When the shards of the shattered snow globe sliced my skin, I expected the drips of blood to spill onto the bare floor. Not snow.

After accidentally knocking it down, I'd taken a single blink, and now I found myself outside in a blizzard. I was hugged by a thick, duffle coat that looked all too alike not to be my own. My lungs were consumed by the freezing sensations creeping up my body, my fingertips uncontrollably shaking as a shudder escaped from my mouth. My eyes desperately searched the endless waves and flurries of snow for any source of light—warmth—Just a single match, a crisp flame.

Faint laughter erupted behind me, my head whipping around. I got my feet to start moving, leaping towards the sound.

A cabin.

Gentle, golden lights burst out from the inside, a hearth with a crackling fire and people surrounding it.

I stumbled across the mounds of snow towards the window, my breath shortly tainting the glass.

I gazed in longingly.

That heartwarming, bundle of fire. Those sweet, fresh cookies were perfectly displayed on the tray. Those beaming smiles. Those faces... They appeared all too indistinguishable in my memory.

I stood there. So very still. As if everything had just...paused.

I saw myself there. My family. My friends.

This was pure gold, gold that would never fade. I didn't have to lose anyone. The incident wouldn't haunt me, and I could remain here, experiencing that everlasting bliss and innocence.

I'd felt so numb, but I could watch forever, captured by the essence of belonging, of when childhood didn't have to be stolen away by time sooner than it should have.

I was home.