Snowflakes by Tal Lingenua (ereader manga .TXT) 📖

The days were going by quickly. They were spending a lot of time together and doing a lot of the things Gabriele wanted to do but they seemed to be lacking.

It was 11:30 when Mother decided to send them to bed. The days seemed to be getting shorter and shorter and the snow was getting higher and higher, soon they wouldn’t be able to go outside and play in it, their favorite wintertime activity.

Vanessa and Gabriele switched bunks again, since Gabriele couldn’t make it up the ladder (at least, she didn’t attempt to).

Gabriele felt low down. She had gotten used to sleeping on the top bunk. She wasn’t going to be able get to sleep and so she lay on her back staring at the underside of the top bunk. Time dragged by slowly which, despite being boring, provided some solace to Gabriele.

After what felt like 2 hours, but in reality was closer to 30 minutes, Gabriele’s stomach started swelling like a balloon. “Wha-”

She felt rapid kicks inside her stomach. A continuous barrage that was too much for Gabriele to bear and she let out a loud succession of screams. Tears erupted down her cheeks as the little feet kicked her insides raw.

She heard somebody screaming her name. She could see a watery image of someone besides her. The kicking ceased and Gabriele was able to catch her breath and wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Oh god, you’re about to go into labor aren’t you?” Vanessa said. Then she turned towards the door, “Mother!”

Gabriele grabbed Vanessa’s hand, “Do something!” A liquid splashed inside of Gabriele's pants and ran down her leg. It was wet and sticky and made her want to squirm, “Eww!”

“Did your water just break?” Vanessa started breathing rapidly, “Mother should be here soon.”

“I don’t have that long.” Gabriele moaned.

Vanessa took a deep breath. Then she took off Gabriele’s pants and tossed them away she ripped the comforter off of her own bed and positioned herself between Gabriele’s legs.

Gabriele felt immense pressure on her uterus. It turned to burning and she felt herself being stretched.

“You have to start pushing at some point.” Vanessa said.

“When?”

“Erm...How about now?”

Gabriele pushed with all her strength. She felt the baby exit her body and she flopped backward onto her pillow, panting.

Maxi and her mother came in as Vanessa begun cleaning the baby.

“Are you okay, Gabriele?” Mother said, “We heard you screaming.”

“She just gave birth.” Vanessa said and she then handed the newborn to Gabriele.

Gabriele’s stomach started shrinking, and the infant in her hands rapidly grew. She yelped as the infant, became a toddler, than a child and finally a preadolescent girl. A girl who looked exactly like she did before she made the wish, except she was little older.

Vanessa went into her drawer and fetched some clothes for Gabriele and her newborn daughter. “What are you going to name her?”

“I don’t know.” Gabriele said gently stroking the hair of her daughter. This poor child, just born and already she was 12. Was she doomed to age alongside her mother? What would become of her after Gabriele died? Her family would know the answer really soon. Too soon...


Gabriele carried her daughter downstairs for breakfast. She placed her in a chair and propped her up. Her daughter stared blankly into the distance as Gabriele prepared breakfast for her. A banana and microwave waffles.

She sat down next to her daughter. It was somewhat unsettling that her daughter was a mirror image of her. Especially since she appeared to be brain dead. She prodded her in the mouth with a banana, “Come on little Gabriele, open up.”

She didn’t know why she called her that../ well actually she did. She wasn’t sure she wanted this, well, she didn’t want to call her daughter an abomination. Whatever she was, Gabriele didn’t want to give her her name. Come on, she told herself, treat her humanely.

“Okay, you can have my name.” Gabriele said, “Gabi Jr.” She smiled and Gabi Jr.’s mouth opened slightly

Gabriele pulled off a chunk of the banana and put it in Gabi Jr’s mouth. She chewed it slowly and swallowed. Then her mouth opened slightly again.

It was simultaneously the sweetest and saddest thing Gabriele had ever seen. It brought a tear to her eye. They both had incredibly short life spans. Gabi Jr. barely did any living and her life was almost over. Even though she hadn’t known her until yesterday she loved her.

“Mommy loves you, Gabi Jr.” Gabriele said and she picked her up and cradled her in her arms. She rocked her gently and sung softly to her. She didn’t know if her daughter could hear her, she didn’t know if she was even aware that she was alive. But Gabriele did it anyway.

“You’re up early.” Mother said, taking the seat adjacent to them.

“I have a surprising amount of energy for someone who just got her first gray hair.” Gabriele felt odd sitting next to her mother at this moment. As much as she had been aging, she was always younger than Mother. Now she could easily pass as her mother’s big sister.

