Cloakless

Only a Northern girl like me would end up so disheveled on a Sunday. My hair was flying, my dress was all in shambles, and the mud on my feet made my black shoes look brown. This wind was a nuisance but I had nobody but myself to blame for not wearing a proper cloak. The clouds looked like rain too. It was going to be a long walk home.

The path bent up away from the village and into the forest before it reached my house. I hadn’t made it to the edge of the woods yet when I felt the first drop of rain. It splashed right on my hand, bigger than usual and cold as ice. It was too far to run all the way home, but I dashed ahead to at least get under the cover of the trees.

It was dark in the forest even though some of the leaves had started to fall. I never liked it. Over the years I had grown from feeling afraid the whole two miles through the woods to eventually getting to be quite familiar with the different twists and turns, even to the point of recognizing rocks and roots along the way.

The rain had picked up a lot by the end of the forest trail. I couldn’t see my house yet, but it was only another few miles around the side of the hill. We had built it next to a stream that ran down the far side of the hill so that we would always have fresh water, even in the dry season and the middle of winter. It was more walking to get back from the town, but it was worth it.

Strangely, the rain felt even colder now. I was shivering after only a few minutes of walking. My dress was soaked through. I debated running, but it was still a long way off. Nothing was worse than getting cold after breaking a sweat.

The rain suddenly turned to hail. I panicked. I was out in the open. My teeth chattered as I tried to shield my head from the pelting ice. I was walking along, arms up and head down, when I realized I had fallen. My knees were numb, and the hail was getting bigger. My whole body began to feel warm as the freezing, knocking, cracking kept up incessantly. It felt like someone had just tucked me into the biggest, warmest bed. My eyes were already closed, and they stayed that way.