The World Is Now A Snow Globe

Playing on the steps of the porch was a young girl.

She held in her hands the most beautiful little snow globe, complete with a little town and it’s own tiny forest and makeshift lake. She would shake it, stirring up the glittery white powder within and letting it flurry around in the globe in dizzying patterns, enthralled with the way it seemed to look so real.

It was her toy of the moment. Her new fascination. A gift, given to her by her stepfather, one which she could play with and control. Her own little stormy world, trapped in a bubble. It was the one thing right now that kept her happy.

Her mother, she noticed, was sad. So sad, every day. She couldn’t quite work out why, but all she knew was that when her mother bowed her head quietly in the kitchen as she stood over the sink and she saw a small pill in her mother’s hand before it disappeared down her throat, she needed to be left alone. She needed space. She wanted to be in a world of her own. Like Lily’s little snow globe.

Her stepfather wasn’t home very often, but when he was, the whole atmosphere changed. She felt it. Songs were played and she could always hear laughter in the house, but it was getting rarer and rarer. Those small pockets of joy were slipping out of her grasp, out of her memories. She held on tightly to what she had though. And when she looked at it, the snow globe made her remember. The laughter. The lightness of the air. The freedom to breathe.

Lily’s world seemed to be shrinking. It felt like it was getting tinier and sadder. She knew what it needed. It needed some sparkle again. Some more joy. She thought of all the wonderful ways she could scoop up her little world and put it in a snow globe and just shake it up until it sparkled and shone with the glittery snow making it all better again.

Lily turned and looked through the glass pane of the front door, through the lobby and into the kitchen, where she could see her mother, standing at the sink again, holding her hand up and looking down at it. Alone time.

Had she looked closer, she would have seen the numerous pills on her mother’s hands. Had she looked closer, she would have seen the tremble as her mother quivered at the thought of what she was about to do. But all she saw was her mother needing alone time. All she saw as she looked away, was the glittery snow in her globe whirling around, filling her head with happiness and memories of laughter and music.

She looked up to see her stepfather walking up the gravel driveway, smiling briskly as he walked by, ruffling her hair, which made her giggle at the sign of affection. He walked in and she saw him make his way to the kitchen. She knew he was going to say hello to her mother. Maybe he could take her out of her alone time and they could all spend time together like before.

She heard his scream. Heard his cry for help as he sobbed and wailed. Even he felt sad. She supposed he would need alone time too. So she looked away from the house and back to the snow globe.

She doesn’t need to look at her world out there any more. Everything she needed was here. Her world. The world was now a snow globe. Full of glitter, love, light and laughter.