THERE MUST BE A WAY OUT

Four hours passed, I reached for my water bottle, hoping to find the last drops. The bottle was empty. I grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and filled the bottle. Last thing I remembered was that I was hiking up the mountain when the ground fell soft under my feet. I had fallen into a cave.

I was almost twelve feet below the ground level. I opened my eyes, and I was surrounded by darkness. All I could see was a light beam coming from the snow ceiling falling directly on my face. It came from a small opening. Apparently, I made this opening with my body when I fell. And a light reflection came from the necklace my dad gave to me when I was ten.

“I cannot move my right leg. How can I even get out of this?”

“Dear lord, why is no one here? And who that crazy that goes to hike alone in the mountains in Alaska on the week of Thanksgiving?”

“There must be a way out.”

But how? I reached my phone; the battery was dead. All I had left now was my necklace that gave me light inside the cave of darkness.

I was crawling towards the snow wall next to me. “How can I climb up with all this slippery wall?”

The sunlight beams were drifting away from the opening on the snow ceiling. I heard my dad’s voice in my head;” Karen, you are so kind sweetheart, I do not want to leave you alone in this world. You cannot survive in this world by yourself.”

Those were his last words before he died.

A warm drop of tears dripped into my cold cheek down to my lips. I reached out my bottle and I sipped few drops from the melted snow. I had been alone in this world, and I survived. I can do that.

I made a fist and punched the snow wall as hard as I could until I was able to remove a bunch of snow from the wall. I found concrete rocks under the snow. Something I could grab from. I climbed towards the ceiling. It was easier than I thought, even with an injured leg - thanks to the rock-climbing classes. I looked up to see through the cave opening the most beautiful dark blue sky right after sunset. I was almost there. I slipped my injured foot and the blue-sky image faded away.

I fell again to the bottom of the cave. “Damn. Again.” This time I couldn’t feel my entire body. “Help,” I screamed.

My voice was gone and all I had was my tears. I reached my bottle to sip the last drops from the melted snow. I stayed quiet listening to my heart pounding loud out of my chest mixed with someone’s footsteps beat coming from far. It was coming from the ceiling. “Is it true what I am hearing?” I asked myself.

Yes, I cannot see but I could hear. “I am here,” I screamed. He was getting closer. Now I hear his breath. I breath mixed with snort. Then he stopped.

“Thanks god! Please help me god,” I hummed.

I grabbed my dad’s necklace and held it up to reflect the last beams of lights in the cave to see him. I looked up. It looked down on me.

It was a polar bear.