Avalanche

People are stupid and don’t have common decency to stay home under warm blankets. A nice toasty fire would do. If your vehicle gets stuck on the road, you are not going anywhere. You’ll wait for hours for a tow truck. 

But what if you have a job where you have to report on a mountain where visitors flock on the weekend? I was new to reporting. My new company gave me a very expensive camera and a business partner as well.

I told them that this story was totally scary for my first story. But all the inside stories were taken. My coworker Amanda told me that Brenda, my boss, wanted to test newcomers to see if they had guts to stay employed. Another coworker named Jake was assigned to assist me with the story. It’s not that I don’t know how to work a camera. I wasn’t born yesterday! But apparently Brenda thought I was. 

I live near the mountain that the story was at so I told Jake I’d meet him there. That way we wouldn’t have to go to the office and turn around and leave again. We exchanged phone numbers the night before. I got dressed in a pink snow suit and Jake was in a bright orange one and was wearing a blue hat. Jake asked if I could take the camera and keep it in my car overnight but I didn’t want anyone to steal it from my car. 

Once on the scene, Jake asked me where he should set up. I thought he was supposed to take the reins since its my first rodeo. Jake bent down to tighten his shoe. The night before I looked up information on the mountain and it said that it was known for grizzly bears and mountain lions. A gust of wind whipped a piece of my hazel brown hair out of my face. 

Jake turned on the camera. We did a few practice runs. “I’m Taylor Parker and I’m here with Jake,” I said, my cheeks blushing pink. I forgot his last name already. How bad is that? My mouth went dry. Jake ran to get a bottle of water from his car. My words were choked out. The angle of the camera was awkward and I noticed a crow lurking nearby. I tried to brush it away but I slipped on a rock. What I didn’t realize was that it was connected with smaller rocks and before I knew what was happening, an avalanche was starting. 

The mountain caved and I screamed. Jake had his back turned and he was headed back towards me. All you could see was my hand. “Jake! Help!” I hollered. 

This was why people never came up here. They were afraid of falling to their death. I was trapped underneath the mountain. The walls seemed to echo through the mountains. I could feel Jake’s feet on the top of the mountain. I wondered how I would go to bathroom and how long I would be in here. I could just see the papers: “Girl falls through mountain on assignment.”

 The mountain was cold and damp. Tiny ice crystals were forming. I had nothing else to do but sit and wait. I could feel something moving around just above me. It’s times like these where you should be reading a book but you can’t predict the future. A muffled voice says “I’m going to get help.”

 I hoped that Jake would come back soon since he was the only person who was able to get help. As we were coming in I noticed that there was a highway with lots of traffic bustling through. It shouldn’t take him long. But hours passed and the camera had surely been untouched. I thought that someone would certainly notice a camera that was abandoned.

 It was nearly nighttime when I heard my stomach growl. My watch seemed to stop. I couldn’t get comfortable on the hard floor. I had roommates — two bats. I thought that was a Halloween thing. A bullfrog was my alarm. I wondered if Jake stayed out there all night. I wondered if Brenda wondered why we didn’t show up at work. They would probably send a search party for us. This wasn’t something out of the movies. I wished I had paid attention to Girl Scouts in elementary school but elementary school seemed so long ago. 

A figure that resembled an orange fox was scratching at the edge of the mountain. Things happen unexpectedly every day but I didn’t expect to see so many animals out here. It’s called the wild for a reason but I always thought animals were camera shy. When people aren’t around animals come out to play. 

Back in town, word spread about my disappearance. My mother would have a panic attack when I was on the news. My face would be on plastic milk cartons. Or do they even do that anymore? The light showed through the other side of the mountain. I wandered around looking for a way out. My voice echoed through the cracks causing another avalanche. I threw a rock and climbed up a tall stoop, a sensation that made the ground shake. The next thing I knew a grizzly bear was coming through the mountain. It landed on its hindquarters with a thump. It licked its paws. From a distance, I could see it licking a wound. 

Back in town, our absence from work was evident. Brenda had to take everything into her own hands. I would be in the middle of the editing process from the footage that was taken just a day ago. If we didn’t show up we could start looking for new jobs.

My hair looks like a bird pooped in it. I didn’t hear anything from up above. But how could I? I was down here while Jake was gone looking for help. He could have gotten hypothermia from the cold temperatures. My suspicions were correct. Just beyond the mountain range was an ice pond and an old man who was fishing saw Jake lying motionless. He called 911. 

When they heard about Jake, news of me was sure to follow. But sadly Jake didn’t make it. I was found by helicopter and taken to the hospital. I was out of it.

 An elderly woman who had a cane spoke in a soft voice. She turned out to be Jake’s grandmother. She said a simple prayer to the ceiling. Two doctors were in the hallway talking. The male doctor came to put a hand on the woman offering her a warm embrace. The tears started flowing down her cheeks like rain… at least he was with his mother and got to live his dream. 

I was so blessed to get to know Jake on this assignment. He died a selfless death to make sure I was the lucky one. There are not enough people like that in this world. I’ll dedicate every single story to honour him as long as I live.