Seven Is My Lucky Number

I opened my frosted eyelids slowly. The sound was like a clicking or a scraping. I listened intently, trying to listen past the echo of nature. The sound got louder. I had no idea what it was. I pushed my face towards the window and then I leaped back when something metallic scraped across the glass, followed by a beam of light. It scraped again and again, exposing more light, and then I saw a face peering in. Was it an angel? Was it God himself? Had he personally come down to save me?

Church! Every Sunday!

The face disappeared and I moved to the window, pounding on it. I heard more scraping and my heart started to race. I wasn’t going to die. Someone or something was out there. My car door moved and I realized it was locked. I tugged on the frozen lock to no avail. I slammed my shoulder into the door several times, just trying to force it open, but all I got for that was a searing pain in my arm.

There was more scraping and then the face appeared in the window again. A fist pounded on the door.

“Are you in there? Heather?” A man’s voice yelled out over the whipping of the wind.

“Yes!” I yelled.

He knows my name! I’m being rescued!

“Get away from the window; I’m going to have to break it. I can’t get the door open.” His voice was nearly drowned by the wind, but I understood enough to crawl over the middle console.

My joints hurt and my flesh was cold, but I started rapidly pushing stuff back into my bag, everything that I could grab. A hard thud hit the window, followed by another one, and then the window shattered. It stuck in place, not falling immediately.

My savior tapped it several times until it fell inside the car, almost like a perfect sheet of shattered glass. The ice that had built up held it together, even though he had scraped some of it off. He reached a hand through and I pushed my bag into his hand. He pulled it out the window and tossed it on the ground, reaching inside for me again.

So cold...

I grabbed onto a strong, rugged arm that hauled me towards the window with a quick heave. He carefully pulled me through the remains of the shattered glass and tossed me over his shoulder like a caveman. I was a bit taken aback by it, but I was so happy to be rescued I didn’t care. My joints were stiff and sore, resisting every bend that my body received.

He leaned over slightly, picked up my bag, and threw it over the opposite shoulder. I looked around and I saw just how bad the situation was. My car was almost completely covered in snow. It definitely was more than a regular, or even moderate storm. It looked like the beginnings of a blizzard.

My savior stomped through the snow, using a shovel to push it aside until we approached a very large truck that was still running. Just feeling the heat from the distance felt like heaven.

Heat. Heat!

“You’re probably going to feel a little dizzy.” He put me in the passenger seat and aimed one of the vents at me.

“What? Why—” The heat engulfed me and I passed out immediately when the door closed.

“I WARNED YOU.” I HEARD his gravel coated voice when I finally opened my eyes again.

“Where are we? What happened?” I looked around in shock.

“Intense cold and heat don’t mix. You were in the cold so long that your body couldn’t handle the heat. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” His voice was practically a growl, deep and rugged.

“Did someone send you to get me? You knew my name...” I held my hands to the heater. “Are you a policeman?”

“No.” He chuckled. “They’re talking about you on the news. You probably don’t remember me, but I passed you on the road earlier today. I saw you turn down Devil’s Pass and when the news said a blonde girl in a burgundy car was missing, I figured it was you.”

“Wow...” I blinked a couple of times. “I guess my friends really were worried about me.”

“It’s a damn good thing too. You’re fucking lucky. You weren’t going to survive the night out there.” We reached the end of the road I drove down and he took a left turn. I could hear the snow and ice crunching under his tires.

“I thought it was supposed to be a pretty light storm...” I muttered. “Nothing more than some snow and a little ice. My friends said it would pass by morning.”

“Yeah, that’s what the news said.” He nodded. “Everyone is so fucking surprised it turned into a blizzard—everyone except the locals around here who know how bad storms can get when they hit Wolf Creek.”

“I’m in Wolf Creek?” I looked out the window, not that I could see anything except darkness and snow. “I was headed for Lake Rutherford.”

“You missed that by a few exits.” He laughed and looked over at me. “Let me guess, your GPS quit on you?”

“And my cell phone!” I folded my arms acr

oss my chest and shook my head angrily.