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Cold.

That was all that ran through Kylie's head as she stumbled on, arms wrapped around her chest to hold her threadbare hoodie in place against the tearing wind and the soft but inevitably chilling bite of the falling snow.

Once upon a time she had looked forward to December. It was the month when Santa came, when family gathered and shared meals and laughter and gifts around warm fires.

December had taken on a wholly different feeling the moment she had been kicked out of her home. The nights filled with the gentle crackle of snow falling while she sat inside in comfort had been replaced by the harsh reality of ice in her hair, and frostbite in her toes and fingers.

There would be no turkey dinner waiting on her mother's table, no warm sweaters or twinkling ornaments on a tree. Every house she passed, no matter how jolly its decorations or welcoming its stoop may look, held no place for her.

The world held no place for her. Not any more.

Only cold.

Unless she got lucky.

She almost missed it, hidden as it was along the edge of the eaves of the house, but there it was: tucked in amongst the rest of the blinking lights. To have it be more obvious would be to risk prosecution -- being visible at all could mean danger, if the wrong person noticed it -- but it was a signal, one meant not for those who were safe, but for those who had been ostracized, cast aside by the regime.

A rainbow flag, tattered with time.

Kylie stopped at the end of the drive, giving her heart time to slow before she approached the door. Even with the flag's presence she knew that it was a long shot, but she had to try, before the cold and the darkness won.

She paused again in her approach as whispers of laughter and music reached her, enough to penetrate the walls and the whipping wind, and coming from the house itself. More people meant more danger.

She glanced again at the rainbow flag, swallowed nervously, and continued her trudge toward the door.

*Knock Knock*

As the door swung open, the light and warmth from within the house washed over Kylie. The laughter and music were now almost a cacophony, and the smell of food -- a rarity in her life now -- was almost enough to knock her over.

The old woman who opened the door gave Kylie a worried look. "Can I help you, sir?"

Kylie winced, and once again turned her eyes to look at the rainbow flag.

Seeing where Kylie's eyes had gone, the old woman smiled. "What's your name, dear?"

"K-kylie?"

"Kylie? Come in," the woman said, reaching out a hand. "I think I have a sweater in your size."

Kylie hesitated before taking the hand, but the smells, the sounds, the warmth... she needed it.

She stepped over the threshold, and the door closed behind her, holding the dark and cold at bay -- at least for a time.

-End-

NOTES:

Melanie E.