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12
Owen
Hardy throws the Jeep into park and practically falls out the door. He’s been cursing Mary’s name the whole way over here, but I can tell he’s worried sick about her. There’s no mistaking his concern as he rushes over to the corridor of snow and climbs up to take a look around.
From what he tells me, Mary took off. It hurts a lot that she’d do that. It hurts more that she’d just leave us without any kind of explanation. Still, I think it’s a long shot and a whole lot of wishful thinking to expect to find her out here.
I want another chance with her too.
Not to fuck her or share her, but to talk to her. To find out why she left. It’s unlikely that I’ll ever get that shot though, because the chances of her being in this avalanche are pretty near slim to none.
I open my door and start to search the mountain of snow blocking the road. Hardy is getting right in there, climbing through it and stopping to scan for Mary’s car.
“Dude, it’s a lost cause. She isn’t here,” I call out, but he ignores me. He’s like a dog who got a whiff of something and now he won’t stop until the trail runs cold.
I stare at the snow, wondering how long this road will be swept out for. Somehow, having this giant pile of the white stuff between us and civilization, it makes Mary seem even further away. I reach down and grab a frosty handful, remembering how just yesterday we were all having so much fun. How could she leave like that? Slipping out from my bed and just driving off. It’s like she was trying to break our hearts.
I expected it to bother me. I’m the big softie. I never thought it would bother Hardy so much though.
“Come on, man. Let’s just go back. This is a waste of time.” My sadness begins to transform into something else. Into anger. “Let’s go, Hardy, this is stupid. She ain’t here, man!” I yell out, clenching my fists at my sides.
“No!”
“Are you serious? You want to spend all day digging around in here looking for someone who’s gone? It’s over, man. She left. It sucks, but that’s what it is. I’m not going to stand here pretending that she’s still here to save.”
“Shut the fuck up, Owen, and get up here. She’s here. The ass end of the car is barely sticking out. She’s here!” he yelps.
No way.
I climb through the packed snow and join him. Sure enough, barely peeping out of the snow is her tail lights.
“Help me dig her out.” Hardy falls to his knees and starts clawing the snow from the back of the car.
I join him, using both hands to scoop and toss clumps of it away. We’re both panting and giving it our all, but this is hard work. As we get closer to revealing the back window, we pause and listen.
“Mary!” Hardy yells. “We’re digging you out, baby.”
Nothing. Fuck, it didn’t even occur to me until right now that she might not have made it. We could be digging her car out and she might be dead.
“Mary, hon, can you hear us?” I bellow.
Silence.
Panic wells up inside me. It fuels me, jolting more energy into my aching arms. It pushes out the cold attacking my body and laser focuses me in on the job at hand. Together we manage to clear the windshield, but I still don’t hear her calls for help or scared sobs.
This isn’t looking good.
Hardy stands up and begins smashing his heel against the back window of her car.
“What are you doing?” I move back.
“We can’t dig the entire car out. She might need medical help. Move back, I’m gonna bust through this and we’ll pull her out.
I listen to him and watch as he bashes the glass with his heel until it fractures and cracks like a giant spider web. The safety glass doesn’t just implode, which is perfect because the last thing we want right now is to cover her in splintered shards.
I move in, helping Hardy peel back the glass. We keep it slow and steady, careful to keep the rounded pebbles all together. We don’t want to be digging through a jigsaw of smashed pieces to get to her. Patience pays off because we manage to get the back window off the car. Hardy and I toss it aside. Hardy tries to scoot down inside the car, but he can’t worm his way past the backseats. He’s too big. Being leaner, I give it a go and manage to squirm down into the car. Hardy is holding my feet so I don’t just end up kissing the dash with my face.
“Okay, I can manage now,” I call back and he cautiously lets me go. I get turned around and pull out my pocketknife. “Mary?”
