Winter's Torment by Katie Wyatt

Author:Katie Wyatt [Wyatt, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Royce Cardiff Publishing House
Published: 2015-08-18T16:00:00+00:00

Scene 6

Winter huddled in a cluster of bushes, shivering and stiff with the cold. She wished now that she had never left the security of Henry’s ranch, but how was she to know that an overcast day would turn into what turned out to be quite a severe snowstorm? She wrapped her heavy sweater tightly around her, but it did little to keep out the cold blasts of wind. Her bonnet kept some of the driven snow out of her face, but soon it was saturated.

She sat with her back pressed into the bushes, her knees pressed close to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees. She tried to make herself into a tiny ball, keeping her back to the wind.

She knew that Henry had no idea that she had left the ranch, nor did she know how long he would remain in town. How would he know to look for her? Or where? The snow was four inches deep already, and in the span of an hour the tracks of her mare had been completely obliterated.

She had hesitated to move too far in any one direction, and then the horse had suddenly lost her balance, perhaps stepping into prairie dog hole or perhaps it was a slip as her hoof slid off a rock covered with snow. Winter had nearly fallen off, and only by tightly grasping her knees and clenching her fists around the horse’s mane had she managed to stay astride.

After realizing that she was lost, she had slid off the horse’s back and dismounted, thinking to examine the mare’s leg. She had gently run her hand over her pastern and joint, her fetlock, and then lifted her hoof to make sure she hadn’t thrown a shoe. Everything looked okay, but she was no veterinarian.

Then, quite to Winter’s surprise, something had spooked the horse and she had reared, nearly pulling Winter off the ground. Reflexively, Winter had let go of the reins to prevent being dragged. She’d then watched in horror as the horse had trotted off into the distance before disappearing into a nearby gully. Winter had tried to chase after her, but had taken a fall herself at the top of the gully, rolling to the bottom before she stopped, covered with dirt, snow, and praying to God that she hadn’t broken something.

So it was that she was now holed up against the side of the gully, surrounded by bushes and hoping that they would provide adequate shelter from the snow, which seemed to fall heavier and faster as the minutes ticked by.

“Oh Lord,” she prayed. “Please let someone find me. I want to live! I don’t want to die out here in the middle of nowhere, with no one to find or bury my bones. I really do want to try to have a chance to begin my life again with Henry. If it is Your will, Lord, help him find me.”

***

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