Katrina cursed as her car slipped yet again, sliding toward the side of the road. The snow was falling thick and fast, the world a white blur that made it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. She'd been a fool to attempt to drive in it. The interview at the ski lodge had gone well, and she'd left feeling confident that she'd be receiving a call about the waitressing job soon. By the time the interview was over the snow had started to fall. Her prospective employer had tried to discourage her from driving home through it, but Katrina didn't have the money to purchase a room for the night, and she couldn't bear the thought of asking for charity and crashing on someone's couch, or in the common room. She'd purchased new tires recently, so she'd been reasonably certain she could make it through a little powder.
The track down the mountain had been fine initially, a bit slippery but nothing that some slow, careful steering couldn't handle. The snow had gotten steadily worse as she made her way down. Katrina feared that she was now in the middle of a bona fide blizzard. Why, oh why had she let her pride get the better of her common sense? Surely the pity on stranger's faces when they saw her without a room of her own would be better than ending up frozen in a ravine somewhere. The more her car slid around the more she became certain that this was the end for her. Her car would slide off the road and be covered by a mountain of snow, and they wouldn't uncover her cold, dead body till springtime. She sighed and gently stepped on the gas again, the car chugging along at roughly five miles an hour.
At the very least, she should have brought chains. What kind of idiot drives up a mountain without the proper equipment for her car? She shook her head, making silent mental pleas to God or whatever deity might listen to just get her out this safely. She could barely even tell whether she was actually on the road at this point. For all she knew, she could be driving across a snowy field; everything was just white. There seemed to be a slight indentation in the fallen snow, and she was following it closely, hoping that it was the road. Who knew where she would end up if she lost the road. Her car battery and fuel would only last so long; without the heater she knew she'd probably catch hypothermia and die. The shelter the car would provide would be minimal protection from the cold. Shivering at the very thought, she cranked the heater up a little higher.
"Slow and steady, Katrina," she told herself. There was no one else on the road, and no need to hurry. Oh, except for the impending darkness of nightfall, which would make her journey even more difficult. If it was hard to see the road now, it would be nearly impossible once darkness fell, and her only light was the headlights of the car, reflecting off the falling snow and making it even more confusing. Was it possible it was falling even thicker and faster now? Shit, she'd really screwed herself over on this one. She carefully urged the car forward. She'd come to far to turn back now; anyway, her car would probably have a worse time struggling uphill through the snow. At least this way she had gravity on her side.
She idly flicked through the radio stations, searching for a weather report or music or anything, really, but she found nothing but static. Not surprising, given her location and the circumstances. Her cell phone had been without a signal since she'd started up the mountain. How far had she come? She'd been on the road at least an hour, possibly longer. She hadn't checked the time when she left, and the slow slogging through the snow made time drag by. She could have been out here for days with how slowly it seemed to move. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten all day. She had a granola bar in her purse, maybe if she could ease her car to a stop she could fish it out. She started to steer to the side of the road, then laughed at herself. What did it matter if she stopped in the middle of the road? There was no one else around. She changed course back to the center of the road, and then it happened.
Her car hit a patch of ice, or maybe some especially slippery snow, or a groove in the road; whatever the cause, the result was the same. Her car began to drift towards the opposite edge of the road. Katrina frantically tried to steer into the turn, although every instinct of self preservation made her want to pull the car the other way. Logically she knew if she had any chance of regaining control, she had to steer into it. Her efforts were having no effect. The car was steadily progressing to the side of the road, to the edge that dropped off into - what? She couldn't tell.
"Please, please, come one, come ON!" she begged her car. The tires seemed to catch, and for a split second Katrina had hope. It was quickly destroyed as the nose of her car dipped over the edge, and the pull of gravity and the forward motion of the car completed the job. In a moment, she was hurtling down the side of a steep hill - at least it wasn't one of the ravines, maybe a hill she could survive - at breakneck speed. She tried to pump her brakes, but the only result was that her car swerved from side to side, threatening to tip over. There was a grove of trees at the bottom of the hill. Katrina screamed, covered her eyes, and hoped for the best.
