Snowed In

She looked up at me utterly horrified. “Why are you laughing?”

“Because it’s funny,” I said. “Actually, it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.”

I dried her tears again, and this time I swept her face into my hands. I held here there, looking straight at me. Making sure she could see my expression.

“Morgan, this is the kind of shit you see in movies,” I smirked. “Only you actually did it. It’s crazy! It’s nuts! But you know what?” I leaned down and kissed her tenderly, right on her salty wet lips. “It’s also adorable.”

Her eyes shifted back and forth, examining my expression. Trying to read my face, trying to figure out how I could be this… forgiving?

No, forgiving wasn’t even the word. There was nothing to forgive. I couldn’t believe she’d done it, of course… but also, a big part of me was glad she did.

“I was afraid I’d lose you,” she said. “You most of all.”

I cocked my head to one side. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I—I guess I’m being stupid.”

“Morgan, you never asked how I got here.”

She looked at me again, only now her expression had changed. There was intrigue there. She looked stumped.

“I came down after the avalanche,” I said.

At first she looked like she didn’t believe me. But then--

“You what?”

I nodded slowly. “I came up with you, on the gondola. It was the last run of our last stop. My last chance to say something to you, before we went back to school and you just became that girl who visits the library again.”

I could see her searching my soul, trying hard to believe me. Only there was no reason not to. I was telling the truth.

“I watched you and your girlfriend take that obscure trail — really weird choice by the way — and I was just about to follow you.” He jerked a thumb back toward the fireplace. “But then I saw Mario and Luigi go after you guys, so I figured the four of you had already hooked up.”

I took a deep breath before continuing.

“The next part is stupid. The mountain cracked open, and everyone started screaming. It was chaos. Powder everywhere. But the mountain fell on both sides. It went hurtling down the main ski runs, but also, I noticed a second avalanche — your avalanche — slid down the back end.”

“And you came after us?”

I nodded. “The very second everything cleared I went down after you. Everyone else was on the other side — the main side — helping people. It wasn’t as bad there. But the further I came down the back side of the mountain? The more I realized the four of you were in serious trouble. And I kept going down and down, knowing the powder was so thick I probably couldn’t make my way back up.” I stopped for a moment, to rub at my chin. “Stupid, huh?”

“That wasn’t stupid,” said Morgan immediately. “That was brave.”

Somewhere behind us, a log snapped in the fire. A pretty shower of sparks rained down over the hearth, before flaring out.

“It was stupid because I should’ve said something,” I told her. “I should’ve called attention to the fact you guys went down that way. I don’t think anyone even realizes there was a second avalanche. Or if they do, they don’t have any reason to think people were skiing on the back end.”

Morgan swallowed slowly. Her tears were gone.

“So… nobody’s looking for us here, then. Are they?”

“Probably not.”

“But we’re still missing!”

I shrugged. “If anything, they’ll assume we all got caught up on the front side. The big side.” My mouth went grimly tight. “It was a lot of snow. If they think we’re buried, they’re gonna think we’re buried there.”

We were both silent after that. I only stared at the symmetry of her face, made porcelain-perfect by the spectral glow of the radio lights.