I shoved hard, wriggling the pole all around, thrusting it up and down wildly. I could hear something for sure now. A voice, calling out over the storm.
Suddenly the pole was yanked out of my hand! I heard the sound of scratching, louder and more pronounced, until I realized it was the sound of someone digging… digging their way down to me.
“OH MY GOD!”
The snow broke away in giant chunks, falling on top me. I spit it out, coughing and sputtering as light flooded my eyes. The sudden brightness obliterated my vision. I couldn’t see a single thing! The wind was a savage force, roaring loudly in my ears.
I was blind. Practically deaf. Then I felt the most beautiful thing in the world: a strong hand closing tightly over mine.
“Gotcha!”
Four
SHANE
She looked astonishingly beautiful — like an angel, emerging from the snow. Or like some kind of screwed up reverse phoenix, one that rises from the ice instead of the ashes.
“ARE YOU OKAY?”
I had to practically scream to be heard. Between the driving storm, and the howling wind? All my little angel could do was nod back at me.
“COME ON!” I said, extending my hand. “WE HAVE TO GET DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!”
She nodded again, this time while shivering. As the wind whipped her long hair all around
her pretty face, I realized something:
She wasn’t wearing a jacket.
“WAIT… HERE!”
I shrugged out of my own coat and wrapped it around her. I did it without thinking, without hesitation.
Then the wind hit me, and I knew we were in serious trouble.
“C’MON!” I pulled her along. “HURRY!”
The snow was so deep all we could do was slosh our way through. It was slow going. Exhausting. Even powering my way forward, swinging my arms, I could barely cut enough of a path through to continue moving.
All of a sudden, the ski run was wide open despite the trail being steep and narrow. All at once, I could see forever in every direction. And then, with growing horror, I suddenly realized why:
Everything had been buried.
The trees, the hills, everything was just gone. So much snow had roared down from the upper peak it had buried 50-foot fir trees all the way up, until not even the tops were showing.
And it was getting dark, too. Darker and colder. The paths were long gone, leaving nothing but a long stretch of pure unblemished white.
Shit, I wasn’t even sure I was going in the right direction.
Follow her!
I’d been following her since Ponte di Legno, when I saw her riding the lift in her cute little fur-lined parka. Following her with my eyes, at least. She was one of those rare girls who didn’t know she was pretty — not yet, anyway — and I wanted to be the one to tell her.
She hadn’t shown for the after-party that night though. That part was sorely disappointing, but we still had one more day, one last trip. One final chance for me to approach her before we were all whisked back to campus, where she’d mingle in with the thousands of other students and the magic of something familiar halfway around the world would be gone.
It had been a stupid idea, jumping down the old double-black diamond trail. Following this girl during the last run of the day, trying to catch up with her in time to—
“WAIT!” Her eyes went wide with sudden recognition. “MY FRIEND!”