Warmth

2024, written by Alex Bregy. A short fiction piece about a young girl who gets locked out of her house on a snowy winter day—themes of neglect, care, and, of course, warmth.

Small white clouds escaped from my mouth as I walked home from my bus stop. Sometimes I liked to pretend I was smoking when it was this cold, just like I saw grownups do. I’d bring two fingers to my mouth and take a deep breath in, then form a tiny circle with my lips and blow out the pretend smoke. But today, my hands were bundled up in my puffy snow gloves, so it wouldn’t have the same effect—no one wore snow gloves when they smoked. 

I carefully stepped up the edge of our icy steps, the same way I did everyday. One side of the steps had been progressively falling apart for years, the concrete breaking into small stones if you stepped on it the wrong way. I’d taken enough tumbles and gotten enough stones wedged into my knees to avoid that side at all costs, especially when it was coated in slushy snow. 

I was a latchkey kid, but I wasn’t trusted with a latchkey because I had a tendency to misplace my things. So, my mom left a key underneath our welcome mat for me to unlock our door after school. But today, when I peeled the mat off the concrete, there was no key underneath it. This had never happened before. Sometimes my mom would use the spare key when she got home late from work and didn’t want to search through her big ring of keys for the one that opened our door. But she would always put it back in the morning. 

I jiggled the doorknob, hoping that my mom had accidentally left it unlocked, but it didn’t budge. Then I waited there for a while, watching the cars shoot slush all over the sidewalk.

I only really had one friend: a boy named Ivan who lived down the street. We shared a seat on the school bus—in the back of the bus, now that we were fifth graders—and got off at the same stop. We also played a lot on the weekends and sometimes after school—always outside—either at the park or in his front yard. Lately we’d been building snowmen and having snowball fights, but when it was warmer out, we would play at the playground a few streets over, seeing who could get the highest on the swings. Some people thought it was weird that we were friends, since I was a girl and he was a boy and we didn’t have a crush on each other. But I didn’t think it was weird—he was just my friend. 

My body shook and my head started to hurt. I’d felt this way before, when I played outside for a long time in the wrong gear—my jeans freezing stiffly to my legs. When that happened, I’d rush inside, change my clothes, and huddle under my blankets. But I didn’t have that option today. 

I knew that knocking on Ivan’s door would be rude. My mom told me that I always had to ask my friend’s parents before going to their houses; because no one wanted to take care of kids that weren’t theirs. But my teeth were getting sore from their chattering and I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. 

Snowflakes gathered on my pony tail as I walked to their house, making it heavier as it swung side to side. With each step I took, I heard the contents of my pencil case rattle inside my Hello Kitty backpack. 

As I approached their steps, I carefully examined them, checking for broken wooden planks or hidden ice. They seemed sturdy and were littered with that non-slip salt. 

I fought with the velcro on my snow glove before pulling it off. Then I knocked on their door. There was no answer. Wind howled in my ears. My cheeks burned. My breath was sharp, chest filled with icy air. Why did I think they would answer? I turned back toward the steps. 

The door creaked open. “Hey! Sorry, I’m just getting back from work.”

Ivan’s mom peeked out of the cracked door. She wore a uniform from the local gas station. I recognized the logo on her chest. 

“Oh sweetie, come in!” She exclaimed. “You must be freezing!” 

I was still as a statue. 

“Look at your cheeks, they’re red as tomatoes! Come in here, warm up!” 

As I passed through the door, she wrapped her arm around my back, and my body jolted, in the involuntary way that it tended to when people got too close to me. It made my heart race and my muscles stiffen. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” she said, shutting the door. 

The warmth defrosted my body like vegetables in the microwave. Their house smelled clean and sweet, like laundry detergent and vanilla. 

“It’s super cold out there!” She rubbed her hands together. “How long were you outside?” 

“I got locked out,” I said quietly.

“Oh my goodness,” her voice was loud. “The bus dropped you off thirty minutes ago!”

“I’m sorry,” I said, fidgeting with the velcro on my glove. “I didn’t know where else to go.” 

“No, sweetie,” she cupped her hands around my biceps. They were warm. My body jumped, but I didn’t want to move. She must’ve known because she didn’t let go. “You’re welcome here anytime, okay? My door is always open.”
I nodded even though I didn’t really believe her. “Thank you, Miss-” I forgot Ivan’s last name. “Miss…” 

“Just call me Crystal,” she rubbed her hands up and down my biceps, moving around the warmth. 

I nodded. 

“Do you want some hot chocolate?” She moved towards the counter, where an electric kettle sat. 

“No, I’m okay,” I said. “I just needed to get inside.” 

Crystal looked at me, the way that a lot of adults looked at me, like they were trying to solve a math problem. 

