Ski Me We Tree

Snow Go Throw Grow

Play Stay Way May

Fly Try Why Good bye Tessa🦋

Roy hated ski trips.

This was just a simple fact of life. Everyone knew this. Roy hated ski trips, would never like ski trips, and it was a waste of time to make him like ski trips.

Linda didn’t know that though. As a new hire, her knowledge of her colleagues was pretty limited. Which was how Roy ended up, grumbling and moaning, up the Alps on a 5 day ski trip.

The beauty of Amber is captivating. Her skin is glowing in the sunlight. “Honey, it’s about time we go skiing, isn’t it?” Amber smiles, standing up to get dressed.

“Yeah, we have to be there in an hour,” I say. My hands get clammy, and I sweat more. I walk into the bedroom, seeing Amber half-dressed. I bring my hands up to my eyes. “Oh my god Amber, I’m so sorry!” Backing away, I trip over something and I almost fall on my back.

Her laugh echoes throughout the cabin. “Honey, it’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before,” she says. “Why are you so nervous?” She finished putting clothes on and walked over to me. “If you don’t want to go skiing then just say so. You’ve already done so much with this trip.”

“No! No… I want to go skiing. I promise. I know how much you love it,” I say. “Besides, you promised to teach me.”

“I did,” she says. Her smile is like the sun. It always warms my heart. Even in this snow.

“Okay babe, now I want you to go down the hill first.” She takes my hand. It’s still clammy. “I know you’re nervous, but you’ve been doing so good so far!”

‘God, I love her with all my heart.’

“Just keep doing what we practiced and you’ll make it down without falling.” Amber looks at me, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Babe?”

“Oh. Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous. But I know I can do it, I’ve got the best teacher in the world.” Amber smiles and pushes me forward.

“Go ski, you cheesy bread! I’ll be behind you.”

I start slowly, as a get going my speed picks up. All I can think about right now is Amber. How she’s so patient with me. How she always rambles on about health, and hair care. How she has these little mannerisms that I’ll never point out because they make me smile. How her name fits her personality to a tee. She’s always so passionate and when she rants about things, all I can do is stare at her and smile. She’s just prefect in everyway. Even her imperfections make her perfect.

Next thing I know, I’m at the bottom of the hill waiting for Amber to arrive. My mouth turns into a grin. She’s coming. The closer she gets, the more nervous I get.

“Hey babe!” Amber waves at me when she sees me.

“Babe, I’m so proud of you! You did it!” She does little jumps of joy that sends me over the moon.

“Amber, can I ask you something?” I say.

“Of course! But we should go back up so we can ski down the hill again!” She grabs my hand to lead me back to the tram, but I stand my ground.

“Amber, hold on. I want to ask you here.” I put my hands in my pockets.

Amber looks at me and smiles. “Of course honey. What’s up?”

“You know I’m not much for words and speeches…” My throat starts to close, and my eyes water. I take a small box from my pocket and place it into Amber’s hands.

“Amber, would you please marry me?”

No matter how cold it was on Mount Scarlet, the fire inside kept raging like a bull about to charge someone. Mount Scarlet was secretly a volcano, ready to burst outward like a cannonball getting shot out of a cannon. It had been pushed by earthquakes for centuries, yet it would not explode. Over time, the pressure kept building up further until today, where it shall explode in the most violent volcanic eruption the world has ever seen…

I am the biggest klutz in the world. My family went on a ski trip for winter break. My very first time on the mountain, I fall down it and break my arm. And I didn’t even have my skis on.

I know what you’re thinking, how can you be that clumsy? I don’t really know, but here I am, sitting by the fire in the lodge while the rest of my family is out having fun.

Oh it was such agony, hearing my bones snap, feeling the burning rush throughout my arm and up to my head, nearly making me unconscious from the pain.

No, I can’t think of it. I need to sit here with my book and ignore the fact that I am injured and unable to have fun. Everything’s okay.

