Snow Man

Chapter 1 - disaster

I can't remember how long I have been out here. Days maybe? My lips are cut, swollen and you can tell their bleeding. But I don't care right now. The blood dripping from wounds over my body is the only thing that is giving me the slightest bit of warmth as I walk through this knee high snow. Been caught in the middle of a snow storm in an isolated place isn't the ideal thing to be doing but I don't have a choice since my car would be buried under the snow by now. Walking does get harder with every step.The snow is getting higher by the second and is falling heavier than it was a couple days ago. But I have to keep going. I have to save my daughter, that is dying in my arms. She would have laughed at me now. At what I look like. My face white and covered in snow. My eyes and nose, red as a tomato. She would have called me a snow man. But she can't laugh now. She can't move. The bleeding stopped at the wound in her head yesterday. But she hasn't opened her eyes since. The only way I can tell if we is alive is to feel the weak pulse in her veins. Thinking back to what had happened pained me. I am wounded and in lot of pain, but I don't care, my daughter got the worst of it. All because of a stupid patch of ice.

I can still remember the accident, even though it was days ago. We were driving to the city when it started to snow, slowly at first then it got heavier, and heavier. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't see where I was going and its hard to ice on the road in good weather. Anna was asleep in the back. For that I was glad, I didn't want her to see how panicked I was. I looked back at her for an instant, at her peaceful face, she always looked like nothing worried or pained her, she was my strong girl. 'she looks just like her mother' That was my last thought before I hit the ice. I tried desperately to get control of the car, but it was a lost cause. The car began to spin, around and around, faster and faster. She woke then screaming. I can still hear it, the sharp, ear splitting cry of utter fear. I screamed her name, but my cry was drowned out by smashing glass and metal being crushed. The other car came out of no where, like it came out of thin air. It crashed into the passenger side of the car, away from me, but right into Anna. The airbags ejected themselves but it did little help to the fact they just pushed the glass from the windows into my chest and face. Our car had been rammed into a ditch, we were upside down the doors so damaged they looked like they wouldn't open for anybody. But all the window had been shattered in the crash and there was just enough room for me to slowly climb out into the icy mud. My eye sight had gone fuzzy for some reason and I struggled to see anything but the totalled car and snow. But I could smell something. Something burning. I clumsily found my feet, using the upside down car for support. Over the car only just off to the side of the road was a car. The car the had crashed into us. On fire.

I ran to the burning car, falling many times. There was a man in the front seat. His bleeding head resting on the stealing wheel. I could only just see his night black hair though the flames. After stumbling to his door I attempted to open it, but it just fell off the frame entirely when I grabbed the handle. Dropping that I assessed the man. He wasn't wearing his seat belt when we crashed, the air bag had come and gone already, and he was unconscious in a car with it's engine on fire. I had to get him out, or at least try. I put my arms under his shoulders and pulled. He came easily for his seat. His feet hit the ground with a thump and I dragged him further from the fire. After carefully laying him on the cold pavement I assessed him further, gash on his forehead, most likely a broken arm, and no pulse. This man was dead. It was only then I saw what he really looked like. Beside the small cuts on his face he was quite handsome, nothing was out of place, all perfect, all muscle, his black hair was darker than anything i had ever seen although it was soaked through with blood, and he was about my age. He was my age when he died. And it was my fault. If I didn't look back at Anna this man would still be alive. Anna. I don't know what kind of a father forgets their daughter that is in that moment in an upside down car. But I did. And I still curse at myself for it. I left the dead man and ran for the wreckage that used to be my car. Half way down the ditch I can see her though the smashed window. Blood running down her face from a huge cut across the length of her forehead. Her seat belt was on and intact so she was still upside down, her red hair was touching the roof. Slowly and carefully I unbuckled her seat belt and caught her in the same second so she wouldn't hit the cold ground. I carried her through the snow and up to the cold road. She was ice cold, and wasn't moving. I hugged her closer to my chest to try and keep her warm. I checked her pulse. At first there was nothing I had begun to panic. But then there was a slight movement under my finger tips. She was alive. Unwell, cold and most likely in a lot of pain. But she was alive. That's when I started to cry. Happy but pained tears had over flowed in my eyes. I don't know what I would have done if it had killed her. It might still kill her if I don't find help. We were in the middle of nowhere. No help. No way of contact help, remembering exact where my phone was. On the kitchen bench. "Daddy?" Anna's small pained voice shook me from my thoughts. I looked down at her. Those little blue eyes were on me with a questioning gaze. "I'm here Annie, I'm here. Are you in Pain? Cold? How can I help sweetie?" "my head hurts." with that her eyes began to drop, " no honey, don't know to sleep. Stay with me," but they didn't stop. They kept closing. I shook her gently trying to wake her. But her eyes didn't open again.