1 The beginning

It was steaming hot in the little apartment. Various plants, scattered throughout the house, desperately yearned for some fresh water, several mushrooms immediately sought shelter in the house to flourish, and birds, well it was safe to say that they didn't not need to hibernate in Africa anymore this winter. At least according to the Shelly Fitt. But then again, Shelly always had something to complain about, even to her friends. Eve only shrugged her shoulders as her friend om the phone continued a story about how she felt a itch between her toes and... well... Eve didn't care. She knew that without her blanket of heat - as she called the warmth in her house affectionately - she would be feeling the cold trying to destroy her body from within as if it was a devastating army. Her aching muscles would simply freeze up, making even the slightest movements impossible, at least not without enduring a staggering pain in her whole body. So, no matter what her friend said, she insisted on having the thermostat to be at least at a comfortable twenty-three degrees. Preferably higher.

Not long ago her doctor told that her that she could be suffering from a vitamin deficiency. Lack of vitamin D, he called it. Eve only grunted, She never took his advice serious. Not that she didn't think he was stupid or anything like that, but she strongly believed he had ties with the drug mafia. All those damn pills, one for her blood pressure, another for arthritis, a third for her brains. At home she had like 21 pills to take. Her neighbor Shelly already said it: for every subscribed pill her doctor would get a bonus. So, she watched him closely, like a hawk. And surely she was seeing a pattern. Last week she had a headache and he subscribed her a blasted blue pill. It would make her drowsy and the headache would go away. No sir, she was maybe old, but not senile. So, she just nodded to him, took the recipe home and went to bed without the medication. Three days later her headache was gone. It better, because she forgot where she put the recipe anyways. Damn doctors. Of course, she decided not long after that to stop seeing her doctor, the quack. She could just do fine without his help, she concluded. Nevertheless, vitamin deficiency was not even a strange conclusion. On the Internet, she had already read similar stories from other people. Coldness, drowsiness, forgetting things, she had it all. It was just an coincidence. Or maybe that doctor was right after all. Eve didn't care. She was stubborn to admit she could be wrong anyways; a trade she got from her late father whom she'd rather not talk about.

Eve stared with narrowed eyes through the window. Drops of condensed water fluttered along the cold glass. Desperately, she tried to look past it. With the palm of her hand she rubbed over the wet glass. Despite the comfortable temperature in the room her hand kept shaking. She was swearing. Her late mother never allowed profanity in the house. Swearing never solves any problems, she always said. Eve smiled. Her mother was of course right. She was such a sweet woman. But the swearing felt so good, so Eve couldn't be bothered.

"Last year it snowed just like today."

That was the conclusion of Eve now, as she felt the cold sweeping through the window. Outside a million of tiny snowflakes fluttered down from a gray sky and changed the earth in a peaceful white.

"Do you remember, Don?"

But Don said nothing.

Eve did not bother though, as she continued. "You know, when Lina got in trouble by that big snowbank, there on the corner."

She sighed.

"Her car was completely stuck in that snow pile. God knows what could've happen, you know," she said almost in the same breath.

"VanDyke, it was him. If he'd cleared his alley, I swear, nothing would've happen. Remember dad always said we had to clean our streets or accidents would've happen? No one has the right values anymore."

The woman took a deep breath. Slowly she exhaled. "Some people."

She leaned forward, grabbing a cigarette from the table before her. "What a lovely Christmas Day it is," she said. "I received a red bicycle. I remember that well." Eve lit the cigarette and took a long pull. Promptly she coughed.

"Last year it snowed, just like today. Remember, Don? "

Eve turned her head away from the window.

"Don?"

The seat next to her was empty.

"Don, where are you?" A tear rolled down from her left cheek.

Without any notice the door of her room flew open. Eve immediately felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car.

"Talking to yourself again, Mrs Spark? "

The old woman at the window looked dazed.

"Who are you," she stammered. "Where are my dear Don and Lina?"

The woman strode up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Seeing ghosts again?" she said with a smile. She pulled the old woman out of her chair. "Your daughter's been dead for five years. Tragic accident with a tree. It was snowing then, much like today. Look," and she pointed at a photo frame, " that's them. Next to the bed. Don is there also. I am Liz. I'm your nurse."

"Here," she said, "please, sit down on the bed. I will help you undress. "

She handed her a small plastic cup filled with a blue and a red pill. "Please, your medications." The nurse nodded. "It's good for you, I promise."

Eve hesitated. In her mind a picture formed. It was her former doctor, laughing.