Hours pass, hot chocolate cups are drained, a few pages of my book are read. Boredom ensues. When are my parents coming back? Did they forget they had a crippled daughter waiting for them? Probably.

They came back as the first of many beautiful stars appeared in the sky, full of snow and stories. Not once am I asked how I’m doing or if I’m in any pain. But it’s ok. I smile and brush it off, their happiness is more important than my comfort. As I fall asleep, I reflect upon how this is only the first day of what turned out to be a ski disaster.

“I can’t believe this,” Liz muttered angrily, slamming the door shut. “Even wasting all that money would’ve better.”

“Would it?”

She narrowed her eyes at me.

I sighed. No, this was not how this ski trip was supposed to go. It was supposed to be our big last-winter-break-of-high-school trip, the one me, Aric, Liz, and Tyler had saved up for for five years, ever since seventh grade when we all agreed to go as best friends.

What we had not intended on was Aric and Liz starting to date last year. And then breaking up. After Aric cheated on Liz.

With me.

…Yeah.

In fairness, I had no idea he was dating Liz at the time. They had kept their relationship a secret, and when he kissed me passionately that one night under the flashing colored lights, I thought he was perfectly, beautifully single.

Not so much.

But this ski trip had cost us the better part of a thousand dollars, and none of us wanted to let all those years of saving go to waste. So here we were.

“It’s freezing in here,” Liz said sharply, as if it were my fault the heating was broken. “I’m going to call the front desk with a complaint.”

I cleared my throat. “Or you could just, you know, walk down and let them know…”

She cut me off by glaring daggers at me. I stopped talking to let her dial.

I had apologized over and over, insisting I had no idea Aric was her boyfriend, that I never would’ve kissed him had I known, that I loved Liz and never wanted to hurt her, that I would only talk to her from now on if she really wanted me to. But to no avail.

I was starting to believe she was going remain my mortal enemy forever.

That was part of the reason I’d agreed to this trip. Maybe, somehow, a week in the deserted mountains could fix our broken friendship.

But so far it wasn’t looking too great.

“No answer,” Liz growled. She slammed the phone down. “How long until our dinner reservations?”

I glanced up. “Eight hours.”

“Wonderful,” she said, muttering a few choice words under her breath.

A horrible silence drifted into the room. I picked at my jacket collar, then gave up and started drumming on the handle of my suitcase.

Liz gritted her teeth. God, I had known her for as long as I could remember, and never in our lives had we had a fight this bad.

Well, fine. If she wasn’t forgiving me, I wasn’t making any more efforts to apologize to her. Miserable ski trip it or not.

“I’m going downstairs,” Liz announced finally. “I’m not sleeping in a thirty degree room.” She crossed the room, pushed past me, and yanked the doorknob.

It didn’t open.

She yanked it again, more forcefully this time, and still it didn’t open. She twisted it, left and right and then left again, and then pulled.

Nothing.

“Frick this!” she cried, stomping her foot.

I moved past her. “Jesus, Liz, it’s obviously a PUSH door—“

But I pushed, and nothing happened. I jiggled it, left and right and pushed, right and left and pushed, over and over… and still nothing.

“Nice job, genius,” she snapped.

Ignoring her, I pulled open our green plaid curtain and peered out the window. From what I could see, one of the icicles had broken from the wooden overhang above our door and jammed itself into the lock.

“I doubt that’s melting anytime soon,” I muttered.

Liz looked over my shoulder and made a sound somewhere between a growl and a snarl. Then she went to the door and began to bang on it repeatedly with her fist. “HEY! HEY! SOMEBODY!!”

I blew out a breath. “Wow. This is the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. You know we have cell phones, right?”

I extracted mine from my pocket and began to dial Tyler, whose room was on the other side of the lodge. But then a big red window popped up.

NO SERVICE.

From the red glare reflecting off of Liz’s face and the panicky way she was also staring at her phone screen, I knew she had the same issue.

Great.

“Well. We’ve got eight freaking hours until they come get us,” Liz spat, her fingernails digging white moons into her palms. “Eight. Freaking. Hours.”

