Far away in the north, there is a vast expanse of snow and ice. The mountains and valleys covered in snow seem to hide a forgotten world. The clear, blue sky and cold, pale sun speak of a long forgotten past.
Standing on the snowy expanse, I felt the wind’s biting chill. My shivering body was clothed in heavy fur and woolen clothes. I had a pack of wooden sticks at my back and a small isolated bottle of water against my skin.
I stared ahead, knowing that there was a village somewhere. Hoping to see a wisp of smoke, I squinted up at the sky. Wearily, I trudged up the large ice-covered hill before me.
Before I reached the top, however, I stepped onto a piece of thin ice. The ice broke under my weight sending me hurtling down into the darkness. It seemed to be deep underground because of the heat that I felt. I looked up and saw the hole I had fallen through looking like a single star shining through a cloudy night. Fortunately I was unhurt and began to search for a way up.
There was no way up that I could see. I tried to think of a solution to this predicament. Suddenly I remembered my pack of sticks. I always kept wood with me in case of an emergency…like this one.
I reached behind me and found that I only had one stick left. The rest must have fallen out when I fell. Sighing, I lit the last stick using two smooth stones from the cavern floor. With its light, I picked up the rest of the sticks. I counted thirteen left, including the one that was lit. I tore my woolen clothes into strips and wrapped them around the sticks in a desperate attempt to make torches.
I packed up the torches and found a tunnel in the wall of the cavern that ran in the general direction that I was going. I hesitated for a second, then walked into the pitch-black tunnel. I followed the tunnel for a long time. I used up three torches by the time I decided to stop to rest. I needed to sleep. I figured I had fallen through the hole at about noon and had walked for about five hours. I only had ten torches left. With caution, I thought I had enough light for a day and half. I had water enough for two days, but I didn’t have any food.
I drank some water and curled up against the tunnel wall. I fell asleep watching the embers of the last torch slowly blink then go out. The moment before I fell completely asleep, I noticed it was growing cold.
I woke up and started because it made no difference whether my eyes were open or closed. I fumbled around until I had a torch in my hand. I lit it frantically trying to shed light on my black world. I was hungry, but there was nothing I could do about it. I drank a little water and then got up and went on.
I had no idea what time it was when I stopped, but I was tired. I had used up exactly six of the torches before I decided to stop. I thought that if I didn’t see light by the time the last torch ran out, I would go on until I died of thirst or hunger.
I drank only a little water because I only had a little left. I laid my head on a rock and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next day, if you could call it day, brought only miserable darkness. My mouth was parched, but I only drank enough water to wet my mouth. I decided to save the torches until they were really needed. I went on, stumbling in the dark for about an hour. At that point, I ran into a rock wall. Far above and in front of me was a light. It heartened me very much to see that light.
Thinking it was necessary, I lit one of the last torches. In its light I saw that the wall wasn’t much taller than I was. Above the wall, there was a slope leading directly to the light.
Carefully, so that it wouldn’t go out, I placed the torch on top of the ledge. Then I lifted myself up slowly. I picked up the torch and began to run up the slope. At least, I thought it was a run. It really was more like a stumble.
When I reached the top, I saw that the light was an entrance to a cave. It was covered by a thin layer of ice. Not heeding any danger, I broke through the ice with my hands and feet. I suddenly felt very cold. I remembered that some of my thicker clothes were still in the cavern where I had taken them off.
I tentatively stepped out from the blackness into the daylight. To my complete amazement, I had ended up on the hill right before the village I was trying to get to. With a short whoop I ran down the slope not heeding the cold that was creeping through my body. I ran into town, but no one seemed to recognize me.
“Poor man,” said the rescue volunteer. “He must have died because of the cold. He was so close to the town, too.”
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