I wake up as the sun pours into my cozy room. I stretch then take a deep breath in, not wanting to leave the warm bulky sheets my mother once made for me. At one point they smelt like her, but now they smell like soap.

I pull them up around my ears, warming my neck. A smile creeped across my face and for a moment, I took a second for myself, taking in the morning's peace before my daily duties lumped up.

Milk the cow.

Take the butter I made yesterday into the market.

deliver bread to Mr. Green.

Study.

Cook Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I knew these things would take all day. These tasks always took all day. I hardly had time for myself. But the few moments I did, I knew exactly what I would do.

Winter had a death grip on my small town called Hell. Hell was the northernmost city in the Commonwealth called Mandania. Snow started early here and melted late. It started falling last month, and it hadn't stopped. It incased the small buildings in white fluffy blanks. 

Rumor has it that the union between the Motherwealth founders, and the Commonwealth representatives named our town Hell because they thought it funny to name such an inhospitable place, such a name. Have you heard of the saying, 'when hell freezes over'? Well, it does, every year, it does. But that saying is from the past. No one uses words like Hell or damn anymore. Those fell to the wayside as soon as the Motherwealth took control and designed Commonwealths. They reinvented the wheel some say. 

The Commonwealths circle the Motherwealth like a shield. To protect them from what? I don't know. Just like I don't know about the other seven Commonwealths. I suppose when people are fighting for survival, history of the commonwealths seem less important.

I knew Hell and my Commonwealth though. I knew that we live on the farthest commonwealth in the farthest north town. I knew the history and the story behind our funny name. What we produce and what we supply to the Motherwealth. How the people interact here, and what is customary. But most importantly, I knew about the weather and climate. Cold temperatures were important to me. The standard winter freeze was just as important as the blood in my veins.

With the cold, it brought ice and the ponds on the edge of town froze over. Frozen ponds meant ice skating, and that was really the only place that made me feel at home.

The timber smell from burning wood stove seeped under my bedroom door. It reminded me I was wasting time. I jumped out of bed, holding back a shiver that wanted to come. 

Getting out of bed was always the hardest when it was cold like this. It didn't matter how many wood fires were lit; a drafty house would always be drafty.

Quickly, I pulled on a pair of tights that had one too many holes to count, then a pair of black thermals my brother, Kol, gave me for my birthday a year before. A black worn-out sweater was then slipped over to provide extra warmth. Within seconds, the clothes heated me, like a cozy hug. 

Content with my layers, I grabbed a gray bag that held my used to be white, now grayish, figure skates, then left my room.

The small open living space that held the kitchen and tight seating corner with a couch and a chair that was faded to a sickly shade of green.  

I wandered over to the stove and held my hands up to warm them. Normally Kol forgot to stoke the fire even when I remind him, so this was a welcomed surprise.

I used to nag on him for not going about these small things. But I stopped that a while ago. He was busy working extended hours at work and came back late. Working on the lakes was hard enough, the last thing I wanted to do was make him feel like he wasn't doing enough. 

"I remembered this time, Telvi?" Kol said as he walked into the living space. His voice was rough and deep, hinting he just woke.

I looked up and met his soft gaze. Kol had to be one of the tallest men in the town and with his blonde hair and blue eyes, he was the most eligible bachelor, yet he had no girlfriend. He said he was too busy for any girl.

"It was nice to wake up to this morning."

"Almost forgot, but as I was slipping off my shirt, I realized the room was cold and the fire was dying." His voice trailed off as his eyes drifted towards the stove.

He came home long after I went to bed. Once again, he was out working a late night. As if the Motherwealth didn't have enough fish...I swear, if we kept an ounce of what we sent out, we wouldn't starve. "You got home late last night."

He nodded. "Got a lot of fish. Didn't want to stop when we were on a streak." 

Every night was late for him. But we all knew the truth. He was looking for the cash. He did his best to afford the taxes on this place, but he was only one person earning pennies. That was why I pitched in where I could by selling butter and baking bread. But I could only do so much when no one in town would hire an under aged girl. When I turned 17 next year, I would be able to work and help pay for the bills properly. 

Kol didn't always work so hard. We did have parents that watched and protected us, but just like the fish, the Motherwealth took them too. First my mother who lost her mind before the Motherwealth murdered her. Then my father who worked himself to death trying to provide. Now it was just Kol and I as it had been for years.

"You don't have to explain yourself."

He picked up my bag of skates. "Going out?" he questioned.

He never understood why I would bear the cold out of my own free will. 'This place is frozen six months out of the year. Why go out in it for longer than you have to?' he would ask. But he didn't know that being on the ice felt like to me. With skates on my feet, it felt right, like it was written in my DNA. 

I wasn't a beautiful girl. I was average height, average build, with below average frizzy white-blonde hair. Kol was by far the looker when it came to the Edman siblings and the town made that obvious whenever I was around. I was forgettable, undesirable. But Kol, they swooned over him.

When I was on the ice, I felt beautiful. It was there where I felt confident. I was good, and I knew I was good. If I only felt that there, it was enough for me.

"Yeah, I'm going out."

He smirked but stayed silent. Judging me, no doubt. But there wasn't much he could say to change my mind. Going to the ice was something as addicting as the caviar and fish we supplied the Motherwealth.

My eyes met Kol's again as he leaned against the wall that had pealing wallpaper. "Please promise me you won't work too hard today."

I gave a humorless chuckle. "I will if you promise me the same."

He was silent because we both knew the truth. We couldn't stop. We had things to pay for, like wood for the fires and potatoes for our soup. 

"Be careful. I heard it's colder out there than normal," Kol said with a yawn.

"I'll be careful," I promised, then took my skates from him and left out the front door.

