Beams of light reflected off the icy surface into my weary eyes as I took my first steps into the cold. Save for the rows of barren trees, the development had become a veritable tundra. The morning sun was still young and had greeted me, suddenly and energetically, like a child eager to show its world to an exhausted parent. I ventured forth, into the all-encompassing gray that had come with the winter season, along the vacant streets until I reached the school. It was going to be a long day. Suddenly conscious of my routine, I trudged to class adopting a reluctant, even forced, pace, reflecting my uncharacteristic attitude. Fatigue had won, permeating the very marrow of life from which I had once drawn strength. Word after word floated lazily around me, drifting amidst my thoughts—incomprehensible—as I waited for the bell to signal my temporary freedom. Glimmers of former vigor shone through the mist that had descended upon me, triggered by a faint interest or a trivial conversation. But such hope passed as quickly as it came. This had become the routine within the routine, the gray within the gray, until a change of scenery promised something more.

It came subtly as the girl in front of me attempted to shift lanes too soon. The crash was eminent now. I watched silently as her binder ejected across the hall, landing, empty, on the floor next to her ego. The world went on. People passed by, glancing in pity. She was left to navigate through the gray alone, no doubt one after my own heart at the moment. Watching the events unfold, I was moved, and hurriedly walked over to help; it would not claim another. She thanked me and left, unknowing that I had quietly thanked her as well. Calming warmth was now emanating throughout my body, thawing my chilled soul. Slowly, the cold haze that had lingered for so long was returning to the abyss from whence it came, freeing me from its influence and severing the strings connecting me to this melancholy. That was it: a simple act of kindness to make things right, to rekindle a passion that was bigger than me—better than me.

And I walked onward just as I had before, only now I was smiling.