Over the River and Through the Woods

The storm came out of nowhere. Distant horizons had worn an angry, dark grey hue, but Grace had checked the weather app on her phone that morning. It was only common sense, in the thick of a northern winter, to make sure the radar was clear of flurries or freezing rain before embarking on the day’s drive that would bring her and her sister to their grandmother’s front door.

Naturally, then, when the skies overhead gathered thickly, menacingly, and the snow began falling, Grace was surprised. She was taking her turn behind the wheel and had quietly decided the driving conditions could be better, but she’d definitely seen worse. The road was still clear, the center line was visible, and, who knew, it might just be a small pocket of weather they’d be in and out of in five minutes.

That reasoning had happened twenty minutes ago, though, and she was starting to think that this was more than a pocket. This would, at the rate and thickness it was coming down, accumulate to at least an inch or two on the ground, if not more.

As Grace clicked the windshield wipers up a notch, her little sister, from the passenger princess throne, asked, “Uh, you think we should pull over?”

Grace spared Gabby the briefest glance. “I’m all right to keep going for a bit. If it gets worse, we’ll stop.”

It wouldn’t be ideal, but it’d be doable. Their dad always made sure they had an emergency blanket in the back for the cold season, and they could huddle together for warmth. She imagined, with great longing, their grandmother’s cozy kitchen where soup and fresh bread were surely in the making on a day like this. If they could get there, that’d be the perfect place to hunker down. If only they weren’t still hours away.

If only a minute later, a hidden patch of black ice hadn’t sent the car spinning. Shrieks and screams resounded through the cab, and Grace didn’t know what to do other than try not to turn the wheel hard in any direction. This kind of thing had to be ridden out, right? Or else you risked flipping the car or something?

Well, the car wasn’t about to flip, but it did veer from the road, bounce down into the ditch—that was much closer than Grace would have guessed—and thumped to an abrupt halt. The snow never once let up. The wind, if anything, picked up, howling about them with cold ferocity.

“Are you okay?” Grace asked in a whisper.

Patting all around her arms and torso, Gabby said, “I, uh, I think so. You?”

“I’m alive.”

“Right.”

That established, Grace fished around the center console for her phone. They were going to be stuck for a little while, so she ought to let some folks know. Chiefly their grandmother and father. The former would be in a tizzy over the matter, and the latter would mask his anxiety by rattling off advice on how they could stay safe and warm.

Except, she had no bars, no signal to speak of whatsoever. How perfect. They’d spun out and gotten stuck in a dead zone. Could the day get any more inconvenient?

Just to be sure, Grace asked, “Hey, do you have service here?”

Gabby, when Grace lifted her eyes to see why her sister was oddly quiet, wasn’t paying attention. Didn’t seem to have heard that question. Her head was tilted, brow creased, as she stared out the windshield. At what, who knew. Visibility still sucked, and what was there to see where they were? Most of the route to their grandmother’s was rural and wooded. The storm couldn’t be pierced, and there was no way a cluster of trees could be, either, in these conditions. 

“Grace, do you see that light?”

“A light? Where?”

“Straight ahead. Do you see it?”

Grace was ready to ask for specifics of where exactly she should be directing her gaze or stating that Gabby was going crazy, but then she did see. Off in the distance—or so it appeared through the flurries—was a golden glow above the horizon. What was that? Where was it coming from?

The passenger princess, having made a silent decision, began zipping up her coat and stuffing her hands into her woolen mittens. “I bet we’ll find help there.”

“Whoa, wait a sec.” Maybe her sister had gone crazy. “We’re not leaving this car. Have you forgotten everything dad’s ever taught us about snow storms? We could get lost. We could freeze to death. Any number of things could bring us harm. We gotta stay put, wait until this clears up, and go from there.”

“I have this feeling, Grace,” and now a faraway quality had entered Gabby’s voice, “that there’ll be help. We’ll be better off where there’s a source of heat and people who’ll know what to do.”

Even as Grace, at the end of her patience, exclaimed, “But we don’t know that’s even what we’d find out there!” Gabby was opening her door and getting out.

“Gabby! Get back in here! Gabby!”

Her hand was forced then—she wasn’t about to let her baby sister wander off into the winter wilderness. Annoyed, frustrated, and more than a little scared, Grace crammed a beanie onto her head, made sure the other layers were accounted for, and then bailed. But she’d be back inside the car as soon as she got her arms around Gabby and dragged her back into her seat. And then she’d buckle the girl in, grab the emergency bungee cords from the back, and secure her so she didn’t do another foolish thing for the rest of the day.

How was it, though, that Gabby had moved so fast as to be nowhere near the front of the car once Grace trudged her way around to the center of the grill? Moving through the snow, not just the fresh stuff but all that had accumulated in prior weeks, was no small feat. Even in her sturdy, all-weather Bean boots, she was struggling. So, how had Gabby disappeared in such haste?

“Gabby!” She attempted to holler. The syllables and sounds were swallowed up and lost in the wind.

She wanted to get to the light, Grace reasoned, so just move towards it.

Fortunately—miraculously?—that was proving to be a simple objective. For whatever reason, that ball of illumination was unwavering, undiminishing, despite the weather. It should have been tricky to keep it in sight. It should have been difficult to be anchored to something so steady with all that was whipping around. The fat, fluffy flakes. The length of Grace’s hair that wasn’t covered by her hat. Bitter, biting air that siphoned the warmth from her cheeks.

Stumbling through a particularly tall drift, Grace reached out—and was surprised to catch hold of something to brace upon. Had she made it to the trees she knew were all along the route? Was it something else—but what?

