Small, Insignificant Snowflakes

Small, insignificant snowflakes joyously descended down the staircase from the heavens to the white and cold hard ground as well as anyone in the way. The snowflakes, they had no care as to where they were going or what they were doing, they just lived their lives by life's coattails. Eventually, each and every one of them would end up melting; their intricate and unique shape taking on a plain and ordinary liquefied form, only to then wash away into the gutter. This sacrifice would soon end as the clouds ran away from the Earth off into a distant place, but they would eventually come back and the event would resume. A never ending event, unstoppable by any opposing force.

"Hey! Are you listening??" A fragile voice piped up. "Hello??"

"Oh," was the start of my reply followed by a light chuckle, "I'm sorry, I spaced out."

"Hmph," the voice pouted profusely, "It's fine. As I was saying though, the snow sure looks pretty today."

"Yeah..." I said, my voice trailing off as I looked up. "Pretty..."

There was silence filling the air as I continued looking up before a light sigh was made by the voice.

"Look," it started, "I'm sorry I brought you out here, I just... I wanted to talk to you. We don't usually talk much at all anymore..."

"But," I replied softly, looking over to the direction of the voice, "What do we talk about?"

It made a soft chuckle, "I have no idea." Another silence. "We never were good at making conversation, huh?"

"Nope," my lips let out a laugh, "But, I guess that's just the kind of people we are."

My eyes dart back to the scene of falling snowflakes, and as the silence grows, so does the feeling of emptiness inside me.

The voice then, to my surprise, erupts like a volcano, "Look at us, look at how far we've drifted! I hate this! I hate hate hate hate hate hate it! When's the last time we've even talked?!"

This anger from such a fragile thing stirs my emotions like a boiling pot. My thoughts and voice become completely dissonant, and I am forced to merely listen.

"Nothing's the same anymore!! Not since Chris...Chris...Chris..." the voice starts to choke on its' words.

I move towards the voice and comfort it, but I am pushed away.

"And you! How can you be so calm about this?! About what happened..." the voice trails in and out, "You're so cruel... how can you just... not feel anything... you said Chris meant everything to you... How can you be so cold?!"

"I'm not cold!" I shout as loud as I can, shutting the voice up. "You don't think this is affecting me?! I'm hurting right now! I've been in pain ever since Chris... Chris..." I start to choke as the words fight so valiantly to exit my mouth that tears begin to run down my face, "Ever since Chris committed suicide! Ever since that day I go to bed every night crying! Do you know how many nights it was until I was able to sleep normally again?! All those sleepless nights afraid of dreaming about Chris and then waking up and Chris being taken away from again! Night after night of beating myself up over the fact that I... I let Chris die! Letting myself cry and cry until there were no tears left to come out over the fact that I fought with Chris before it happened and never got the chance to make it up! Chris died...because of me...it's all...my fault..." My voice quieted and my shoulders slumped down.

"That can't be true!" the voice shouted at me with all its' might, shocking me. "Chris wasn't that kind of person...Chris would've never committed suicide over something like that! That can't be the reason!"

"Then what..." I retorted, "What was the reason? Why did Chris do this..."

The dreadful silence was unbearable, but neither of us knew what to say anymore; we had exhausted ourselves and were still catching our breath.

"I guess... we'll never know why..." the voice started up again, albeit quieter, but with more weight than any other words thrown before. "But... I do know one thing..."

"What...?"

"Chris would've hated seeing us this way... yelling at each other...depressed. Chris would've wanted us to be smiling, and for you to stop causing yourself so much trouble and pain..."

I wiped away the last remaining remnants of my tears as some sense finally flew into me, "Yeah... I suppose you're right. There's no way Chris would want this, for either of us." Finally realizing the ignorance I had created and been living in, I couldn't help but chuckle.

The voice then finally returned to its chippy high pitched voice back at the start of the conversation as it said one word that had the impact of thousands. "Right!"

And finally, for the first time in months, a genuine smile cracked apart my chapped lips. 

I looked back up at towards the heavens one more time, staring at each and every unique and beautiful snowflake gracefully descend its way down the stairs of heaven onto the now pure white and soft ground. These snowflakes indeed had no care in the world, and they were happy to touch the ground or whatever came between them. And then they would melt from their intricate shape into their new magnificent liquefied form and wash away into the gutter. The clouds then would run off into the far reaches of the Earth, only to appear later on to start the process over again. A never ending cycle, unstoppable by any opposing force. But, there was something about this that I couldn't help but find extremely beautiful.

"Hey," I say to the voice, "Tell me something."

"Hm?"

I stretch my index finger outwards away from me, letting snowflakes attach themselves to it before I ask my question.

"Do you think that snowflakes ever really disappear after they melt away?"