Chapter 13: Ski Apache, Part 1 

It was Tristan, walking down to the parking lot, looking like a snow-god. He glanced at me, as if somehow he'd felt my gaze, and paralyzed me for a second. Then, face expressionless, like a slab of ice, he looked away and headed to his car.

He was gone a few seconds later.

I turned back to Dean, disturbed.

"-so don't use the other one." The guy was advising Dean about something. "I'm stopping the lift after you, so you better get going. The others have stopped already." He pulled up the safety bar of an awaiting chair.

"Sure," Dean said, beckoning me with his eyes. "Thanks, man." He tapped the guy on the back.

I followed and sat on the icy surface.

"Have fun," the guy said, pushing down the frosty bar against us.

The deserted slopes looked freakily steep from the chair, and every inch we moved up, the idea of sliding became less appealing. But I knew a good adrenaline injection was what my body needed in that moment.

"Ready?" Dean said, hauling up the safety bar once we reached the top.

I nodded nervously.

"Go!" he shouted. We jumped off with the sleds under our arms and ran to avoid the chair's rotary motion.

I stopped a few feet away, still standing. "I didn't fall," I panted, amazed.

"I told you." He smiled, dropping the plastic seat on the snow. We walked uphill for a few minutes and stopped in front of a trail. The view made me feel like I was standing on the top of Mount Everest. "This is the intermediate one, right?"

"Yep. The four slopes next to this one are black, and one of them is closed because of the rain the other day."

"I guess it washed out the snow."

"More like it softened and then became hard. It formed an icy cover. A fall could be really dangerous. But this one has a good cover of groomed snow."

It did. The snow was deep enough to cushion a fall. It looked like a soft downy blanket. We sat down on the sleds with our feet anchored on the sides to block our motion. My heart was already sprinting down the vast trail ahead.

"Do you see that other blue terminal at the bottom?" Dean asked, pointing his finger to the distant lift line.

"Yeah," I said, anxious.

"Once we finish this slope, instead of keeping straight, we're going to turn right before the terminal." He waved his hand in the air, as if tracing the path to follow. "And that trail is going to end up next to the Elk Liftline, the one we took."

"And that other trail is..."

"Intermediate, too."

"Great." I said, relieved. "And how do you steer this thing?" I looked down at the plastic sled, which was looking more unsafe than ever.

"With the brakes. You just need to pull softly on one of the red handles. Like this." He pulled up his right handle. "And since we're turning right, you just have to pull the left handle. If you pull the right one, you're going to turn to the left."

Ugh. It sounded like driving lessons. "Why is it so complicated?" I said, wrinkling my forehead.

"It's not. Just keep in mind to pull the opposite brake to the direction you've chosen."

"What if the brakes don't work? How will I stop? How will I turn?"

"You can use your hands but...since you don't have gloves...it's not a good option to do it at that speed-or you could throw yourself out of the sled if you want to," he added, eyes amused.

I gulped.

"Don't worry. That's not going to happen." He laughed.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay."

"To the count of three, then. Put your feet inside and push the sled with your hands. Stay behind me." He moved a few inches from me. "Ready?"

I pulled up my hood, breathing hard. "Yeah."

"One-" Adrenaline boosted through my entire body.

"-Two...," My hands trembled.

"Three!" Dean yelled, tugging his legs inside the sled and urging it forward.

I pulled my trembling feet inside and propelled the sled down in the same direction. I was gaining a lot of speed so I pulled both handles to reduce the pace, one harder than the other, and the sled suddenly turned right, taking the opposite direction.

I was sliding perpendicularly to the trail.

I started to hyperventilate, my hands, feet and lips tingling. I tried to veer again, forcing all the strength I could into my wobbly hands, when a barricade of threatening pines showed up and pushed me to take a new direction-the black slope. The soft rubbing sound of the snow underneath turned into a grating noise, warning me to stay away. But I couldn't. I was being dragged like a magnet by the desolate hill.

And then...everything turned ugly. The sled was quaking uncontrollably on the hard icy surface. I pulled the handles so hard that my head scraped the ice. The brakes didn't work. I spread out my legs to lessen the speed with my feet, but they just slid along the sled, on and on and on.

Help! I thought to myself. I couldn't scream. My throat was clogged by a massive lump of fear. I didn't know how, but in the blankness of my mind, I thought about Dean's alternative option. I threw myself out of the sled and landed on the rigid surface. But I kept falling down the slope, scratching my palms on the burning ice.

And I was heading straight to another dense wall of pines.

Panic slashed my breath. My chest ached. My entire body froze, blocking every motion. I couldn't avoid my course. Everything was over. My shaky peripheral vision faded into a tunnel-like image, with the tomblike pines at the center. I closed my eyes, waving my arms over my head, and listened to the hasty beat of my heart, perhaps for the last time. In that split second, like in the movies, memory flashes beamed through the darkness, announcing the irrevocable arrival of death. But one image yanked me from the stillness, as if my muscles had been suddenly awakened by a sharp bolt of electricity-my dad's face.

I couldn't give up. I couldn't leave him alone. I didn't want to erase that smile from his face. And I'd promised him...I'd promised I would be careful.

I shoved my hand against the snow, ignoring the bone-searing ice, and pressed it hard, hard enough to veer my direction. My feet found a bump and jostled my body upward. I landed on my chest and my lungs compressed against my rib cage. My breath stormed out from my mouth. I rolled and rolled, my eyes closed, until I finally stopped, one side of my face burning on the snow.

Everything went quiet. Darkness was the only image in my mind. A heavy darkness. Cold darkness.

Darkness...