The walk to the pond was a short five-minute journey through a tree line by our house. It was a quiet walk, as it always was in the winter. The only sounds were my snow boats crunching against the snow with each step. In the summer, this place was alive with dear and birds, but the winter scared them all off. 

As I got to the edge of the pond; I slid my foot against the smooth surface. A smile came to my lips as I sat down on the pond's edge and pulled off my boots.

I didn't care how the cold stung my cheeks. The ice was my home, and no one could take that from me. Not Kol or the Motherwealth. Skating was completely mine.

With skates on my feet, I stood up from the ground and pushed off.

My blades scraped against the ice a little more than normal. The ice was bumpier this morning. Probably because the last snow fall melted and refroze on the ice. I didn't enjoy it when the ice was in this shape, but I suppose beggers couldn't be choosers. 

I made a quick mental note to bring hot water with me tomorrow to smooth out the surface.

With strong solid pushes, I skated around the large pond. The cold air cut into my clothes, making me tear up, but I knew that if I kept pushing through, I would be warm. The first few moments were always the worst.

My mother's voice echoed in my mind. She always encouraged me to push through the cold. She told me it would get better. And it did. I always did. Skating was something I had done with her. She taught me when I could barely walk. She showed me everything she knew. That was before she forgot who we were or who she was. 

I skated backwards, then did a jump she used to call a waltz jump. 

She knew all the technical names for every skating move. They sounded funny, like made up words, but she insisted they were real. She was the best skater in town, she knew everything about the sport, but I never understood how she knew it all. Reading a book didn't teach you everything, no matter how many times you read it. Sorry mom.

I did another waltz jump, then set up for a simple one footed spin. A scratch spin. It needed to be perfect, centered. Today needed to be flawless because today was the day I would try triple jumps. I just needed to warm up for them. 

If mom knew how far I had come, she would be so proud.

"Hey Telvi! That looked like a good spin," Mr. Green shouted to me from the tree line.

He was our neighbor and probably the only other person besides my brother who knew how often I skated. Since we were on the edge of town, we were often overlooked. Most people didn't bother with us. And I wasn't activity looking for attention either. What good could skating do anyhow? It's not like it could pay the bills. 

"Thanks, Mr. Green!" I shouted back to him.

He gave a nod as he adjusted his black felt hat, then continued on the small road to get to the center of town, which was nearly a 45-minute walk, probably longer with the deep snow we got a few days ago.

I set up for a jump that Mom called and Axle. It was probably my favorite jump out of all the ones she showed me.

I pushed off the ice forward and landed backwards with a smile.

Before long, I was attempting a triple, but with the bumpy ice and my tired legs, I didn't actually give any solid attempts at one. They were all what Mom would call 'pops'. Pops were when you would jump off the ice but pull out in midair, so you didn't actually have any rotation.

The whole thing put me in a sour mood, so when it started to snow, I called it quits for the day and try again tomorrow. One thing I promised myself this winter season was landing a triple. Just one. And with winter halfway through, I was worried I wouldn't meet my goal.

Hell had no indoor ice rink, most Commonwealth cities didn't. Luxuries like that were reserved for the Motherwealth. So, for me, the only time I had to skate was the few months out of the year. Any other time, I could practice off the ice, but it wasn't the same.

"Good practice?" Kol asked as I stormed into the house.

"Yeah, it was alright," I muttered as I dropped my skates at the door and pulled off my boots.

"Hu, alright," he hummed.

He didn't understand my frustration with poor skates. He would just shrug his shoulders and go back to his things. It was better to say little and move on.

As I ripped off my extra clothes, it felt noticably warmer than when I left just a mere hour ago. Kol must have stoked the fire earlier then normal. Warmer house meant more fire wood burnt. Did we have that kind of money? Probably not. But instead of lingering on the thought of whether or not we would have food next week, I just plopped down on a chair and enjoyed the warmth. 

The warmth held me captive for a moment. I basked in the heat, feeling the sting of my fingers until they were numb. It was cold outside, Kol was right. I didn't want to leave the house again but the bill on the counter was a bitter reminder that we had ends meet.

Kol noticed me staring at the bill, then hastily shoved it into his worn-out jean pocket before going back to scrubbing a pot that probably had the last bits of oatmeal in it. Extra firewood meant I would skip breakfast, probably lunch too. But I would do it gladly for a toasty house. 

"Don't worry about it."

I chuckled lightly. As much as he wanted to protect me from the reality of poverty, it wasn't enough. Everything about our lives was a reminder of the little we had. Most people in Hell had little, but we, I feel like, had even less.

"It's a little too late for that. The butter I made yesterday should be enough to patch up loose ends."

"Thanks," he muttered.

He wasn't proud of the fact that he couldn't support us on his own. He was my older brother by five years. In his mind, he should be the sole provider. I told him before that this was a little old fashioned, but he never listened. I supposed it was hard to not be old fashioned when everyone in Hell thought the same way. 

"The Motherwealth keeps raising taxes, it's getting ridicules."

That was just one thing with a list of thousands that was wrong with the Motherwealth. 

"Yeah. I noticed it was a little high," I mentioned as I warmed my hands by the stove.

"I heard the electricity is getting cut again. Something about a downed powerline from the Motherwealth. Anyhow I'm going to stick the rest of the refrigerator items outside in the icebox."

"Alright," I replied. Guess I was going to study textbooks by the stove light tonight.

We were lucky to have a wood-burning stove to keep the house warm. Not everyone in Hell was as lucky.

I allowed myself to stay by the stove for a few more moments before turning to the dinged fridge and pulling out the butter in a small glass jar.

"I'm not working tonight, so maybe we can cook something nice for dinner?" Kol suggested as slipped my gloves back on. "I'll help you."

"Yeah, that would be nice," I said with a smile, then put on my hat. "I'll see you later."