Eight hours.

Well.

This was going to be fun.

“Try to keep up!” Jason yelled as he whizzed past me, leaning his body into the wind to get more speed.

    I shook my head, smirking as I drove my skis into the snow, shoving off down the hill. Not long after, Drew Wesley pulled up beside me, looking me up and down.

   “You ski like a girl,” he quipped, raising an eyebrow under his ski mask.

    “That’s what I am, stupid,” I laughed, shifting towards him and elbowing him in the arm.

    He lost balance and slowed down, nearly falling. My laughter echoed through the woods as I leaned into the wind, leaving him in the snow.

     “Now who skis like a girl!?”

      “Aw, come on!”

    The day was perfect, though bitterly cold. I was able to keep fairly warm bundled in my coat, scarf, etc; while keeping moving. My brother Jason had invited me on his team’s ski trip, knowing that all the guys treated me as “one of them”. 

     I played basketball (and about ten other sports) with my brother most of my seventeen years of life, and for some reason that made a great impression on his chums. Drew was his closest friend, and we both sort of….liked each other. Don’t tell anyone!

   Twins Mark and Tyrone came up on either sides of me, grabbing onto my arms and sliding along in sync. I grinned slyly, snaking back and forth so I sprayed them with snow.

   “Rude!!” Tyrone yelled, releasing my arm as he wiped off his glasses. 

  We all laughed and joked each other the rest of the way down the hill, and I could tell this was going to be a great day….

Kaylie glides serenely down the fresh layer of snow, looking gorgeous in her pale rose jacket and white knit cap. Her graceful little jumps and twirls are perfectly timed. I, on the other hand, bump and tumble clumsily down the hill, trying to keep my balance on my oversized skis. Not mention how dorky I look in my huge grey jacket and ugly green helmet. I’m all but graceful.

Honestly, I have no idea why Kaylie wants to be my best friend. I’m horrible at everything, short tempered, and, to tell the truth, ugly. She’s the kind of person who everyone wants to be friends with, and is always very sweet. And, out of all her friends she chose me to go on a ski trip with her.

“Follow me!” Kaylie calls from bellow me, gesturing toward a little trail through the trees. I clatter after her, trying to put my skis next to her. Instead, I topple over onto her and she loses her balance. Then we shoot down the steep slope, surely going to our deaths. Then she’s stopped abruptly by a big tree, and I continue my fall down the mountain.

“Tess!” She cries, grabbing my mitten. I stop, panting, and look around. “Oh, geez. What did I get us into?” Kaylie put a gloved hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Tessa. That was a difficult stop to make.” “Yeah right,” I mutter. “So... about getting down.” She glances around nervously. “Um, Tess, this is Ripsaw. It’s a double black diamond.”

The butterflies in my stomach feel more like pigeons, and my head starts to swim. I want to look brave for Kylie, but it’s hard. “We can do this, Ky. Let’s just take it slow and steady.” We begin skiing slowly down, our ski tips pointing together, “We could call ski patrol,” Kylie suggest. I think about it for a moment, then shake my head. “I don’t want to be tied to some stretcher and carried down the mountain. We’ll be fine.”

The slope seems to go straight down, and I fell like I’ll fall forward at any moment. I lean back as far as I can and try not to look ahead of me. Then, my skis get tangled. I fall over in a heap and scream. Kylie reaches for me, but it was to late. Down. Down. Down. Falling. Falling. Falling. It seems never ending, and my head bobbles around as I hit bumps and tree roots.

Suddenly, I hit something. Pain gushes through my body and my head throbs. I try to call out, my no sound comes out. My vision is blurred, but I begin to hear commotion around me. “Tessa?” Comes Kylies voice. “A-are you alright?” I want to answer her, but I slowly start to lose consciousness. Who knew, one mistake would be the death of me?

