Frost Bite

Cassie was lost. She walked and walked and realized she was walking around in circles as she looked down at the two other sets of footprints that matched her own. Everything was so white, the sky, the ground, the surroundings. Her eyes watered from the cold and she felt the tear freeze a trail as it slowly slid down her cheek. Her fingers and toes were well past numb, they no longer even burned.  Her cell phone was dead and she yelled and screamed for help until she lost her voice.

She felt the icy cold creep through her body and into her soul, she was dying. She went places in her mind trying to make deals with the devil for heat; bargaining with her god for any kind of warmth.  She struggled to take another step and another breath and to find solace in the horrid crunch of ice. She tried to scream again and this time she was able to get out a loud and resounding “HELP!” as she fell face down into the snow.

The scream jarred Cassie from her sleep as she bolted upright in bed. She wasn’t freezing!  She was safe and warm and reassured herself as she snuggled deeper into the warm downy blankets as if evading the chill of an early winter. 

Once she finally crawled out of bed she noticed the frost on the panes. She hated how the polar wind clawed at her windows trying to come in. Even on the front porch looking out over the deep blue of the ocean, she saw how the polar wind caused the ice crystals to freeze a spider web clinging to the porch rail. It didn’t faze her at all when she used her prosthetic foot and kicked the lacy, ice covered web down as if preventing the wintry air from getting into her house.

She thought when she moved to the tropical island of Belize she would eventually outrun the cold, but it appeared like it found her here as well.

submitted by Blisstopian +Mark Krawec _