𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡. || 𝑨𝒈𝒆 𝑶𝒇 𝑼𝒍𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏

Prolouge

𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 16𝚝𝚑, 2009
𝟖 ᴀᴍ
I had just woken up after spending the previous night at Kayla's house, despite my mom telling me I should just come home simce my birthday was the next day, now today.
Kayla had already invited other friends over, too, so I felt I should stay.

Apparently, we were going on a mountain trip to celebrate my 18th birthday, but I thought I was supposed to be the one making plans?

Plus who the fuck wants to go mountain hiking or climbing at 8 in the morning?

Definitely not me, but I knew my friends were just trying to be nice, so I didn't say anything and agreed to go along with their plans.
We all got up to get ready to go and were out of the house by 8:50 am.
I had texts from my family wishing me a happy birthday and saying that they'd see me later tonight for my birthday dinner, I couldn't really wrap my head around my new age, I was conflicted on it and also wondering how life would change for me.

We pulled up to the mountain area after a 20-minute drive filled with everyone asking me if I was excited and trying to pump me up for the day, I dont know why but I was just really tired and not feeling like doing much but laying in bed.
We got off the car, and I was freezing my ass off as we all got our gear from the trunk.
Now I have never done any climbing or hiking with mountains, so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna die today.

Once we got all set up, we started the climb with these Ice Axe things that looked pretty dangerous.
I got to work stabbing them into the ice to climb upwards, and about 20 minutes later, I was already exhausted, also hearing some of my friends suggesting to go home.
Others suggested we just keep going since we were almost to the top, but to avoid sounding ungrateful for this trip, I just stayed quiet and continued my climb.

I stabbed my axe into an area of ice I thought seemed stable, and as I was pulling myself up to stab the next area of ice, the axe I had already had in the ice, slipped off.
I screamed as I fell and thought I was gonna die, up until I stopped falling mid-air.
I completely forgot I was wearing a rope and sighed in relief as I just kinda hung there, I smiled at my friends and waved, but that's when I felt it.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈.

Before I knew it, my rope became unstable, and I was falling with it.
The last thing my friends saw was me screaming and probably crying while I fell down and out of their sight.
I hit the ice on a nearby lake and fell through.

𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅.

𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 17𝚝𝚑, 2009
𝟓:𝟑𝟔 ᴘᴍ
When I woke up, I opened my eyes but quickly closed them as water got in.
It was dark, and I accidentally breathed water in, upon waking up.
I started freaking out and kicking but then just tried to swim above as fast as I could, I got there, but a huge chunk of ice was blocking my way.
I kept punching and punching my way through, knowing I was probably gonna die.

Soon enough, I made a hole big enough for me to swim through and quickly pulled myself out of the water as I gasped for air.
I was coughing for maybe 3 minutes before I was able to actually breathe somewhat normally, I laid there on the cold ground, but I didn't know where I was or how I got there.

After a minute of recovery, I stood up and realized I was surrounded by nothing but ice, mountains, snow, and some cars nearby in a parking lot.
That's when I spotted an older couple walking together from the area where cars were, so I walked up to them to see if they could help me.

"𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐚𝐦? 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭."