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Reaching down, I managed to unzip my left pocket. Carefully I pulled out my phone, swiped it open, and the pitch-black darkness was shattered by light.

I was in a small circular pocket of space, surrounded on all sides by snow. My body — thankfully whole from what I could tell — was embedded firmly against one wall.

Sticking out of the snow, a few inches from my face, was one of my ski-poles. It had missed my eye by inches.

“Fuck…” I breathed.

Hoping against hope, I checked my phone’s screen. Of course I had no signal. No way to call for help.

Dig.

It seemed absurd, but it was also my only option. My only viable one anyway.

Dig yourself out.

I grabbed at the ski pole. Maybe I could use it to probe my way out. The problem was, I didn’t know which way was up! I could be upside down for all I knew. Or on my side. Or on my—

A flash of insight brought tears to my eyes, as something suddenly came to me from a show I’d watched. It had been one of those survival shows. The ones you always scoffed at from your couch, but never thought you’d actually need.

I spat.

It was that easy. That simple. My spit traveled upward, sliding over my nose, disappearing somewhere past my forehead. That was the direction of down. The direction of gravity. Which meant that ‘up’ was somewhere beneath me.

Thank God!

I grabbed the pole and started jabbing it downward. It was slow going, but somehow I managed to push it through, until the entire length of the shaft had disappeared and only the handle remained.

Did that last part just break the surface?

I thought it might’ve. Quickly I pocketed the phone again, plunging my little void back into darkness.

The tiniest pinprick of light seemed to be coming from my ski pole’s end.

“HELLLLLLP!” I screamed, as much as my constricted lungs would allow. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”

It was a longshot, especially with the storm raging above me. Or rather, below me. Or rather…

“HELP, PLEASE!” I cried. With my free hand I pumped the ski pole up and down, imagining the tip poking out from the snow. “HELLLLLLP!”

A sound reached my ears, muffled by several feet of snow. A cry? A shout?

“HEY!” I screamed, until my throat went raw and voice cracked. “HEEEYYYYY! I’M DOWN HEEEEERE!”

I shoved hard, wriggling the pole all around, thrusting it up and down wildly. I could hear something for sure now. A voice, calling out over the storm.

Suddenly the pole was yanked out of my hand! I heard the sound of scratching, louder and more pronounced, until I realized it was the sound of someone digging… digging their way down to me.

“OH MY GOD!”

The snow broke away in giant chunks, falling on top me. I spit it out, coughing and sputtering as light flooded my eyes. The sudden brightness obliterated my vision. I couldn’t see a single thing! The wind was a savage force, roaring loudly in my ears.

I was blind. Practically deaf. Then I felt the most beautiful thing in the world: a strong hand closing tightly over mine.

“Gotcha!”

Four

SHANE