“It’ll be fun, won’t it?” Elena asked Fiona excitedly. “Sure.” Fiona smiled. She couldn’t think of anything worse. When Jake had first mentioned the ski trip she’d smiled and nodded and expected it to go into the pile of things he mentioned but that they never got round to doing. Except it didn’t. The next week he’d bombarded her with tickets. And now she was stuck. “I’ve never been before, have you?” Elena was Dylan’s girlfriend. Jake and Dylan had been best friends forever and the ski trip had somehow become a double date. “Nope.” Fiona replied, throwing three hats into her suitcase. Elena chattered on happily, about the hotel they were staying in and restaurants they could eat in. “I see you’re nearly packed.” Jake walked in smiling. “Nearly.” Fiona smiled back. They’d been together for three years but sometimes it felt like they had been together forever. “Whose ready to get their skiing on?” He joked, making skiing motions. “Me definitely!” Elena laughed, playing along with him. Fiona made a noncommittal noise and hoped it would go unnoticed. Whoever came up with a skiing holiday? “There’s too much fun going on in here.” Dylan joined Jake, laughing. “Is everyone ready?” Fiona shut her case and nodded. It took them fifteen minutes to load the car and then they were on the way. Fiona fell asleep a couple of hours in and was shook awake gently by Jake. “We’re here.” He told her. She stretched and climbed out of the car. She’d put on a thick jumper and winter coat before they’d left but the cold hit her like a ton of ice. Which it almost was. They checked into their hotel and made their way to their rooms. “Well, it’s late.” Jake yawned, “See you in the morning.” Fiona opened the door to their room. The room was beautiful, with a fluffy white rug and a sparkling chandelier. “Nice, huh?” Jake smiled. “Very.” She replied.

The next morning Fiona woke early. The clock said it was seven am. She yawned and turned over, but Jake was gone. She sat up and looked around. “Jake?” She called. Fiona got up and looked in the bathroom but he wasn’t there either. “Jake?” She called again uncertainly. She tried ringing his phone but her calls went unanswered. She dressed quickly and made her way to Dylan and Elena’s room. “You okay?” Elena answered her frantic knocks sleepily. She stood aside to let her in and Dylan waved at her from their bed. “I can’t find Jake.” “What do you mean?” “He wasnt there when I woke up and he isnt answering his phone.” Fiona told them. “Try him again.” Dylan told her. “He’s not answering.” Fiona cried. “I’ll go and have a look around.” Dylan came back half an hour later shaking his head. “No sign of him. His cars still here though.” “I’m ringing the police.” Fiona sobbed. “I found this.” Dylan handed her a piece of paper. “It was in your room.”

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦.

He held his snowboard firm in his hands. His trusty companion in the snow. It was sheathed in a coat of frosty snow and it became his icy weapon. He saw the enemy troops disembarking from pods that rotated constantly like a conveyor of bad news. His had his companions. Fellow brutes brandishing their snowboards like zweihanders. Others had opted to created a wall of snowboards that towered and protected them. The enemy were arriving and charging towards us like berserkers. Unruly and undisciplined.

“Snowballs ready.” I commanded. Women, children and the elderly prepared and primed their shots.

“Fire!”

A volley of snowballs smashed into the approaching marauders. They fell in a blitzed of snow. More were arriving from the pods but now foot soldiers were marching down the hill. Some equipped with skis attached to the foot can be seen taking educated tactical manoeuvres through the trees further up.

“Fire at will!” I yelled. And another volley of snowballs crashed into the front line of the enemy. They collapsed and thudded into the snow. They retaliated and threw their own volley.

“Shield ups!” Our snowboard wall raised up in defence. The enemy fire splatting hopelessly against this stronghold. However, unbeknownst to us, or my own ignorance, I had forgot the skiers. The cavalry of the enemy had burst from the tree line close to us and were among our ranged defenders. They ambushed us with their dual-wielding sticks and we had to turn around.

“Turtle position!” I commanded.

We lost many of our undefended rangers.

We now stood surrounded by the enemy. We will make our stand here today. The snowboards dug deep creating a palisade against the invaders. We grabbed the snow in our hands and prepared for the last stand.