THE BROKEN SNOW GLOBE

In the dead cold night, deep in the Savannah, one could hear the rustling of the trees. From the far distance, a howling of a hyena is heard, indicating it is nearing its God-forsaken life. Vultures move around in their circular movement in deep anticipation of their long-awaited feast. Such is the law of the jungle, perhaps – to prey on the weak and attack at their most vulnerable.

Mikaela lay in her bed and was utterly distraught. On the floor lay the shattered pieces of her snow globe. It had been an accident, and it happened so fast. One minute she held the precious object with her hands shaking it in awe as the snow fell to the surface, and the next, it was shattered.

"It's about time you did some growing up!" exclaimed her aunt when she found her crying.

She had no idea the significance the snow globe held for her. It was a reminder of a life she once knew that now eluded her. A time of complete bliss surrounded by love and compassion. It was the last gift she ever received from her dad before he went into the war and lost his life. A reminder of a time before her mom slowly went into depression and became a shell of her former self.

The last ounce of innocence she knew was lost entirely, just like her life. The last reminder of her once-perfect life was utterly broken, and there was no fixing that: an affirmation that there was no going back to who she once was. It was a painful and harsh reality and a foreboding loss of her innocence that was about to happen.

The snow trickling out from the snow globe lay spattered on the ground, mixed with blood from the shard that had cut her finger. It was a gruesome sight.

"You had better clean up that mess before coming down for supper Chika!"

Chika was her name, a girl who had yet to undergo the dreaded rite. And just like the broken snow globe, another aspect of her innocence was at significant risk. She knew this would completely rob her of her innocence and shatter her life into a million little shards, like the ones she was picking up, never to be whole again. This thought caused her untold turmoil. She knew it was only a matter of time.