Terror Mountain Avalanche

      Looking down Terror Mountain, you could see large areas of snow covered trees. The pristine snow looked almost painted – too perfect! It glistened and sparkled. The air was crisp and cold. There was a slight breeze. It was a perfect afternoon, indeed!

      “Are you ready?” Xania asked Stephen. He just nodded and sprang forward... down the mountain he went. Xania was not going to get beat to the bottom of the Mountain so she quickly followed. Her long, pink ears flopped around in the wind.

      They were whizzing down the mountain and each tried passing the other to get to the bottom. They had picked up speed and Xania started feeling an odd movement under her skis. Suddenly, the ground started shifting. She turned around for a second to look behind her. She had a really bad feeling in her stomach. As she looked over her shoulder, she saw the most horrible thing ever! At the top of the mountain, snow had started rolling down the hill towards the skiers. She panicked. She knew it was an Avalanche.

      Stephen knew something was wrong also. He had felt this movement before. He looked over at Xania. She had her head turned over her shoulders. He looked quickly and saw the avalanche. He knew they would have to find a safe place and quickly. It was as if Xania had read his mind. She nodded and they zoomed towards the trees. They could hear loud cracking and snapping noises. Trees snapped and splintered from the force of the snow. The noise became louder and more powerful as the avalanche gained speed down the mountain.

      The two tried desperately to pick up speed. They were headed to a small cave in the hillside behind a row of trees. Stephen’s ears perked up as heard loud noises behind him. Xania, too, was frightened and her eyes kept looking all around. Hopefully, it would be safe in cave, she thought. Both of them tried urgently to get there as fast as they could. The avalanche was gaining speed and more snow seemed to be moving down the hill. The noise from the avalanche was over powering and sounded like thunder rumbling. Xania and Stephen could feel their hearts beating in their chests at a super fast pace. Stephen kept peeking over his shoulder to make sure they were still ahead of the avalanche. His scarf flew in front of his face and blocked his view. He panicked. He tried to move it away from his big brown eyes. Suddenly, something went very wrong. Xania fell and started rolling down the hill, her skis smashing into the ground. Her long, lean legs pounding into the solid ice and snow. Oh, my goodness, thought Stephen. He became terrified!

      He skied over to where she had stopped. He face was buried in the snow. Her scarf awkwardly wrapped around her head and neck. Her legs were to the side. Her skis looked intact. He bent down to see if she was okay.

      Xania lifted her head. Her face was covered with snow. “Quick – go on without me... save yourself,” she yelled. She wiped the snow from her face.

      “There is no way I am leaving you; here, let me help you up, come on... we can still make it to the cave in time... hurry!”

      Stephen reached down and attempted to get her back on her skis. The avalanche was just moments away. He could feel the rumbling under their feet become stronger and the gigantic sheet of snow was almost upon them!

      Within seconds Xania was on her feet, brushing off the snow and ice. Her shredded scarf hung by a few strings from around her neck. Stephen quickly gave her a push. They skied toward the trees. The avalanche was still right behind them. They reached the trees and saw the cave entrance. At that exact moment, the avalanche picked up speed. Xania and Stephen quickly unstrapped their skis and entered the cave. They moved away from the entrance. Xania knew by looking at Stephen that this was not good. He looked worried. His eyes were squinting and his bushy eyebrows arched high in concern.

      A massively loud rumbling sound echoed through the cave sending shivers down Xania’s spine. She grabbed her jacket and pulled it tighter around her stomach. The ground shook violently beneath them. It felt as if it suddenly got ice cold in the cave. Xania grabbed Stephen’s arm in desperation. He looked around. There was a small ledge a little back from the entrance. He directed her there. They sat down. Their breath was visible in the cold cave.

      The avalanche pounded down the mountain and poured over the front entrance of the cave. Stephen and Xania watched in horror as the cave entrance was quickly covered. Both panicked and ran toward the entrance which was now closed off. Stephen reached inside his jacket and pulled out a light stick from his pocket.

      “What the heck? You come prepared for everything?” asked Xania.

      “No, not usually. I just had put it in my jacket last night. Don’t know why. Guess we are lucky? Never know when you will need some light! We need to see if we can dig our way out. Do you think we could use our skis as shovels?”

      “I guess. Just seems like they are too big. Should I try and break one of them into smaller pieces? I just don’t see any way to break them.”

     “Well, we can try. In the meantime, one of us should try digging out the snow, even if we have to use our hands. Agreed?”

