They were gone. All of them, just like that.

A moment frozen in time. She looked toward the sun trying to melt the ice away. With her vision blurry, she took the hand of loved ones and strangers to guide her out of the mist. Her breath cut the mist like a puff of smoke. It lingered in the air. She watched as the particles fell like snowflakes. Whose nose will sneeze? Who will catch her cold instead of her heart? She wondered.

It ached like a frostbite left blistering in the night.

To scared to fall beneath the cracks, only the tip of the iceberg could be seen. That’s when the ground began to shake. A line once straight now zigzagged as the earth began to crumble. An avalanche was coming. She lied for cover like the monster under her bed she tried to run from.

She hid so well, they left. All of them, just like that.