Snowed In

Annie frowned as she stared at the screen of her phone. There was no service and no internet connection. The blizzard must have blown both out with the amount of snow piling up outside, but Annie knew well enough that she didn’t need either of those things to have a good time. She turned around and saw a group of works beginning to form, Niall sitting on the couch on the outskirts of the group.

She walked over to them and cleared her throat. “What’s going on, guys?”

Niall looked up at her, taking his eyes off of the girl who stood in the middle, gasping for air with red and blurry eyes. “We’re trying to figure out what to do. We’re snowed in a ski lodge with no cellphone service or internet connection. We have no power and no connection with the outside world. We’re pretty much cut off from society.”

Annie raised an eyebrow. “Is she okay?”

Louis shook his head as he rubbed Elsie’s back. “She’s freaking out because we’re stuck here.”

“For days or weeks. Maybe even months!” Elsie sobbed, throwing her arms around Louis for comfort.

He held her back and whispered something in her ear.

Annie frowned sympathetically. “Why don’t you come with me and we’ll get you calmed down, alright? There’s no use in crying over our situation.”

Elsie nodded and sighed, following Annie to the corner of the lobby area. “I’m just scared they won’t find us here. I’ve read stories about people getting trapped in lodges during a blizzard. They were trapped for weeks and ran out of food so they had to eat each other to stay alive and it was awful. They were crazy by the time people found them. What if that happens to us, Annie? What if they don’t find us and I have to eat someone? I don’t think I could do that.”

Sighing, Annie smoothed Elsie’s hair. “I don’t think it will come down to that, Elsie. I know we have lots of fruit and cereal in the mess hall. We have things we can eat instead of each other. I think the snow will let up soon and we’ll be able to leave then. You just need to keep the faith. Now how about we go help figure out that game plan, yeah?”

Elsie nodded and they turned to walk back to the group. Annie watched as the other girl stood beside her boyfriend, slipping her arm around his waist.

Annie couldn’t help but smile at how cute the pair looked together. She blinked before she started to pick up on the conversation again.

“There’s no electricity so how are we going to make food?” a girl named Brenna asked. The dark haired boy, Zayn nodded in agreement at her question.

“I know that the cafe has some pastries in the freezer. If we can heat those up sometime or thaw them, we can eat those for a while. I don’t know how dependent you all are on coffee, but I don’t know how we’ll get that either.” Annie sat down beside Niall, careful of his cast. “There’s a back up generator in the basement that we could use. It runs on a car battery, I think. So that’s one way. We can hook that up and still be able to use the kitchen.”

Liam, who worked in one of the retail stores cleared his throat. “We’ve got plenty of clothes in retail that we can use when these ones aren’t wearable anymore. We’ve also got some flashlights and water bottles as well.”

Annie nodded. “This is good. We have everything now.”

“Where are we going to sleep? In our normal bunks?” Alicia asked quietly. She sent a spiteful glare towards Liam. “Or are we going to sleep communally on the floor somewhere?”

Annie looked around. “I know that I don’t have a place to stay. I always go home after closing with my family. We live in town.”

“I think it would be best if we all slept in the same place. Just for safety purposes, I think it would be best to stick together in case of emergency that way we don’t get lost or hurt. I think it also be best if we paired up if we have to leave the area too.” Zayn looked around at the group of people as he spoke, his eyes resting on Elsie momentarily.

Niall nodded in agreement. “That sounds like a fair idea.”

“We could always steal some room keys from the check in desk and use one of the suites. They’re big enough and we can take turns on the bed,” Harry offered.

Sam rolled her eyes. “You really think someone will share a bed with you, Harry?”

“I never said anything about sharing the bed, but if you’re offering, Sammy.” Harry raised an eyebrow at her before he smiled. “It’s bound to get cold in there so I suggest we all get friendly with each other. Cuddling will most likely be helpful if we can’t find the blanket stash the maids use to make the beds.”

The group was silent for a few moments before Annie looked around at their faces. Everyone looked scared to some degree but it wasn’t unjustified fear. “So, I think we should pair up and see if we can find a room big enough and close enough. I don’t think the elevator will work so I don’t know how Niall will be able to make it up the stairs.”

“I forgot about that,” Brenna murmured.

“I have crutches. I can still get up the stairs but it’ll take a while.” Niall motioned to his other side where the crutches stood propped up. “Just don’t make it the suite on the top floor, alright?”

They nodded in tandem before they paired up to gather clothing and sleeping bags and flashlights. Annie decided to stay with Niall in the lobby so he wouldn’t be alone. “This is less than ideal, isn’t it?”

Annie nodded. “But I think it’ll be fun. I’ll get to make some new friends.”

“Really?” Niall turned his head and stared her incredulously. “You think this will be a fun experience? You must be really naive to think that.”

She frowned. “That’s not what I was saying at all. I’d rather look at this positively than freak out like Elsie did. It’s better to be optimistic and think of something good that will come out of the situation than look at only the bad and feel negative about the experience. I’m sorry if you think that’s naïveté.”

Niall smiled. “You’re strange, Annie McCloud. But I like you.”

“See? One friend already,” she said whimsically.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.