I twisted, turning my head, and shifting my shoulders. Snow and more snow. I stretched my arm downward, clawing it with my fingers.
Where was he? My whole body numb, I lost my sense of direction. Was I facing up or down? Was my body vertical or parallel to the ground?
Weightless, I reached down again for my protector, my hand digging and finding nothing other than compacted snow.
I inhaled, each breath a fight for air as the snow rested compactly and heavily against my chest. I sucked a breath between tight lips and couldn’t feel anything.
“Dassh,” I tried to shout, my lips too numb to move. With a last effort, I punched through the snow layer below me, trying to feel for him. Snow and more snow. I dug with gloved hands, clawing against snow-compacted ice.
I gasped for air. My mouth filled with snow, and I coughed and choked, my body wrenching. Dizzy and without my sense of direction, I closed my eyes, punching the snow beneath me, trying to break the layer of ice separating me from Dassh.
I’m coming, Dassh!
My body spasmed, and I shook uncontrollably against the tight casket of snow and ice.
No! No! Stay calm! Stay calm! Don’t give up!
I counted to ten, the words in my head muffled and strained. Giving into each twinge, I forcefully relaxed my muscles in a futile attempt to regain my strength and fill my lungs with air.
The shaking stopped. I pushed through the ice below me, reaching to feel for him again. Sinking deeper and deeper, suffocating, my lungs empty, gulping and taking in nothing but snow, I continued, swinging my elbows inch by inch, hoping to create a pocket of snow at my nose.
As if pushed by a plow, snow tumbled against the sides of my face, rolling in balls, pushing, and compacting under my nose and mouth.
I gasped, swallowing more snow, and gagged, my numb tongue unable to move. My lungs tight and heavy, I inhaled a tiny breath that immediately shot from my lungs with the weight of snow on my back.
I opened my mouth, trying to take another breath. Snow caked at my nostrils and filled my mouth. My head and body became weightless. Balloon like, my arms and legs lifted, floating as though I was still trapped and smashed and hadn’t moved.
Making one last attempt to recover Dassh, I used my last strength to wriggle my fingers, loosening the snow just enough to jab them downward. Nothing! Nothing but more snow. My jaw tightened. I could no longer move.
No comments:
Post a Comment