Home For Christmas

III

"Cold. Cold. Cold." Newt shivered, walking down the road. He squinted trying to find any sign of lights, the sky had turned a pale grey, almost white due to the seemingly endless snow. "I'm such a fucking idiot." He whispered to himself, trudging through the snow. "Dad was right, I should've just stayed at that fucking hotel but I'm So. Fucking. Stupid." He grumbled enunciating every word with a purposeful step. He pulled his phone out for the 80th time checking again to see if he had any service and once again, no dice. "Why me?" Newt asked the sky. "Why me?"

"You know what, this is fine. This is gonna be okay. Some really hot guy is about to pull over in like a snow mobile or something and he's gonna sweep me off my feet and we're gonna snuggle by the fire place and he's gonna like hand feed me chocolate and it's gonna be great." Newt continued to talk as he walked. "Yeah and he's gonna have a really cute dog, it's gonna be a Saint Bernard or something and he's just gonna be so buff that he can just lift it like it's nothing." He stared at the ground ahead of him as he walked as not to trip and to keep the wind from cutting at his face.

"Or I'm gonna like make it to town and there's gonna be some super hot lady there and she'll take me home with her because I've got nowhere to go and all the hotels are closed. And we'll obviously snuggle by the fire because I'm so fucking cold. Holy shit." He shivered, kicking at the snow in front of him. "At least it's pretty." He sighed. He looked up to watch the snow fall and caught a glimpse of a light ahead. "Holy shit!" He shouted, smiling. He punched the air and jumped triumphantly. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" He squinted to try to see it better though that was practically useless as his glasses were covered in snowflakes and water droplets.

"Please be a hotel, please be a hotel, please be a hotel." He whispered to himself as he started the long walk towards the light. "I'd settle for anything at this point. A house, a diner, a shop, a campfire, any place with a working phone." He was basically just swinging his legs at this point as his feet had gone numb. The closer he got, he slowly began to realize the light was uphill, far uphill. It looked like it could be a cabin, the kind people rent for skiing or something. But the lights were on, that was all that mattered. Even if he was just let in for a phone call, or just given directions to the nearest town he'd be grateful.

"It would be really great! If there was a hot guy in there!" He sang quietly to himself. "Maybe we'd hold hands! Or like cuddle or something!" He continued singing in no particular tune. His knee locked out of nowhere and he fell face first into the snow. He pushed himself back up to his feet, shaking off the snow. "I swear, if I die out here I'm gonna start worshiping Satan." He shouted to presumably god. He tried to wipe the snow off his face, but the numbness of his fingers made him slap himself instead. "Man this sucks." He sighed, wanting to pat his sore cheek, but not willing to risk another accidental slap.

He shoved both his hands in his pockets and continued to trudge through the snow. As he pushed his way up the hill off road a snowy path opened up to what he assumed was a long driveway. "Yes!" He cheered suddenly gaining back all his energy as he sprinted up the hill. He tripped over his own feet at least 10 times, somehow managing to stay on his feet with shaky balance at best. He made his way up to the front of the house but slipped on a patch of ice by the front of the door. His leg went up in the air and he slammed into his back, wheezing out a "Fuck." as he stared up at the grey sky. He lay there for a minute before pushing himself up, making his way to the door. He leaned on the door frame, barely trusting his legs anymore before he gave three hard knocks. He waited a moment and got no response. Then he knocked three times again, but harder now.

The door swung open to reveal a very tall, very skinny, very handsome, and very annoyed man. The man's annoyance immediately turned to shock as he laid his eyes on the human icicle Newt.

"H-hi." Newt shivered as he stuttered out a greeting. "S-sorry to both-ther you but my c-car broke down a f-few uh a little ways back and I was wondering if I could us-sse your phone?" He hadn't realized how bad he was shaking until he couldn't get a word out. The man just stared at him with wide eyes and a mouth hanging agape in shock. "Or if you could j-just point me in the direction of the nearest t-town that would be-be great." Newt tried to smile politely, but it hurt his cheeks. He felt like his face was frozen solid and he was cracking his skin. He sniffled as the man stared at him silently.

"O-of course, please come in." He was pulled through the door and it was closed behind him. "My phone is right this way if you would-" The kind man was interrupted by a power surge. Every light in the cabin flickered and the radio stopped playing, which Newt hadn't previously realized was on. They stared at each other in stunned silence.

"I'm Newton Geiszler, by the way." Newt stuck his quivering hand out for a shake.

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Geiszler, I am Hermann Gottlieb." He took his hand. "And you are cold as ice." The man-Hermann said in a way that made it sound involuntary. "The phone is right this way," he said again. "If you would just follow me." He led him through what looked like the living room and he almost fainted at the sight of the fireplace. They continued their walk through a cute little kitchen where there was a wall phone. "Make as many calls as you need." Hermann motioned towards the phone before backing out of the room to give him privacy. Newt heard him walk into the living room and turn on the radio.

"Thank you so much." Newt smiled, picking up the phone. He punched in his dad's number first just to call and say what happened, next he'd call a tow truck. But the phone didn't seem to be working.