Of course, the snow was coming down hard, so it didn’t take long for unsullied white to coat everything. There weren’t even many footprints to be seen in the blanket of white. Georgie dropped the lighter in his pocket and forced his feet to shuffle forward in the virgin snow. Need to sell what Derek gave you, and hopefully get a little extra cash for a subway ride back to Harlem and a bite to eat. You can’t stand here all night playing with the damn lighters, idjit. He started to thumb the lighter again, the warmth addictive. I was cutting through it to get to Time Square. Soft, new snow covered everything, including a nearby bench. He looked around, trying to get his hazy brain to focus. Where was he? He was so cold and tired he wasn’t thinking straight. The wind whipped past him, causing a mini hurricane of snow to swirl up. The warmth was wonderful but fragmentary, like his thoughts, a heat that promised salvation only to vanish a second later, leaving his fingers colder than before. He held the lighter as steady as he could with his left hand and ran the fingers of his right over the flame. But after a half-dozen tries, the flame burst up, golden and orange and mesmerizing. Georgie’s thumbs were so cold, he could barely flip the wheel. You can check out the other authors free fiction at the group Facebook page here. This free short story is provided as part of the Rainbow Advent Calendar.
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