Short Story: A Magical Snowflake (Gen)

02.23.2008 | Author: Chark | Posted in Shorts, Writing

Title: A Magical Snowflake
Author: Chark (aka Serenity Blaine) [yes, I have an alias or nom de plume]
Genre: Young Adult/Children
Rating: G

Ten year-old Mara is standing outside on a cold winter day in Wisconsin feeling disgruntled with life as she knew it. Her parents had just come home with her new baby sister and Mara is feeling neglected and as she wanders away from her home into the nearby woods, Mara loses track of time and night falls quickly.


The temperature drops and Mara huddles down into the curve of a tree trunk as snow begins to fall for the first time that winter.

She closes her eyes and reaches out her hand and lightly touches the first snowflake she sees. Her emotions swing wildly from one to the other, she is sad and joyful all at the same time. Snow has always been special to her, but she is sad to be lost, alone, cold and feeling guilty about not being happy for her new baby sister.

As the snowflake touches her skin, Mara feels an unexpected warmth suffuse her body and a sense of lightness overcomes her.

She opens her eyes and blinks; she sees that she is floating in mid-air as if by magic. She looks around and she see that she has tiny wings and that they are fluttering rapidly to keep her afloat. She is flying. In her wildest dreams, she would never have thought she would become a winter sprite, a tall legendary tale that her dad had told her about years ago. She laughs and flits around, and the music of her laugh is like a silver tinkle. She flies high into the sky, zipping in between the falling snowflakes and in the distance she sees her home ablaze with light. As she nears, she sees her father at the window looking worried and pacing. She knows that they are concerned for her. For all that she feels jealous of her new sister, she’s been repeatedly told that her parents would love her no less than they did before.

Her dad opens the door and calls out Mara’s name and she zips in front of him and yells to him, “I’m here, Daddy!”

Her father, Ted, blinks in surprise and stumbles backwards through the doorway, almost closing the door on Mara. She speeds in before it does and hovers around him, trying to touch him in concern.

He yells for Mara’s mother, Kim — who comes rushing from the baby’s room — she looks tired and worn, but she shushes Ted to be quiet, to let the baby Jane sleep.

She stops in her tracks when she sees a tiny Mara fly near her. Her 10 year-old daughter is now no larger than her hand. She almost faints in surprise and she staggers to a chair to recover her composure. Ted joins her in an adjoining chair and they hold out their hands gingerly, so that Mara could rest as they talked.

Ted and Kim are afraid for their daughter and ask what has happened. She can’t tell them exactly as to the how or why, but that she feels so happy, happier than she has ever been.

Mara’s parents cry, knowing they they’ve lost their daughter and that she most likely will not stay. Can not stay.

Mara is confused by their sadness, and as minutes pass Mara’s understanding of who ’she’ is and who the people are in front of her begins to fade.

She wanders through the house and spots a tiny sleeping baby and she gives it a gentle kiss and a special blessing before Mara pops outside the house and is once more flying and laughing among the snowflakes.

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