Blizzard

Lila scowls at you.

"Why? Because it's a little windy? If you miss the orphanage so much, why don't you go back? But me and Lucas are going on. Right Lucas?"

Lucas looks at the sky and shivers.

"I don't know," he says. "It is getting cold. And it's snowing, too. Maybe we should have waited until Summer."

Lila flips her blond hair over her shoulder and says, "You never know when the next opportunity would show. We saw our chance, and we took it. And that's that. You can't change it now."

You look back at the quickly darkening sky and shiver.

"You may be right, but that doesn't change my mood any. We never should have left the orphanage."

Lila scowled again.

"Then why don't you go back?"

You look back the way you came. To go back would be to be imprisoned once again, having to share your room with six other kids, eating strange, disgusting foods every day, and having to share recreational time with more than a thousand other kids. But going on, you might freeze to death.

&# 39;m going back," you announce boldly.



Lila's jaw dropped, and Lucas stammers, "B-but you can't! It's too dangerous!"

You gesture at the sky and growl, "This is too dangerous. I'm not going on only to die in a blizzard."

As you turn and walk back the way you came, Lila shouts after you, "You'll never make it in time! If a blizzard is coming, it'll reach you before you get back!"

You ignore them and continue on. Long after they are out of sight of you, Lila's prediction comes true. The blizzard hits, and you are blinded with white snow. You shiver violently and stumble on, but soon you become too weak to walk any farther. You need to find shelter. But you're so tired...you can surely rest for a moment before setting out?

You roll over. The snowflakes pelt your face. You shut your eyes and cup your hands over your nose and mouth as you try to breathe.

Before you finish saying the words, "I'll be six feet under snow, buried alive," the blizzard miraculously stops. You know it's safe to start moving again, but it feels good to stay put and rest. You mutter, "It's dark and I'm cold. I should stay here. Just a little longer."

It could be your imagination but you still hear the roar of the blizzard as it whips around you. You suspect that you could be wrong about the part where the snow had stopped falling. Maybe you are already under a ton of snow but if that were true, then how could you hear the wind?

You could be scared. You could be concerned or curious. But, all you want is sleep.