One foot in front of the other; I just have to keep going, I tell
myself. My legs are as heavy as two cement blocks. I am walking slower
now and my energy is draining. I am knee deep in snow and it is only
getting deeper. I have to keep moving forward.

It is getting darker out now and with this, the temperature is dropping quickly.
The earlier clear blue sky is now a spooky shade of grey. The snow has
begun to fall slowly again. The green trees towering over me seemed
to have multiplied into millions. A shiver runs down my spine and my
eyes tear up from the cold, harsh wind, piercing them like icicles.

I keep on trudging forward. How did I get here, I ask myself? I was
just out for a stroll in the woods however now I am lost. Very lost. I
wonder if anyone is looking for me. I must have been out here for days.
My stomach is growling with pain, my mind wanders to the last thing I
ate - a warm piece of crunchy toast, slathered in butter, that was not
nearly enough to last me. My stomach tells me I can no longer survive
on melted snow.

My fingers have lost circulation. At first, they started off feeling
swollen and hard but now I have completely lost feeling. My throat is
dry and my cough tastes metallic. I am only waiting for this cough to turn to
blood. I feel frozen, inside and out, I have the impression that I am
kind of like a human snowman. My eyelids are heavy and are barely
staying open, and the drips from my nose are freezing before they drop to
my chin. I have to keep moving, but I know I am exhausted and more importantly, I need
sleep. Who knows how long I will be out here. I am afraid.

My feet have now completely lost feeling. I go to take a step into the
snow bank just before me and I completely sink down waist deep. I try to
get up but I trip and land face first into a huge snow bank. I try to
breathe in but I inhale a mouthful of the cold powdery snow. I cannot
help but break into sobs, I lift the palm of my hand to brush away any
tears and I am startled when I feel the lumps on my face once itchy are
now hard. I have developed severe frostbite. But I must not panic.

The only sound I hear now is the whistling of the wind. I try to push
myself up onto my feet but I only sink deeper into the snow. My body has
given up. I’ll only take a quick nap I tell myself, just so that I can
gather some energy to keep going. A few minutes cannot hurt. I feel the
cold wind sweep the snow onto my eyes forcing them to close. Faintly the
yelling on a man’s voice resonates in my thoughts far away. All of my
thoughts fade away as I fall into a cold, dark sleep