“What do you want to do today?” Mother asked.

Gabriele didn’t know. They were snowed in, so they’d have to do something inside. Anything really, it didn’t matter. She shrugged her shoulders and then just looked back down at Gabi Jr., who had fallen asleep. It was heart-wrenching that her daughter was soon going to die, she’d wouldn’t have to see it... but her mother would.

Gabriele looked across the table. The greatest fear of every parent was being realized by her mother. “I’m sorry.”

“Hmm?” Mother said.

“I was being selfish. I just wanted to be older than Vanessa and now you all have to watch me die.”

Mother started weeping openingly, something Gabriele only seen her do when father passed. Gabriele comforted her as best as she could, but it was of little use. So Gabriele just waited besides her until she finished crying.

Soon after she finished, Maxi and Vanessa came into the kitchen for breakfast.


Gabriele woke up. She was lying in her bed and a young woman was curled out with her. She looked very familiar but she couldn’t place her face. Gabriele slowly sat up and then climbed out of bed and walked slowly to the bathroom.

In the mirror she saw that she had short graying hair and her face reminded her of a raisin. It was a bit hard to see and it felt as though someone turned down the volume of the world. She squinted at the mirror, but that didn’t help at all.

In the moment that she blinked, her face changed. Her hair was white and thinning, her face looked in urgent need of ironing and she was in twice as much pain as a second ago. She almost screamed. What had just happened?

Wasn’t she 67 a second ago? Was she 99 now? But she wasn’t supposed to turn 99 until tomorrow, she was supposed to have one last birthday.

Half time goes by, suddenly your wise, another blink of the eye, 67 is gone...

She picked up her toothbrush, but felt like she couldn’t get a good grip on it. It was a literal pain to unscrew the toothpaste and squeeze the contents onto her brush. That was the easy part, it just got harder from there and the whole trip was time consuming.

When she had finally finished, she headed into the hallway, where a little boy and preadolescent girl were waiting.

The boy's eyes got wide.

“How old are you?” The girl asked.

The voice.... so familiar. It reminded her of her older sister, but seeing as she was young enough to be her great-granddaughter...

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Gabriele asked.

“We’re Vanessa and Maxi.” The girl said then she looked at the boy, who looked back at her.

Vanessa and Maxi... Vanessa and Maxi... those were names of her siblings and yes... they were her siblings.

“Vanessa... Maxi.” Gabriele said, “I turned 99 today.”

“What?” Vanessa said, “What about 67?”

“I was 67 for a moment. Then I blinked and I was 99.”

Maxi hugged Gabriele’s leg, “Don’t worry Gabriele, I’m gonna catch two snowflakes and you’re gonna be a kid again and you’re gonna live for a long, long time.”

Gabriele picked up Maxi, “You know what I just realized? Five For Fighting never says ‘I’m 100 for a moment.’ I’m going to live another year.”

“But I want you to live forever.” Maxi leaned his head against Gabriele’s shoulder.

“No one can live forever.” Vanessa lifted Maxi off of Gabriele, “But one year is much better than one day right?”

Maxi sniffed, “I guess so.”

Vanessa spun him around, “It is so. Plus, it’s a lot more time to find snowflakes.”

“Yeah!” Maxi said.

Vanessa placed him on the ground and he rushed into the bathroom.

“I feel like I was given a new lease on life.” Gabriele said, “I was so sure I was about to die.” Then she made her way back to her bedroom to get Gabi Jr. But when she got inside she wasn’t sure why she came in in the first place.

Her stomach growled and she headed downstairs for breakfast.


It was just an ordinary day now and for the first time in a long time, Gabriele wasn’t nervous about the impending end of her life. She found herself in the living room and she sat down on by the piano.

She hadn’t played it in a few days because it made her think of death. But it was off her mind now that she had a year to live. It was such a short time, but really, what amount of time isn’t short? A second is but a moment in a lifetime. A lifetime is but a moment in an eternity.

Mother went to work for the first time in a while and everything was pretty much back to normal. Except for the fact that Gabriele was 99 and had a 66-year old brain dead baby. Everything was not normal and wouldn’t be again.


Gabriele didn’t remember much of her birthday party she slept through most of it and didn’t care too much for the gifts she had recieved. They were after all, intended for an 11-year old girl. When the cake came around Gabriele realized something awful... she was turning 100.

The chorus of happy birthday was the song of Gabriele’s death, not the celebratory tune it was intended to be.

“Make a wish.” Maxi said when the song concluded, a big hopeful smile on his face.

It was so painfully simple. She had been trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, despite it’s futility. When all she needed to do was make a wish on a