to slush. Though the streets were empty when he began walking, the boy now observed severals cars going by him. The child was hungry, and sat down with his back against a white picket fence which surrounded a large, white house with dark grey roof tiles still mostly covered by the cold glaze.

    Just as the boy was nodding off, he suddenly jumped up, startled from hearing a voice from behind him say, “Hi there! Are you alive?”

    Turning to see the source of the call, the boy saw a young girl in a warm, bright red winter coat which came down to her knees and a matching pair of thermal pants. Her twin locks of dark blond hair were partially covered by an oversized red hat with an intricate pattern of snowflakes sewn onto it. Though far warmer than his own attire, the boy found her to look rather silly wearing such a large hat.

    After looking at her for a couple seconds, the boy finally realized she had asked him a question. “I... I’m pretty sure I’m alive. I’m really hungry though,” he replied.
“Oh, my mom was baking my favorite biscuits that she makes. I’ll get you one in a second. First though, what is your name?”

“My name is Robert. Thank you very much. I haven’t eaten since last night,” he said in response.
“Oh, my name is Emily! Here, I’ll run inside and see if the biscuits are ready! Don’t run off,” she answered.

    After Emily haphazardly trampled the entire lawn within the picket fence of her house, she finally managed to find her way back inside her house. Robert sat down again, quietly thanking the universe for someone finding him. Despite Emily’s silly clothing, Robert was far too hungry, tired, and cold to think about such small matters.

    About a minute later, Emily returned with an expensive-looking tray filled with warm, freshly-baked biscuits with a golden hue to them. Though Robert half-expected Emily to trip over the stairs leading up to the porch of her house, she carefully walked down the stairs over to a gate located on one side of the picket fence. She gingerly opened the gate with one gloved hand while balancing the tray of biscuits in her other hand. As she walked down the driveway which lay immediately adjacent to the gate, her thick, rubber boots crunched along the snow. Robert slowly walked over to meet her midway between the sidewalk at the end of the driveway and the positioning of the gate.

    “The biscuits just got finished cooking! I’d say they’re hot but they’ve probably cooled down out here,” Emily yelled out, slightly louder than necessary.
“Thank you very much,” returned Robert, almost squeaking as he did so.
Emily sat down on the driveway with a crunch and invited Robert to sit across from her.
“Here, have as many biscuits as you’d like!”

However, Emily didn’t expect Robert to be as hungry as he was. After taking one bite of the sweet, flavorful, and buttery biscuits, he had munched down three biscuits before Emily had even finished one.
“Whoa, you really were hungry,” Emily announced after they had finished eating. Only one biscuit remained.
“Oh. You should have the last one, Emily. They’re your biscuits. Thank you so much for this,” Robert replied. Slowly, the two of them began to warm up to each other as the sun rested high in the sky. Suddenly, Robert realized something. Without Emily, he might not have even been alive. Before he had met Emily, he was on a freezing cold street. Before he was on a freezing cold street, he was being abused by his foster parents. Emily had become Robert’s friend.

    Despite the differences between she and Robert, she realized something. Robert had become her first real friend. Her parents forced her to be home schooled, and despite all her private tutors, Emily had no friends until now.

    Robert and Emily began to converse over a variety of topics, including their school lives, parents, and the neighborhood in which they lived. From that wonderful moment on, Emily and Robert became good friends.

    Many days passed, and although Robert’s foster parents were terribly angry and continued to be abusive, the pain was lessened now that Robert had something to look forward to. Though Emily continued to be bored by hours and hours of private tutoring, she still got to look forward to Robert popping over to her house.

    Years later, Robert and Emily found themselves holding hands one day. Neither one had realized it at the time, but their lives changed when the two of them ate those biscuits together. Despite them both thinking the same thing, it was Robert who blurted out,
“Remember when we ate biscuits together that one time? That was a really wonderful moment.”

Author's Note

I wrote this several years ago for a writing contest. I don't really need any suggestions on how to change this, since it's so far away from me now. Still, thought I'd post it. ^_^