Quadruple Duty: All or Nothing

I slipped on my goggles. Tightened the grip on my poles…

And pushed off, over the edge.

Two

MORGAN

I was right. The slope was steep. Steep and narrow and choked with loose snow; almost as if no one else on the entire mountain had made this run all day.

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind I could do it. While sports had never been my thing, skiing was the one physical activity I was really good at. Chalk that victory up to my parents, who forced me to travel virtually everywhere with them, all throughout my childhood.

Really Morgan? Are you complaining?

No, not really. My parents were great, for the most part. Great when they were present, anyway. I hadn’t seen much of them since they’d dropped me off at school, of course. It was my third year at UMASS, and they’d still never once come to visit.

Probably for the best.

Right now I had to focus — had to concentrate on keeping myself upright against the speed. Otherwise…

I made the first turn with relative ease. The trail leveled out, turned left, then plunged downward again. It even got narrower. Steeper, if possible. And there were a lot more trees.

This is crazy!

Suddenly I realized something: I’d lost Faith. Against the blinding sea of swirling white, I could no longer pick out her pink jacket.

Did she even make the turn?

I almost skidded to a stop. Something told me to go back and check. Then again, she’d been way ahead of me. She was probably just too far up to see her anymore. Either that, or—

WHOOSH!

Someone whizzed by me — someone else in a red and white UMASS jacket! Another student. They even shouted as they went past.

“GOOOOO!”

I took it as a challenge. Pointing my skis I raced downward, cutting a thin swath through the powdery snow. I’d catch him, whoever it was. I’d catch him and pass him, and then I’d already be undoing my boot-bindings by the time he got to the bottom.

Suddenly I felt a rumble beneath my skis. Which was weird, because my skis were barely touching the ground to begin with. I glanced up. Started looking around…

“DON’T LOOK BACK!”

The voice was loud and clear enough to be distinct — definitely a man’s voice. And of course, the first thing I did was turn around…

HOLY SHIT!

The mountain behind me had disappeared. Not just part of it… the entire mountain! In its place was nothing but a sheer wall of blank white snow. A churning, shifting wall…

AVALANCHE!

Terror struck me, nearly freezing me in position. Luckily, self-preservation took over. I bent my knees, driving hard, coaxing every ounce of speed and power from the surface of my long, sleek skis. My shoulders were scrunched, waiting for the inevitable. Waiting at any moment to be overtaken with a rush of snow and ice…

Don’t look back!

It was so tempting. I needed to know! And at the same time, I knew it would be the end of me. I knew the last thing I saw would be a blinding crash of white, and it would all be over.

The speed was terrifying. I’d never gone this fast. My brain screamed at my body to slow down. To just aim for the softest-looking bank of snow and take the fall. That no matter how many bones I broke, at least I wouldn’t die.

It would’ve been easy. So simple to just throw myself to the ground and cover up.