Posted by Night Manager on September 26, 2008 at 3:30pm
WINTER GHOST P 6Footsteps in the stormI let her legs go and push us up until I get my feet under me, but I don’t stand. Instead I crouch and peer off into the storm in the direction the shadow went. My eyes search but the snow won’t let me see. My ears listen but the wind is all I can hear.It went… that way.I turn, grab her legs and pull them out of the snow once again.We’ll go this way.I hop through the snow. We’ll cross the street… make to the houses on the other side… someone has to be home.How can the wind push at us like this? It pushes me from behind helping to lift my legs through the snow, then from the left, pushing me off course and blowing her nightgown up and into my face.It pushes from the right throwing her hair into a frenzy making the tips stab at my eyes.And it blows against us, so strong that I have to stop, dig in and then change direction because I’m afraid it will knock us over if we try and keep going.Finally my foot hits something high and solid. I look up and see the huge rise of snow in front of us and the dark brown shape rising even higher beyond it. A lawn and behind it a house. We’ve reached the other side of the street.I can’t see where the steps are. Too much snow. So I step hard, kicking my toes into the snow to dig in and get sure footholds to climb. I clench my jaw tight as I see her feet trailing in the snow. Faster damn it. Climb faster.My foot kicks away loose snow and I’m at the top of the snow covered lawn. The house is still indistinct because of the storm but I can make out the mound of snow covering the front steps. I can almost make out the shape of the front door. It’s flanked by a dark patio on the other side, covered by an awning and filled with snow.I don’t see a light anywhere.The wind blasts us from the front again. I brace us, plant my feet and lean into it. Almost there……just hold on……I’ll get you inside this time…… no matter what…But this time the wind isn’t changing. It just gets stronger and stronger. I lean forward more and more until I feel my elbows dipping into the snow, feel the wind blowing over my head and driving snow into the back on my collar.… no matter what…My teeth ache I’m biting down on them so hard. I lean harder and take a step forward. My skin is hard and unfeeling. I can hear her hair, now just as hard, tapping against the side of my face, my ears, sounding like frenzied wooden wind chimes.… no matter what… and I take another step.Suddenly the wind stops, breaking off almost as though spent. I would fall forward but the snow in front of us has been pushed into a small wall against us almost up to my waist. I take a breath.We’re covered in snow. My legs, her chest, my shoulders, her feet, my eyebrows…The snow still falls, once again settling into falling straight down instead buzzing around like enrage hornets. The street is so quiet now.The house is clearer now but still mostly hidden by the snow fall. An old stone house, typical here in Mt. Airy, a little bigger though than most in this neighborhood. There’s a breezeway between this house and the next, where the snow fall is not as heavy. I can see down the small alley a bit, the sides of the houses, the windows and still I don’t see a light on.… no matter what…I turn back to the front door and the huge mound of snow that’s covering it. If I have to I’ll…Tiny warm puffs of breath pulse against the underside of my jaw. I look down and see her brows are knit tight, her mouth pursed but open. She’s breathing so hard. Is she in pain? She looks like… she’s exhausted.Then I hear them; footsteps in the snow.I turn in a panic and peer around but still I can’t see anything. There’s another step… then another…It goes quiet again for a long moment before I hear another step.And then it’s quiet again. I can… feel him. I know he’s… searching… listening as I am right now. I don’t move.Another step… another and… it’s quiet again.The falling snow is too deceptive. It makes man-like shapes out of the gray background and makes objects move that aren’t really there to begin with. Where is he?Another step…On the street?Another step… was that one farther away?… another. Yes! He’s moving away!A deep ache at the bottom of my throat is reminding me that I need to breath. Not just yet… another few steps… just a few…The gasp comes out like a whisper… a quiet secret… almost intimate. She let the breath out like she was just getting her breath back. Her eyebrows are relaxed again, her mouth no longer pursed and her lips are apart just a hairs breath now.I whip my head back up and stare into the white fall. It’s almost quiet enough that I miss it but another footstep sounds… closer.The falling snow begins to shift….Another step… another, Oh God… they’re coming closer!…The wind returns but without the force it once had.Another step and I look into the far falling snow and see the dark shadow looming.He’s too close.We’ll never make it.
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