Haven's walls stood on the cusp of being captured by the frost, an arrival that the elders had long predicted. The frost always returned, yet everything it took with it was forever lost. Still, the frost did not come alone, it brought back the past, relentlessly haunting Lennox Ford's thoughts. As powerless as the city walls kept out the cold north wind, he could not keep out the memories. It was the fourth frost Lennox had to face without his mother. For the fourth time, he had nobody. Nothing but the biting cold of the endless night devoid of dawn or daybreak.
The reflection of lifeless gray clouds veiled Lennox Ford's pensive azure eyes into a haze as he gazed out the dim window of his classroom. The gusts of the robust north wind swept the dusty earth, a blade cleaving through sultry air, akin to the sword of an unjust executioner.
A shiver ran down Lennox' spine as he saw a family walking by his makeshift school. A surge of emotions came over him, concealed beneath his facade of detachment. His movements were sporadic, limited to the occasional blinking hidden behind curly brown hair covering his eyes. Lennox shifted his attention back to the tiny plastic desk in front of him. Resting at the desk's center was an open book, its pages frayed and colored with a frail yellowish tint.
Before Lennox could get his hand on the book again, the blonde girl sitting to his left, Ivy Vaughn, snatched it away from him with one swift movement of her elegant slender fingers.
Lennox and Ivy had been deskmates ever since first grade, giving Lennox the opportunity to watch Ivy ripen from an unassuming girl into a popular young beauty that could effortlessly turn anyone's head, attracting the envious stares of other girls and the admiring gazes of the boys in her class. She was wearing a buttoned-up cotton shirt that tightly spanned around her firm teen breasts, squeezing them up like plump oranges. Her shiny hair was lying on them like a golden waterfall in the sunlight exuding the delightful smell of summer. Ivy's skin was rosy and spotless with breathtaking smoothness.
Ivy grinned cheekily and her emerald eyes sparkled with juvenile joy and genuine happiness. It was a sparkle that Lennox would never be able to reciprocate, no matter how much he desired to.
Ivy's cheerful voice sounded clear and melodic: "Let's see what we got here." The girl looked shocked reading the title of Lennox' chosen tale. "The Premature Burial??? Why are the stories you read always so dark?"
"This story is not dark at all, it is cathartic" Lennox replied, gently retrieving the book from Ivy's hands. He searched its pages for a specific passage to prove his point. Upon finding it, he read aloud, his voice was soft but weighted with significance. "I became a new man, and lived a man's life. From that memorable night, I dismissed forever my apprehensions." A sigh followed his recitation, laden with unspoken emotions.
"That sounds… kinda hopeful?!" Ivy said surprisedly.
It made Lennox blush uncomfortably that Ivy knew what he was reading because what he read was a part of him. He wanted to share it with her, even though it made him feel vulnerable. Everybody knew his life story, but nobody could say they knew him as long as they did not know the life he was living vicariously through the stories he read.
The boys sitting in the back of the classroom walked up to Lennox and Ivy. While two of them lined up in front of their table, one stood behind them, giving Lennox a pat on the back that did not feel friendly but rather needlessly violent. A resounding smack echoed through the air.
Lennox's fragile body was easily bruised and he felt his skin burning and his spine aching, still he was biting his tongue not to let anyone notice.
"Our favorite little bookworm, are you going to miss us when we are not around during the frost?" one of them taunted while moving his face closer to Lennox'. His sharp cheekbones stood out like chalk cliffs and his deep-set amber eyes focused on Lennox's face.
He was wearing a chain with a tiny pendant, a silver angel figure spreading its wings around his bulky neck. His name was Venyce Stone and he bent down to whisper something directly into Ivy's ear that Lennox could not understand. Ivy looked at him in disbelief and tried to pull on his black shirt, but when the teacher entered the classroom, Venyce and the other three, among them Lennox' brother Ian, strolled back to their seats in the back.
The teacher was a small bald man in his 40s. Visibly nervous and impatient he said "I want to start, Gentlemen in the back."
Venyce casually replied without batting an eye "It is more likely to be bored to death by you, Mr Hartman, than to die in the wastelands during the frost." This remark made Ivy and the other students around Lennox jiggle.
A chubby boy with black hair from Venyce's clique named Esteban added "Yeah, this is the last day you can torture us with your shit, by tomorrow we will all be sitting at home playing our beloved VR games."
Mr Hartman started to sweat and had to readjust his glasses that slipped down his crooked nose "I know the frost is coming, but now you still need to pay attention. Lennox, why don't you explain to the class what exactly the dire nature of the frost is."
"Sure Mr Hartman" Lennox said. "The frost is an aftermath of the fallout that came after the Final Conclusion. Every few years air currents from the north bring thick radioactive ash clouds to us that cover the sky and cool down the air to dangerously low temperatures while also contaminating the atmosphere, making it almost impossible for us to leave the house."
"Very knowledgeable and to the point as always, Lennox." Mr Hartman said proudly.