by: Arlet Schmidt
"Sorry." They replied in unison with huge grins on their faces. Kevin shook this head un-approvingly.
The guys had just arrived at Denver International Airport. They had decided they wanted to spend Christmas and New Years in Colorado.
"Could you believe that there weren’t any fans waiting for us at the gate?" Howie said.
"Yeah I know! It’s a good change for once." AJ replied.
"Man! This Christmas is going to be off the hook!" Nick exclaimed, jumping non-stop on the balls of this feet.
"Would you calm down?" Kevin asked him, irritated. "We’re not even out of the airport and you’re already driving me crazy. Can we just get our luggage without you talking?"
Nick playfully stuck his tongue out at Kevin then smiled.
After the guys picked up their bags from the baggage claim, and after Kevin attempted to keep Nick and Brian from jumping onto the conveyor belt, they headed off to get their rental car.
"Yo Kev, what car did you pick?" Nick asked trying to look over Kevin’s shoulder as he signed the necessary papers.
"A 4-Runner." Kevin answered grumpily.
"God! What’s with the hostilities man." Nick responded with a silly grin on his face.
Kevin gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed the keys from the front desk clerk. He gave the man a polite nod and mumbled a "thanks".
When they walked through the sliding door to where their rental car was, they were greeted with snow flying softly around them. Kevin and Brian smiled widely while Nick, AJ and Howie closed their coats tighter around themselves.
"It-It’s so c-cold." Stuttered AJ.
"Oh, don’t be such a wuss. C’mon, we’re almost to the car." Kevin said walking ahead of them to the SUV. When they reached the black, Toyota 4-Runner, Nick, AJ, and Howie dropped their bags and ran into the car. The 2 cousins shook their heads and loaded the luggage into the vehicle.
"Hurry up Kev. I’m f-freezing my a-ass off." Nick said, his teeth chattering.
Kevin jumped into the driver’s seat and started the SUV.
"Blast up the heater!" Howie said from the back.
Kevin nodded and turned on the heater. He slowly backed out of the SUV’s parking space. He felt the tires slightly slip but managed to keep control of the car. He switched the gears and they were off.
"Do you know where we’re going?" Brian asked, next to him in the passenger seat.
"Yeah. I know where I’m going. I memorized the directions."
"Why couldn’t we get a driver again?" AJ asked.
"Because I didn’t call for one."
"Why?"
"I don’t know. I just didn’t want to call for one."
For awhile the snow seemed manageable. The roads were visible but as the time passed, the snow feel harder and visibility became scarce. Kevin had to squint up against the glass to try and see anything. When they past Denver and into the suburbs, all they could see was white. The guys started to get nervous.
"Kevin, do you know where we are?" Howie asked, uneasiness dripping in his voice.
"Yeah, we’re fine. We should be at the hotel soon." Kevin said reassuringly even though he couldn’t believe his own words.
But they kept driving. There was no sign of a hotel in sight. In fact, there was nothing in sight. Their nervous started to become panic.
"We’re lost! We’re gonna freeze to death!" Nick said, extremely nervous.
"No we’re not! Don’t panic. We’re gonna be fine!" Kevin said, trying not to panic himself. At that moment, the vehicle stopped. All of them, except Kevin let out a scream. Kevin sat in the seat, staring at the steering wheel, completely shocked. He was speechless. He tried to start it again, but nothing happened.
"What happened?! What’s going on?!" AJ panicked.
"It just died on me. I don’t know why." Kevin answered quietly, still staring at the wheel.
They sat their, gaping at Kevin. Then, they all burst out, panicking.
"Died?!"
"What are we going to do?!"
"Died?!"
"We’re stuck in a snow storm!"
"Died?!"
"How are we going to get out of this?!"
"DIED?!"
Suddenly, they all fell silent. All the guys sat in silence, shivering.
"Hey guys, is that light up there?" Brian pointed out towards the endless vast of snow. They all looked in the direction Brian was pointing in. Certain that Brian was just imagining things, they stared ahead.
But then, they say something flicker in the front of them. They were mesmerized by the… whatever cause it.
"D-Did you see that?" Nick asked quietly. The rest of them nodded.
The light on the hill seemed to grow brighter. There was no mistake that there was something up there.
"There’s a house up there!" Howie cried.
"How will we get up there?" Brian asked.
"We’re going to have to walk." Kevin told them.
"Are you crazy?!" Shrieked Nick. "Are you forgetting that it’s snowing like crazy out there! We won’t be able to make it!"
"We don’t have a choice! We can’t stay in this car until it stops!"
"Yes we could. It couldn’t possibly snow for that long."
"Nick, you’re forgetting where we are. We’re in Colorado! It could keep snowing for days!" Kevin yelled. Nick opened his mouth to say something but shut it. "We better get going." Kevin said nervously.
"What about our stuff? Are we going to take them?" Howie asked.
"No. We’re gonna have to leave it. We’ll come back and get them when the snow stops."
"You mean if we can come back." Nick murmured under his breath.
All of them wrapped themselves up as warm as they could. When they gave each other nervous glances, they exited the car.
The wind blew so hard that they couldn’t lift their heads up. The wind scraped at their faces and punished them by forcing them back from their destination. None of them spoke. All they wanted to do was to reach the house. The thought of a warm home made them keep going.
After what seemed like eternity to them, they managed to reach the end of a long driveway of an enormous 3-story house. They stood in silence, gawking at the home, shivering.
They walked up the long driveway that seemed to take longer than walking up to it. Finally, they reached the front door.
CHAPTER ONE
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