She squinted against the storm and crouched before the mysterious support. Brushing aside the covering snow, she nearly recoiled as she realized what it was that’d stopped her fall.

It was a simple, wooden cross that came up to her hip. The name etched into it was one she knew. How unexpected to be seeing it now. She hadn’t thought about him in a while because it’d been a minute since the last time she’d had the time to make this drive out to Gram’s.

But the sad story of Ryan Strong rose up in her mind then as it did whenever she traveled this stretch of the highway. He’d been one of her peers, they’d been one year away from graduating as the class of 2015, and then, October of their junior year, he’d gone missing. Right there on the side of the road. At least, that’s where his car, all in a smashed wreck, had been found. 

His body, though? Never recovered.

Was it the cold, then, or something else that sent a shiver down her spine?

That was ten years ago, she reminded herself, like facts could calm her mind, A decade ago. Just forget about it and focus on finding Gabby.

With that, she started shouting, again. “Gabby! Gabby!”

She shouted and lifted one boot then the other to keep moving forward. She’d find her sister. She would. Mostly, she had to. She’d find her and shake her and be mad as hell that someone could do such a foolhardy thing. And then, somehow, they’d get back to the car and back to safety.

Nearer and nearer Grace was getting to the guiding light, and she was certain about that because it was getting bigger and bigger. And, oh, if Gabby wasn’t there once she reached it there’d be hell for someone—most likely that darn little sister—to pay. No Gabby would be a problem, to say the least. Grace wasn’t sure how she’d keep going. Wasn’t sure what direction she’d have to try next or how long her body could sustain this search in the cold.

“Gabby!”

And was that really a voice she heard on the wind in reply? Had someone really shouted back, “Hello? Who’s out there? Hello?”

Maybe it was a trick of the mind but believing she’d heard another person spurred her on. Served as motivation to move faster. The voice, though faint, had sounded deeper than her sister’s, but maybe Gabby was with them. The lead she’d given herself meant it was entirely possible she’d gotten to this stranger first.

Then a second, smaller light appeared in the near-distance. It wasn’t as steady as the larger one. Grace kept her eyes on it as it flickered and danced. Though it was different, all that mattered was that it didn’t disappear, either.

Two minutes later, Grace trudged her way to the foot of the original glow: a tall, stately lamppost. It was made of a deep green material with ornate, metal details up around the piece containing the light itself.

What is this, she frowned upwards, Narnia?

She sagged against the post, wondering at this absurd thing and trying to catch her breath, because the other source of light was still approaching. They could find her there. They should understand how opposed she was to leaving this pocket of visibility for the darkness of the storm, again.

Sure enough, the waiting paid off.

Out of the snow appeared a figure seated upon a black horse. They held a lantern—with a real, honest-to-goodness flame alight within it—out like they could truly ward off the dark with it. Grace peered up at the lantern and then over at the person holding it.

Brown eyes, bright and alert, met hers, and she didn’t know what to say to this man. This stranger with his scarf wrapped around him yet not concealing his questioning expression. 

Thankfully, he spoke first and said, “You shouldn’t be out here in this blizzard.”

“Well, neither should you. No one should.”

He frowned, like he hadn’t expected back-talk. Though, who’s to say just what or who he was expecting. Everyone in their right mind should have been hunkered down somewhere, which probably meant he was looking down at her then supposing that she wasn’t in her right mind. But it hadn’t been Grace, who’d been the crazy one.

“Have you seen anyone else out here?” she asked.

His frown deepened. “Anyone else?”

“My sister,” she rushed to elaborate. “She’s out here somewhere. We were both in my car and then she got out and I had to go after her. But she disappeared.”

The man swung his head back and forth a few times. Peering about. Could he see through the storm somehow? Could he see more than she was able to?

Then he said, “I can take you back with me, and then we’ll get a search party together. But we’re not going to find her out here like this. You’re already half frozen to death.”

He shifted and lowered himself from the saddle and held out a hand to her. Was she supposed to take it? Was it wise to just go with him, this stranger? She had no idea what he was like or where he lived or anything she ought to have, when it came to being alone with a man she didn’t know. 

“Come on, let me help you up,” he urged her, gesturing for her to draw nearer so he could hoist her up. 

Grace peered back over her shoulder, but she couldn’t see her bootprints from where she’d stumbled closer to the lamppost. She couldn’t even confidently say which direction it was she’d come from. That took trekking back to the car off the table. Staying right where she was clearly wasn’t a long-term choice, so was she really left with no other option than to go with this stranger. Would this be a huge mistake?

“Miss, we really can’t be standing around here much longer.”

Turning back to him, she sighed and took one step closer. Another. Reached out to accept the hand he offered in support. Got herself up and onto that beautiful, black horse, who was also obviously restless to get a move on.

She clutched onto the pommel, waited for her companion to get himself up and situated, and then let him take the reins. Literally and metaphorically. At this point, she’d agreed to go with him, so he would lead them to whatever shelter was nearby. 

The warmth of his chest against her back had her mind circling back to Gabby. Circling back to the fact that it should have been her sister she was huddled up with to generate heat. They would have wrapped the emergency blanket around themselves, pressed in close to each other, and done what they could to fight the cold. As it was, Grace wasn’t sure how her sister was beating the storm, this frigid temp, wherever she’d wandered off to. 

We’ll get a search party, she remembered, That’s what he said. And then we’ll find her. We’ll find her.

If only she felt the storm was letting up, abetting. If only it was getting easier to see through the flurries instead of more difficult. 

Grace ducked her head, trying to keep the wind from biting her cheeks too much, and lost herself in the overthinking, overwhelmed, and worried storm that was her mind. She had to trust that this stranger would bring them somewhere safe.

To be continued…