Spring Snow on the Tip of Your Nose

[heonynchans]

It’s cold.

Frost starts to form at the tip of Kevin’s fingers, familiar flakes of white and light blue coating his skin in a layer of ice. Kevin stares at the limb, watching the pretty patterns bloom as the sound of the raging storm around him keeps Kevin company. His wings lift at the snow, a mind of its own as they seem to revel in the snowstorm. The train track he’s sitting on starts rumbling ever so slightly, a signal for the approaching locomotive. He doesn’t bother to, knowing the train will just pass right by him anyway. Perks of being a spirit, he thinks with an amused smile.

The stars are gone tonight, the usual dim light that used to guide Kevin through these familiar tracks when he was still human gone from the night sky under the layers of clouds. Kevin sighs, watching as his breath turns into steam in the cold night air. It’s strange, Kevin thinks, the rules for what will and what won’t interact with his spirit body. According to his spirit guide Jacob, only natural things will interact with his body, unlike the tampered metal and fire of the train. The rumbling is louder now, a bright light entering Kevin’s peripheral vision as he looks away from his freezing hand. The train passes through him, as expected, nothing more than a cold rush of air through his chest.

Once upon a time, Kevin would have cried from the reminder of his predicament. It doesn’t quite faze him anymore.

“Kev? You’re going to catch a cold, silly thing,” a familiar voice calls out to him from behind the tree line. Kevin turns to it, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

“I’m dead, Jake,” Kevin calls back, standing up to dust the snow off of his pants regardless. Jacob gives him a soft smile that melts Kevin’s cold-stung bones just a little.

“Dead people still catch colds, Kev,” Jacob chides, flying over to help Kevin jump across the tracks. His wings are gigantic and full compared to Kevin’s tiny and transparent ones, showing the centuries of afterlife he has over Kevin. At times, Kevin wonders why Jacob even took him under his wing (literally and figuratively), but he doesn’t dwell on it for too long. What matters is the now, not the before or the after.

“Do you miss being alive?” Kevin asks, tapping Jacob on the shoulder as they make their way through the forest. Jacob pauses for a moment, considering his answer before turning to Kevin with a smile that sends warmth through Kevin’s frosted body.

“If I was alive, I wouldn’t be able to see you now, could I?”