Her bags are packed,

she's ready to go,

so she wonders out the door

and into the snow.

***

The frosty air hits first, and almost instantly she can feel her face is pink with cold, but her feet won't stop moving towards the bus stop--not that she'd stop them; not that she wants to stop them. The bus doors open and she smiles a small smile until she realizes she doesn't have enough to get away.

Her lower lip trembles as she backs up out of the bus, the cold outside feeling like nothing compared to the black hole within.

By the time she makes it back home, the lights of her room are on and her stepmother's face is red. Her tears are frozen in her eyes as she climbs in the window, eyes dull and lifeless, not even a yelp to be heard when Irene's hand hits Mandy's chill-flushed cheeks.