BANG!
Her car took the first impact on the passenger side, the hit sending it careening sideways, where the tail end of the driver's side was slammed into another tree. The back end of the car lifted, flipping up into the air, and Katrina screamed again as the whole thing flipped upside down, the windows shattering sa the roof of the car made contact with the ground. The car slid forward again, finally coming to rest against another tree.
Dazed, Katrina tried to gather her thoughts. She was suspended upside down, hanging from her seat by her seat belt. Something was pressing into her ribs, and her arm was twisted painfully against the door. Dimly she was aware of something wet running through her hair, and she reached her free hand up to touch, recoiling at the sudden pain. Her fingers were covered in blood. Her pinioned arm was throbbing, and her ribs were screaming from the pressure. She had to free herself from the wreckage. Shakily, she reached for her seat belt release, bracing her legs against the roof of the car to support her weight. The catch came undone and she fell to her knees, her face smashed against the steering wheel. There was a hole to her left where the window should have been, halfway sunk into the snow, but she crawled through it, hissing in pain as she put pressure on her injured arm and hastily lifting it. She must have broken it.
Katrina freed herself from the ruins of her car and tried to take stock of her surroundings. Her head felt fuzzy and muddled. What should she do? She couldn't stay here. Maybe if she could make her way back to the road someone would come along. A snowplow, perhaps, or someone else as crazy as she was, to be out driving through this mess. She took one wobbly step in the direction of the road, then another. Her teeth began to chatter and she wished she'd worn warmer clothing beneath her coat. Thankfully she'd been wearing sensible shoes and not high heels. The blood was still seeping from her head, and she blinked and rubbed at her eye to clear her vision. Somehow she became fixated on the idea of making it to the road, as if she was guaranteed to find assistance there. She looked up the steep hill, wondering how she could complete the climb. Well, she'd just have to find a way.
Holding her broken arm close to her body, she trudged up the hill, her steps erratic and swerving back and forth as she tried to find her footing and clear her head. She was so cold, colder than she'd ever been in her life. Her body was shaking so bad it was hard to stand. She giggled as she fell into the snow, some small part of her aware that it wasn't funny at all; it was serious, possible a matter of life and death. Katrina contemplated death as she lay in the snow. The snow made everything look so white and pure. Idly she wondered if Heaven was filled with snow. Maybe warm snow. She should get up, she knew, but she was just getting comfortable. Her body felt like it was warming up. Maybe the snow was acting like insulation, keeping her body heat in. You're dying, Katrina. The thought rose up from somewhere , but she dismissed it as irrelevant. Even if it were true, what a lovely place to go, everything so soft and beautiful...
*
*
The angel of death was not AT ALL like he should be. The black hood was about the only part the stories got right. No scythe, no mystical aura around him, and surely angels weren't supposed to curse or place blame on the human they'd come to collect.
"You little idiot, what the HELL where you thinking, driving through that?" Death was certainly grumpy.
Katrina wondered why the angel didn't already know. Surely her death was written down in his magic book somewhere: Katrina Walsh, November 24th, cause of death: Driving like a moron through the snow. RIP.
"Wake up, stay with me!"
Well of course she was going to stay with the angel, where else did he think she was going to go. Death was lifting her up now, and throwing her over his shoulder. What an unusual way to be taken to the afterlife, Katrina mused. She'd expected something a little more, well, magical. Shouldn't she be leaving her corporeal body and floating up into the sky? Death was awfully human-like. She wondered if he was new, maybe still in training. Of course, she WOULD get a newbie. She banged against the back of Death while he walked, like a sack of potatoes. She'd always imagined something more graceful. Oh well...
Katrina closed her eyes again, confident Death would awaken her when they reached their final destination.