“Okay, well, take that wet snow gear off,” she directed. “It’s not gonna help you warm up. You can hang it on the rack next to the door.”

I stripped my coat, gloves, and hat, hanging them on the rack. Then I undid the velcro on my snow boots. As I placed them next to the door, I realized I had tracked slushy footprints all through the entryway. Crystal would definitely be mad now. 

“Do you have a towel?” I asked. 

“Are your clothes wet? You can borrow some of Ivan’s.” 

I looked down at the cuffs of my shirt and pants. Wet rings, about two inches high, darkened the fabric. 

“No,” I said. “I made a mess,” I pointed to the footprints. “I can clean it up.” 

“Oh, sweetie, don’t worry about that,” she said.

I looked at the footprints. 

“Why don’t you go into the living room, it’s that door right there,” she pointed to an old brown door. “Ivan’s in there, watching TV.” 

I stood there for a moment, recalibrating. 

Crystal stepped out of the room. Hesitantly, I moved towards the brown door and pushed it open, revealing Ivan who was laying on their big, fluffy couch. 

“Oh, hey,” he sat up, his eyebrows knit in confusion. “What are you doing here?” 

“I got locked out,” I said. 

“Oh, that sucks,” he clicked the TV off. “What do you want to do?” 

I shrugged. 

“I just got some new drawing stuff,” Ivan said. He pulled out a big pack of paper and some markers. “You wanna make something?” 

We laid on the floor and put all of our focus into our drawing. We created a scene from a fairytale, with beautiful princesses, fire breathing dragons, and knights sword fighting. I liked pretend worlds like that. Sometimes, I would imagine that I lived in a pretend world; often, I was a struggling orphan, like in Annie. Life was more fun when I pretended that way—a better story.  

Crystal came into the room. “Luna, you should call your parents,” she said, handing me her phone. “I just realized that. You should let them know where you are.” 

I stood up, typing in my mom’s phone number. 

“And Ivan, you better clean all this up before dinner.” 

“I wiiiilll,” he whined. 

“Are you sure? Because last time you left this all out. I’m too tired after work to clean up your messes, Ivan!” 

Stepping away, I put the phone up to my ear. It rang, and rang, and rang. Finally, a robotic woman said: “The person you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.” A familiar beep blasted into my ears. 

“Hey mom,” I said. “This is Luna. I got locked out. The key wasn’t under the mat. I’m at Ivan’s house. I just wanted to let you know.” 

I pressed the big red button and handed the phone back to Crystal. 

“Thank you,” she said, putting the phone in her pocket. “Why don’t you two clean this up, then come get some dinner?” 

Crystal placed a scoop of gooey mac and cheese with hot dogs onto Ivan’s plate. 

“Thank you, Crystal,” I said as she platted my scoop. 

“You’re welcome, Luna,” she looked at Ivan. “You know, you could learn something from Luna’s manners.” 

Ivan rolled his eyes. “Thanks, mom.” 

“You’re welcome,” Crystal pulled up one of the stools from the counter, which was a bit too tall for the table, and took a seat. “How was school today?” 

“It was good,” Ivan said. “We had extra recess.” 

They began to eat. I followed their lead. 

“Oh, that’s fun! What did you do with the extra time?” 

“Played four-square.”
“Very nice,” Crystal turned to me. “Luna?” 

I stared at her for a moment. Did I do something? Did I miss a question? Sometimes I wasn’t a great listener. 

“What?” I finally asked. 

“How was school?” 

I paused. “Good.”

“That’s good. What did you do?”

“Why?” My heart sped up. Why was she asking so many questions? 

“I was just wondering,” she smiled. “Did you have extra recess, too?” 

I nodded. 

“I hope that was fun.” 

The phone rang. Crystal got up and answered it. “Hello?…Oh yes, she’s right here, eating dinner…okay…yes, okay, I’ll send her over when she’s finished…great…okay, bye.” 

She hung up the phone. “Luna, that was your mother. She wanted me to send you home once you’ve finished eating.” 

My plate was already cleared. I looked at Ivan’s plate, still half full. He took small bites, like the food was unlimited. 

Crystal looked out the window. “It’s already pretty dark out,” she said. “How about we walk you home once we’ve all finished?”

“Okay,” I said. I didn’t understand why Crystal wanted to walk me home; I’d walked from their house in the dark plenty of times before. But I didn’t mind staying a little longer. 

We bundled up in our coats, hats, and gloves before heading to my house. Ivan told his mom about something funny that happened at school and I listened. 

“Luna,” Crystal said as we approached my house. I turned to her and she pulled me into a hug. “Come over anytime, okay?” 

She rubbed my back. I took a deep breath, the icy air feeling refreshing rather than  painful. 

I nodded. She slowly released me, then waved. “See you soon!” 

“See you soon.” 

I climbed up the edge of my steps and knocked on the door.