AllFreeNovel
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If I slide off the road, I’m going to be covered in snow within minutes. They’ll thaw me out in spring. I’ll be a global news story. An Internet sensation. I can see the headline now—Runaway Bride's Cold Feet Leads to Frozen Fate.
My tires hit something slippery and I let out a shrill scream as my car starts spinning wildly. Control is lost. The steering wheel does nothing.
“SHIT!!!” I scream as the spinning accelerates, launching me in tight circles down the snowy highway.
What are you supposed to do in this situation again? Steer into the turn? Steer away from the turn? Brake? Accelerate?
Instead of trying any of those options, I just scream as loud as I can and slam my feet on both pedals to hedge my bets.
Shockingly, it doesn’t work. My car flies off the road and crasheshardinto a pile of packed snow.
The windshield shatters into spiderwebs, the metal frame crunches, my head flies forward, and the top of my nose slams into the steering wheel so hard that a jolt of pain shoots through my brain.
“Oh… fuck…” I moan as I drop the back of my head onto the seat. Warm liquid starts leaking down my face. My eyes are watering, but I can tell that the warm liquid is not my tears.
“Shit…” I whisper as I turn the rearview mirror and look at myself. There’s a nasty gash on the bridge of my nose with blood pouring down all over my face and chest. I taste metal.
But as bad as my nose is, it’s not my biggest problem. The cold is already coming in, leaking through the cracks in the windows and snaking along my skin like a frigid ghost. Goosebumps rise on my flesh. I shiver. Once, twice, then non-stop.
It’s freezing in here.
I shake the daze out of my head and look around. All of the windows are broken except for one in the back.
The snow keeps coming down and by the time I can get my seatbelt off, it’s covering every window. I’m drowning in it.
“You can’t stay here.”
The voice just comes out of me. Staying here will mean certain death.
I’ll freeze to death, I’ll bleed to death, I’ll starve to death—pick your poison. If I get out, I’ll have a chance. A small chance, but a chance.
“Get the clothes in the trunk,” I whisper to myself. “Then try to flag someone down on the highway.”
I take a deep breath, pop the trunk, and then try to push the door open. The snow stops it from opening more than a foot, so I kick the broken window out and then climb through that.
Frigid wind and whipping snow slam into me as I step onto the snow. My leg sinks into it up to my waist. I’m chilled to the bone. My skeleton feels like it’s covered in ice. I pull my leg up to take another step and my shoe is gone.
“Keep going,” I tell myself as I work my way to the trunk, leaving a trail of red behind me. Snow pours down—covering my head, filling the trunk, and hiding my car.
The highway is empty. My car is so far from it that all the energy leaves my body when I see how far I have to walk through the high snow to get back to it.
“Ignore it,” I whisper through chattering teeth as I push my way to the trunk. One step at a time.
I grab Cynthia’s clothes and try putting them on, but I’m so cold that my fingers are becoming numb. Buttons and zippers are out of the question. It’s hard to maneuver my hands, so I just start wrapping articles of clothing around me the best I can.
Bright spotlights light up the road. I gasp as I turn around and see a line of two snowplows coming toward me.
“Over here!” I scream with the last of my energy as I wave my arms. “Over here!”
No…
They drive right past me. They don’t even slow down.
That was the last of my hope.
I feel it shrinking inside me as I watch them disappear into the distance.
I’m alone again. In the dark snowy mountains.
