A Crown of Bones

~7| CHAPTER~

I STARED AT the base of the mountain.

The car offered some protection, but if anyone saw that I was a female and alone, they would notice and try to find out more.

They would really try to find out more once they got a look at my outfit.

I could feel the coldness leaking in through the car.

I didn't have the gas to turn the heater on and leave it sitting there running.

Damn this dress.

Damn mother for making me wear this thing.

I climbed over in the back, sorting through whatever I could find with the slim hopes that I had left something in the car.

Father had left a jacket in the back, and mother had her stash of blankets tucked away for when she got cold. Father always had the AC on and mother's small body sometimes really couldn't handle it.

I took the thickest blanket from the pile and examined it.

It looked nice, but glancing at the frost covered ground, I knew it wouldn't be enough.

Damn. I had forgotten also about my shoes.

Heels were enough of a problem but walking in them on ice equaled no.

I sighed deeply and fell back onto the seat. I just needed to find a tunnel. But what if I had to climb to get to the tunnel.

No one was around anyway to see me.

Sighing I put on Dad's jacket and wrapped the blanket around me. For good measures, I stuffed as many of the other blankets as I could in my backpack and cautiously opened the door.

"Nope."

I shut the door quickly, cursing that I had let the cold air in.

This wasn't going to work.

I hated the cold.

Breathing slowly I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth.

I was a survivor.

I could do this.

I had endured the monsters of hell and lived to see the sun again.

This mountain wasn't going to stop me from getting what I wanted.

I would fecking move it if I had to.

Opening the car door again, I already felt a dull pain in my jaw at how hard I clenched my teeth together.

Ahhh such sweet memories, I thought, remembering past moments when I had done the same action.

I closed the door and walked forward. Looking around I saw a beaten up sign that read,

"SPRING MOUNTAIN TUNNEL PASS 1.2 miles"

Who the feck named a frozen mountain pass 'SPRING?'

I certainly wasn't enjoying the humor as I followed the direction of the sign.

Nothing I really needed was left for me in the car. I had father's wallet in my pack, and the keys and one blanket I had been able to shove in, but other than that, the car was clean empty.

The first half mile or so, I felt ready to tear someone. My teeth were chattering now. My toes were probably going to fall off by the end of this.

I didn't know. I couldn't feel them anyway.

Nor could I feel my hands. They awkwardly held the blanket around me, leaving them exposed to the cold.

My nose was running like crazy also. I had long ago stopped wiping the snot away, ignoring it now and letting it disgustingly drip down. Maybe after a while, it would stop and freeze on my face.