by W.C. Klein

Created on: November 14, 2008

It was really starting to become cold now. The temperature just kept on falling. It must have dropped at least ten degrees in the last couple hours and he knew that when the sun began to set he would probably have to stop walking and find shelter. The idea of staying the night in a snow bank didn't really appeal to him, but if this was what he had to do then he would do it. Unfortunately with the wind this would probably be his only alternative. He knew that there was no way that he was going to be able to start a fire in this sort of weather.

The snow drift that he was now drudging through was not only knee deep it was very loud. A thin crust of ice had formed on top of the wet snow. This made each footstep he took seem incredibly noisy. He thought that it sounded just like the sound you hear from inside your head when you had your mouth chock full of peanut M&Ms. This was a very odd and random thought given his situation and he chuckled aloud. He wondered if the silly thoughts he kept having would make this any easier for him. He decided they wouldn't, but did it nevertheless, just to keep himself moving.

He would only hear the sound of his own steps for a second or two then it was drowned out by the sound of the gusting wind. It occurred to him that it was a rather soothing sound. But in the back of his mind was the nagging reality of his present situation. He wondered if he would be able to see anything over this next ridge. He hoped it was a small hill that he was slowly walking toward. That would be a much better result compared to the last rise he had plodded to. The last one turned out to be the large snow drift that he was at present struggling to get through. He hoped there was a hill somewhere ahead of him that he could stand on to get his bearings back.

The continuous gusts of wind were unceasingly pounding sleet into the bare skin of his very red, exposed face. It was only a few inches that were exposed around his eyes so that he could see. This gave his skin a very peculiar feeling. It would at times feel very numb and not bother him. But when the wind slowed he could feel the blood rush back to that portion of his face. When the circulation came back it was almost like the skin was on fire. The scarf that he had wound around the bottom of his face was brittle with ice. This was caused by his breath being repeatedly trapped and leaving its moisture on the scarf that was quickly freezing in the wind.

It suddenly occurred to him that he must have

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page >>