Snowed In

Unlike when we were riding the blue intermediate trails, I’d lost sight of Shane almost immediately. I’d fallen at a half-dozen turns, trying not to go over the edge. And of course I’d been cursing him out. Scared shitless the entire time.

Then, somewhere behind me, the mountain exploded.

And before I knew it it had swallowed me whole.

“I didn’t even know you were behind me,” Shane said, his expression apologetic. “I had no idea!”

“I lost you early,” I told him. “First time snowboarding, remember?”

“But if you were behind me, how did you—”

“Make it?”

He nodded vigorously. I could see the girl behind him edging her way up. She seemed interested to hear the answer as well.

“I got lucky,” I said. “The snow swept me high, and I somehow I rode the surface of the avalanche. Not on my board, obviously,” I added, “that was gone immediately. But on my back. Somehow I just went with it, staring up at the sky. The sound was deafening…”

I shuddered involuntarily, remembering the terror of being flung helplessly down the mountain. Recalling the notion that I was going to be buried at any second, lost beneath several feet and tons of snow.

“Halfway down I got pushed over a cliff,” I said, “and after that I just somehow stayed ahead of everything. Eventually I was flailing with my arms and legs out, riding it down, kinda like…”

“Like you were swimming.”

I turned to the girl who’d just spoken and nodded. “Yes. Exactly like that!”

She nodded back at me, and I couldn’t help but notice she was strikingly beautiful. Long, reddish-gold hair. Amazing eyes, even in the dim light.

She was from the trip, too. I’d seen her before. And for some reason she was wearing Jeremy’s jacket.

“The human body is much denser than snow,” the girl explained. “Staying near the surface of an avalanche is almost like treading water. If you can kick your feet and thrash your arms, you can sort of swim through it.”

Shane whirled on her. “How do you know all that?”

We were both staring at her now, and she seemed suddenly embarrassed. It only made her look cuter.

“What can I say?” she shrugged. “I know lots of stupid things.”

Shane smirked and motioned to her with one arm.

“Jeremy, meet Morgan. She’s—”

“The girl you left me at the top of the mountain for?” I quipped.

“Yeah,” he laughed.

She stepped forward awkwardly and I shook her gloved hand. Thanks to the avalanche, I no longer had the luxury of gloves. At her touch, the skin of my fingers felt like a thousand needles were poking me all at once.

“That’s not a stupid thing to know by the way,” I told her. “That’s a smart thing. It saved my life.”

“So you knew it too?” Shane asked incredulously.

“Not even a little,” I chuckled. “I guess it was just instinct.”

“Instinct my ass,” he smirked. “You got lucky, as always. Morgan this is Jeremy. Just one of my idiot fraternity brothers.”

The girl he’d just introduced looked surprised. I guess it was something he hadn’t mentioned.

“Delta Lambda Mu,” I said by way of explanation.