Winter Tales

Chapter 15 - Anxious

++Alex' POV++

The past two hours have been hell, and that is almost putting it lightly. And I know what I am talking about if I mention hell, because I have been there before. Add to that the nature of my job and I can safely say that I have seen plenty of bad stuff in my life.

When that mountain came down, it felt like the world stopped turning for a moment.

We had agreed at lunch to meet up by our cars an hour later, after allowing ourselves a bit more fun on the slopes before the weather would inevitably get too bad for that.

Jack and I were in the car park first, since we had both been in agreement that going up once more was not worth it. Visibility had gotten really bad and it quite frankly took the fun out of skiing. I was glad that the two of us had paired up, since he was one of my easier kids and he didn't take much convincing to return to the car a bit early. Jack is very sensible in that respect.

Only about ten minutes later, Ben and Josh showed up with the twins in tow. The kids didn't look quite as happy with having to call it a day, but they were manageable. However, once it became clear that our snowboarders were still nowhere to be found, Aidan was quick to complain that it was unfair that they had been dragged back to the car – against their will, as he claimed – while the others just went along and ignored our arrangement.

Inwardly, I agreed with him.

By the time I received Sam's chat message about them having had to go after Luke, Will and Lily, who had apparently "escaped up the mountain by chair lift", Josh was struggling to control the twins' rapidly declining mood. He and Ben had to break up two fights and it got worse by the minute. They were clearly ready to be physically separated, preferably by putting them into two different cars.

I informed my two adult brothers about what was going on and then suggested that they take a car each to get the kids home. My car is big enough to fit all six of us remaining ones, once the rest would finally get here. With the gear it would admittedly be a bit of a challenge, but we would manage.

Ben looked a bit uncertain, glancing up to the sky and back at me a couple of times. Eventually, I managed to convince him that it would be highly unfair if Josh were left to his own device with the three kids. They are a handful on a good day already, but today they were especially challenging. Also, waiting for the others to return certainly didn't require two of us.

We agreed that I would keep them updated on our progress. Ben decided that he would stop at the supermarket to stock up on supplies on the way home, seeing as the weather forecast for the next couple of days was not very promising. At least, that way, if we got stuck at the cabin, we would not have to starve. And believe me, the amount of food ten males and a little girl can devour in a couple of days is quite impressive.

When almost thirty minutes had passed since the guys drove off, I started to get anxious. Our snowboarding squad should have made it down the mountain at least a quarter of an hour ago, even with Lily most likely slowing them down, being still only a beginner. My mind conjured up all kinds of upsetting scenarios, with the possibility of an accident at the very top of the list. Knowing my accident-prone siblings, this wasn't a very far-fetched assumption either.

I was still caught up in my thoughts, impatiently pacing up and down beside my car while shooting off text messages on our family chat, when chaos erupted.

There weren't too many people or cars left in the car park when the mountain started to come down. But the ones who were still mingling, stowing away their gear or just standing around chatting with their friends and families, immediately stopped and starred. It is not every day that you become witness to an actual natural disaster.