     “Stephen, you look for a way to break the ski into pieces; I will try and dig. We need to keep active so we stay warm. Hope there is enough air in here for a while.”

     “Yeah, me too!”

      After what seemed like an eternity, Stephen showed up by the entrance. He had multiple pieces of something in his hand. He handed a piece to Xania.

      “Guess you found a way to break it, huh?” she asked.

      “Yeah, now all we have to do is dig. Looks like you are making some great progress, Xania.”

      “I could really use a nice chair to sit on. I love my Furry Arm Chair. It is no nice and warm. I would be pretty happy with a camp fire, too. It is getting so cold in here, don’t you think?”

      “What I really need are some bags of gravel to use for traction. My feet keep slipping. It is hard for me to try and stay in one place to dig,” noted a very frustrated Stephen. “I want my green bean bag chair. There is just something very nice about plopping down into it. Wow, you sure miss things when you can’t have them. What a bummer!”

     Hours passed. They were both getting exhausted. Stephen looked at Xania and her blue eyes looked almost grey in the light. He knew she was scared. Her nose crinkled up funny whenever she was scared.

     They took turns resting and digging. Xania took some of the snow and shoved it into her mouth. She was so thirsty.

     “You know, Stephen, when we get out of here, you are making me a cup of hot Aisha Hot Chocolate... with lots and lots of marshmallows on top. I would also like a big slice of Faerie Apple Pie. Hmmmm, that sounds so good right now. My stomach is rumbling so loud.”

     “Hey, I don’t think that rumbling is your stomach, Xania. Listen!”

      Both of them got very quiet. They listened. There was a strange noise on the other side of the snow mount. It almost sounded like some kind of scraping noise. Xania thought she even heard voices.

      “Hey, does that sound like someone? Do you think they are rescuers?”

      “How would they know we are in here? We need to keep digging. Come on. I know you are tired but we need to try and get out of here. I just hope the snow is not too deep.”

     Their hands were getting sore but neither of them cared. They were determined to keep digging. Xania noticed one of her paws had a small cut on it. It stung. She put some ice on it thinking it would help. Stephen just kept on digging. He was like a wild Lupe in the woods trying to bury a treasure... he had gotten down on all four and was digging fast and hard.

     After an hour or so of digging Xania heard a voice. It yelled: “Is anyone in there? If you can hear me, move back from the entrance. We are coming through!”

     Within a few minutes the snow was moving in front of them. They could see light streaming through the snow. It looked as if the layer of snow was very thin. Suddenly, a huge chunk of snow rolled towards them and a hole was exposed. A face peeked through.

     “Hey there! Are you guys okay? I am Ranger Rocky Ruki. Move back so we can make the hole bigger!”

     Xania and Stephen jumped up and down with excitement. For a second Xania even forgot about the pain in her paw. They were going to be okay. They were getting rescued. After hours of being trapped in the cold and dark cave, they were about to be saved! Once the opening to the cave had been enlarged, Ranger Ruki came through the opening and walked toward the two. He was dressed in a green outfit with a gigantic hat on his head. He looked more like a cowboy than a Ranger, thought Xania.

     “Wow, I was at the bottom of the mountain examining the new snowfall. I was pretty worried that the new snow was too deep and heavy and that it could cause some problems – like an avalanche! Next thing I knew one of my helpers – John came running toward me. He saw you two kids skiing down the mountain. Yikes, right after listening to him explain what he had observed, I knew right away that we would have to come rescue you! I figured you were headed toward Secret Polarchuck Cave when John said he saw you disappear into the thick tree area!! You guys were so lucky.”

     “Thank you so much, Ranger Ruki. If it were not for you, who knows how long it would have taken us to dig our way out.”

     “Yes, I guess you could say we really had some Faerie watching out for us. What luck!”

     “You kids want join us and go back to civilization so you get some food and get warmed up?”

     “Yes, SIR!!!” they both chimed in at the same time.

     As they left the cave, they looked back and knew they had been lucky. There were about thirty helpers standing by the entrance clapping. The entrance was scattered with dirt shovels.

     “You know, Xania, I think I may stick to a different sport. Maybe skiing isn’t for me.”

     Xania laughed and patted Stephen on the back. She moved ahead of him and turned around. “Hey, last one back home has to make the Aisha Hot Chocolate....”

     “Oh, you are on...”

     ...and so a new race had begun!

The End