Chapter 6: Threshold

The second day after the long winter had begun, Yuki awoke in relative comfort. Sure, it was far colder than the first week of August had any right to be.

But the power still functioned, the heater prevented the house from becoming too cold, and most importantly she still possessed enough coffee and milk to keep the panic at bay.

All and all it could have been considered a slightly normal morning, if it weren’t for the fact that when she opened her shades and gazed upon the world outside, it was already covered in white.

The snow had not stopped falling since its first sight. And over the course of the last twenty-four hours or more it had accumulated to a significant degree. Already they had a little over a foot of snow.

What was once a vibrant mountainous community filled with verdant landscape now found itself coated in thick and powdery white snow. The sky was dark, darker than it should reasonably be in the daytime, and the snow showed no signs of stopping.

As Yuki stared with her jaw absolutely dropped. She could see members of the suburban community outside shoveling snow, while others dragged their kids along sleds, helped them build snowmen, or were outright pelting one another with snowballs.

Every house on the block appeared to be producing smoke through its chimney except for one.

Dean’s newly redecorated house, whose layout was completely distinctive from the rest of the community showed no signs of life.

No steam rose from its vents, and the thick blackout shades concealed any lighting whatsoever from escaping beyond its hidden interior.

It was then that Yuki noticed a peculiar sight, nearly choking on her coffee as she witnessed it unfold.

The snow that had accumulated on Dean’s roof until now broke apart and slid off of its unusual angle. Falling onto the ground around the house.

“No fucking way….”

She quickly looked around at the rest of the neighborhood and noticed a critical detail. Every single other house in the residential development still had snow piling atop its roof.

Her mind quickly harkened back to the last month, as Dean had hired a construction crew to completely tear his property apart and rebuild it outside of HOA guidelines.

“He couldn’t possibly have known, right?”

She quickly pushed this idea to the back of her head, believing it to be absurd, while reaching for the remote which activated her television.

The news popped up, and the usual anchor couple were sitting there in comfortable clothing, and the same performative smiles on their faces they had every day.

“Well, it appears this snow is just not letting up. The local authorities have stated that all non-essential jobs in the public sector are to be closed for the day. And potentially the rest of the weekend. The Mayor has also asked citizens not to travel on the icy roads unless it is absolutely necessary to do so. If you are one of the lucky few who have the day off, make sure to stay warm and enjoy the time you have. Because the storm should pass in just a few days!”

Yuki scoffed as she turned the television off once more.

“Even if it stops snowing tonight, I doubt this snow will be fully removed by the end of the week….”

Her eyes drifted outside once more, watching a snow plow pass through the neighborhood streets for the second time since she had woken up.

Things appeared to be stable for the time being, but despite this she could not help but feel something ominous in the back of her mind.

—

On the third day after the snow had begun to fall, Yuki noticed something alarming in the world around her.

The snow had not ceased accumulating for even a moment. Cars were already buried past their wheel wells, some nearly swallowed to the doors.

Roofs were lined to the brim with the white powder, as several residents desperately tried their best to clear it off their roofs before it risked structural damage.

She could hear her roof creaking beneath the weight; not constantly, just enough to notice.

All the same, Dean’s home appeared the same as it had the day before; the only difference is that the thick concrete walls he had established around his property and the razor wire fixed atop seemed to be smaller than the day before.

Even the streets were becoming impassable; there did not appear to have been a plow brought through the neighborhood’s streets throughout the night.

Yuki barely managed to get her hands steady long enough to brew a cup of coffee as she sipped its warmth for comfort.

The news continued to speak of how the storm would be vanishing any day now. And yet, this was a snowstorm the likes of which she had never seen.

Rather than trust what was on the television she swiftly pulled up her laptop and searched the global network.

There she found information about snow no longer just falling in the Pacific Northwest, Rust Belt, and Northeastern states of the Union of Columbia.

“What the hell is going on? There’s no way this is a normal snowstorm, right?”

