Marshmallows
by D.A. Xiaolin Spires It’s the first day of December, which means out go all those pesky oranges—no more pumpkin pies, gobbling turkeys, and angular pilgrim hats. Instead, the world around Chunfei shifts to snow, piles of it on the ground and reindeer that soar across the azure skies, free of clouds. Rows of candy canes line her view. She marvels at the sight, sighing with a smile. As she turns the corner, a wind whips her face, cold and sharp. Wet like the humidity of the city around her. She blinks and a sudden bleakness befalls her surroundings. The colors feel like they’re leaking off her retinas. A pain in the back of her eyeballs gains momentum. She looks down at the gray granite and her flared work pants. A rat—no, mini-elf—no, rat—scuttles across her shoe. It wavers between elf and mouse, topped with a cute green hat in one instance and hissing with a tail swishing about in another. The rats have no fear anymore—and this one bounds across her pant leg, before scampering past...
