Winter Wonderland

A tiny flake falls to the ground and lands on the tip of her tongue. The first flake of winter, the first snow of the year. Other flakes follow it's descent down from the sky onto the earth below. They cling to her black hair, white against black. In a few short minutes her hair is intertwined with the cold winter night.
The street she stands on is part of the old city. The houses all but standing – mostly just rubble and bricks. Gas lamps erected in the street at regular intervals, once beautiful and lit, now dusty and broken. She could almost imagine how the street used to be – beautiful and elegant in the newly fallen snow.
Children would be walking home from school, laughing about the days' events, gossiping about rumours. Parents would be arriving home from work in their carriages – their horses tired from the ride home. Footprints would be engraved in the snow – from both the horses and people – along with wheel tracks from the carriages.
As the sun starts to set, dinner is served. Fine silver wear would be used, wine would be served and candles lit. She moved to one house that was almost intact. With one finger she traced the carving in the doorframe, it swirled around and inside itself many times before thinning out to naught but a thin wisp of a brush.
It saddened her to know that these buildings were wasting away to nothing but a pile of dust. Change was going to happen in the kingdom.
She went to the next house, watching where she stepped. The sky had darkened and the wind picked up. This house was different from the others, not as dark and yet, more beautiful. Roses would have grown by the front window and spread a flowery fragrance through the rest of the house.
She had no idea how long she stood there thinking about the past and how the houses would look if they were restored. She was shocked to see that the street had been covered by a white blanket of snow, further proof she'd stayed too long.
The trees that were at first only specked with white had no green left in them, and even her footsteps had disappeared.
As she turned and walked away she thought of how snow made everything go from dreary and depressing into a wonderland. As she stepped into her car, the full moon was released from behind the clouds cover and illuminated her path into the darkness ahead.