Snow and wind shook at the shutters of the University with a relentless force that December eve.

“It’s a New Year tomorrow,” Jared said in too cheery a voice as he packed away the last of his things by his bedside.  He straightened and gave a blinding smile.  “A fresh start!”

But Lorne was silent and sullen as the snowbanks outside as he strung his satchel to his back.  Jared, with his close knit family, could never comprehend his situation.

Lorne’s mother was murdered.  His sister was left alone with their father, and he didn’t trust him to take care of her for a second.  Their father was a drunkard who threw away the household money and all his responsibilities. A once proud, noble family, they now shamed their own people.

Lorne stared at Jared, his eyes dark pools as they always were when he was angry.

“You can’t skirt around what happened forever, you know?” Jared said, his amber eyes filled with concern.  “It’ll do things to you, if you keep it bottled up all the time.”

Lorne knew full well what bottling up his emotions would do.  He could feel the rage inside, just simmering under the surface, but he ignored it.  “Emotions are a Human luxury,” Lorne muttered as he opened the door and stepped into the snowfall.

“Don’t be like this, Fox!” Jared called, the old nickname slipping past his lips.  “Don’t push away everyone you care about!”

Lorne paused, anger rising, his pale hand on the door as he turned to look at Jared one last time.  “Who said I cared about any of you?”

Now Jared was silent as a memorial stone for long gone kin.

Lorne went out, without a mother and without empathy.  He bit his tongue just to feel something.

The world was filled with injustices and the dead.

He caught a falling snowflake on his aching tongue, and it chilled his heart back into bittersweet indifference.

~*~

This short is based on characters and situations from my original YA fantasy series, “Ebony”, which is currently in the process of being submitted to agents.  This was also in answer to this week’s Trifecta challenge:

“The prompt is the third definition of the word Skirt:

skirt (verb)

1   to form or run along the border or edge of

2   to provide a skirt for

3   to go or pass around or about; specifically : to go around or keep away from in order to avoid danger or discovery

Please note: we are asking for the verb form of the word skirt.  As discussed in our instructions, responses that use the noun form or a different tense of the word will be disqualified.”