By now snow fall was no longer isolated to the north; it had also begun to fall even in some sub-tropical zones closer to the equator.

“No fucking way….”

Yuki’s heart nearly stopped for a brief moment before typing her home country into the search bar.

She doom scrolled through half a dozen articles saying how the northernmost regions of Yamato were in the midst of region-wide brownouts, and that roads were shut down for everyone outside of emergency services.

And this seemed to be the case for many of the world’s northernmost regions. Knowing that her mother and father were still back in Yamato, Yuki reached for her phone and entered her contacts, dialing her father’s number first.

It rang… rang again… and then nothing.

“Goddammit, Dad, pick up! Pick up!”

When her father’s phone did not connect, she tried her mother’s, and this time she got an instant connection.

“Mom, what the hell? Why can’t I reach Dad? Are you two all right? I hear the snow falling back home is pretty bad right now. Are you and Aoi okay?”

Yuki’s mother yawned before responding.

“Yuki? Is that you? Have you any idea what time it is here? Oh, right… I forgot to tell you…. Your father didn’t want to worry you, but we decided to take your sister to our vacation home in Lion City for the rest of the winter. It appears as though it’s going to be pretty nasty this year. How are things where you’re at? I hope you’re not in the worst of it…”

Lion City… it was a small and wealthy city-state in South-East Asia. A country where her family owned a rather luxurious penthouse, which they frequently visited during vacations.

So her parents had escaped the worst of the storm. Yuki took a deep breath as her heart calmed itself to a more steady rhythm.

She looked out the window and saw the frozen world beyond… Her fingers curled in tension as she bit her lip.

In the background, the news played. The anchors were no longer cheerful; just composed enough to keep reading.

“The local authorities are asking residents to be mindful of electricity usage and to please avoid unnecessary heating during peak hours… Be mindful that temporary rolling brownouts may occur as the storm clears up in the coming days.”

Yuki closed her eyes when she heard those words. She knew exactly what they meant, and she looked down at her phone, where her mother’s contact photo appeared in its place as she waited for her response.

A slight tear fell down Yuki’s eyes as she nodded to herself thrice. In that moment, she had made a decision.

“I’m fine, mother…. The truth is, I settled in a really good area that’s capable of dealing with this little amount of snow. You and Dad make sure Aoi behaves herself; I’ll visit you all when winter ends. I promise!”

Her mother didn’t seem to notice the inflection in Yuki’s tone, and yawned again.

“That sounds lovely dear, but I really do need to get back to sleep. I’ll speak to you later. Enjoy your studies abroad!”

The line hung up, as Yuki sat there staring at her phone and the photos within. Dean’s voice played itself in her mind over and over again throughout the day as she made sure she had what she needed.

There’s a storm coming… If you run out of supplies, my door is always open to you.

He knew… Yuki didn’t know how Dean had known, or why he offered to help her out. They were practically strangers. Running into each other a few times by sheer happenstance. But as the roof creaked above her, she knew she could no longer afford to stay in her own home.

The one her parents had bought for her education abroad. She had to abandon it. Just as she piled the last of her bags near her door and donned the best of her winter clothing; the power went out…

She sighed heavily, with a bitter smile on her face.

“And I suppose that’s my cue….”

Yuki opened the door and walked out into the snow, carrying what little belongings she could afford to take with her as she crossed the hostile terrain between her front door and Dean’s.

Her silhouette practically disappearing into the winter between them.

As she reached the edge of his property, the motion lights didn’t activate; the house stayed dark. She stood there, arms crossed, head low; doubt beginning to swirl.

While his house appeared unaffected by the snow on the outside, she hadn’t seen a glimpse of the world inside throughout the storm.

Was he even still alive? Were her hopes nothing but a naïve fantasy? Just as she was about to turn away, the door opened; warm light spilling across the snow at her feet.

“It took you long enough…. I was beginning to think I’d have to come pull you out of that house myself.”

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