When Lance's family was too busy to go pick out a Christmas tree, he decided to do them a favor and go pick it up himself. As usual, things don't go to plan and that leaves Lance struggling in the cold for rescue.
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He was a bit disappointed when it got around to a few days before Christmas and his family still hadn't gotten a Christmas tree. Really, he couldn't blame them, they were extremely busy that year. So many things, good and bad had happened and they didn't really have time to go that year.
"Mamá, I can go by myself if you want," he suggested that morning as his mother raced around the kitchen trying to get everything ready for the holiday. His Papá, Mark, and Marie were all busy working during the days leading up to Christmas and Caleb and Sophie were spending a lot of their time at school and with their friends before the hustle and bustle of Christmas overwhelmed them.
"Are you sure?" She asked as she pulled a tray out of the oven. She turned to him and pulled him closer, planting a kiss on his forehead.
"Yeah mamá, its the least I can do," he insisted walking over to the closet and pulling his coat, hat, and gloves out. It had snowed the night before and the temperature had dropped, preserving the blanket of snow outside.
"Should you really be going all alone though?" She asked with a worried tone. Lance laughed, waving off her worries.
"It's only a tree, what could possibly happen?"
Someone must hate him somewhere. That is the only explanation for what happened. He was currently laying trapped underneath the tree that he just cut down. It wasn't a very big tree, small enough that he could drag it back to his car and strap it on, but he fell into deep enough snow that he didn't have any leverage to push himself up again. If that wasn't bad enough, he fell on top of a frozen creek and cracked the ice, now his entire back was soaked. He couldn't even move his arms enough to reach for his phone since they were sticking straight up.
"Help! Can anybody hear me!?" He called out, only hearing his voice echo out slightly from where he was trapped. He didn't have much hope of someone hearing him since the tree farm he went to was practically abandoned when he got there. He struggled trying to get up as frustrated tears welled up in his eyes. He needed to get out of there, if he didn't it was entirely possible that he was going to die there. He didn't tell his mamá where he was going, or anybody really.
"HELP!" He screamed out louder as the panic fully set in. As he squirmed in his makeshift prison, snow fell off of the tree's branch and landed on his face. He let out a small whimper as tears rolled down his cheeks melting the snow. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He was scared. He was alone, and he felt so stupid.
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Hunk laughed with his mom while they watched Ellen on TV. Their focus shifted to the doorway when his father walked in holding the cordless phone.
"Phone for you Hunk," he said holding it out to him. Hunk furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, if any of his friends were trying to contact him they would have texted him. He got up from the couch and took the phone from his dad and walked out of the living room.
"Hello?"
"Hunk?"
"Mrs. McClain?" He asked in confusion. He had never gotten a call from Lance's mom before.
"Hunk, have you seen Lance, he went out to get a tree around 11 today and he still hasn't come home," she said, her voice obviously panicked. Hunk's eyes widened and he looked at the clock on the oven. It read 4:23.
