Page 16 of Snowed In on Valentine's Day

It was the antique clock in the living room. I placed my hand over my thumping heart and attempted to breathe slowly. I’d survived many power outages before. And I’d lived in Minnesota for years, so snowstorms weren’t new to me. But the nothingness felt overwhelming, especially with a blizzard surrounding my home, and it was a struggle to avoid all-out panic as I started slowly walking back to the living room. I could hear my pounding heart and big puffs of air as I tried not to not take shallow breaths. When I nearly tripped over something on the floor—perhaps a slipper—I gripped a wall nearby to steady myself.

Finally, I reached a drawer on an end table where I kept a flashlight. I heaved a loud sigh of relief as it switched on, illuminating the room. I’d never been so thankful for light, and my fingers wrapped around it in a tight embrace.

Placing my other shaky hand on the edge of the sofa, I sat down. I needed to think.

I needed to find some more flashlights and candles, and I had to get access to a weather forecast. The ticking clock began to torment me as I scrambled to get my thoughts together.

“I’ll talk out loud. Yes, then it won’t be so weird.” I almost laughed. “OK, it’s definitely weird, just in a different way.”

My tablet! That didn’t lose charge as quickly as my phone, so it probably still had some battery. I started to rise from the couch before plopping back down. Nope. Even if the tablet had a battery, it wouldn’t have internet. No power meant no Wi-Fi.

I let out a loud groan and then instantly regretted it, realizing my voice sounded really creepy right now.

Well, maybe I could just take a nap. Surely the power will be back on soon, and then I could figure out what to do. I sensed this storm wasn’t going to abate in time for me to drive to the Twin Cities—and who knew, maybe the snow was even worse there—so I’d need to contact Sofia as soon as I had power.Pulling a throw blanket over my body, I stretched out on the sofa, resting my head on a pillow. I loved naps, after all. Might as well take advantage of this downtime, right?

Wrong. Sleep was evasive with only the ticking clock serenading me. I usually slept with a fan, never in silence. I thought about smashing the clock to bits, but maybe absolute silence would be worse than that incessant ticking of time. Still, I sank further into the couch and under the blanket, hoping I could force some rest at the very least.

After some indeterminate amount of time—because I didn’t wear a watch and couldn’t see the clock from this position—I grimaced and sat up. Trying to sleep was pointless. And I was starving. I figured I shouldn’t open the fridge with the power out, as the cold air needed to stay trapped in there as long as possible to avoid all my food spoiling. I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter and leaned against the kitchen island. “At least I have running water,” I whispered after finishing the banana and filling a glass.

But maybe not for long, I realized. If it’s cold enough, without heat, the pipes could freeze.

I was at serious risk of bursting into tears, but so far my eyes were dry as I stared unseeing into the dimly lit room. I’d found a candle but no matches or lighter. Breathing in and out rhythmically, I tried to calm my mind so I could figure out what the heck to do.

It wasn’t long before I realized the shaking wasn’t just emotional; I was cold. The house couldn’t be cooling this fast, could it? I cringed as I remembered writing “replace insulation” on my to-do list months ago.

“From now on, I’m going to do all house repairs ASAP. I swear! Just please, insulation, do me a solid and do your job tonight!”

Now I was talking to an inanimate object, one I couldn’t even see. I sighed, shivering again, and then walked over to the back door to put on a yellow fleece jacket hanging from a hook. Looking out the window again, I decided to bundle up and brave the storm to see if the view was better from another side of the porch. With my boots, hat, and scarf covering as much of my body as possible, I unlocked the door and gripped it hard as I slowly pushed it open.

I needn’t have worried about the wind whipping the door off the hinges, as there was a sizable snow drift barricading the door, and I had to use all my might to push it open even halfway. Attempting to ignore the frigid ice crystals pelting against my face, I strained to look with the flashlight beyond the porch roof to the left toward my garage, seeing nothing but thick, swirling snow as far as my eye could see, which wasn’t very far. The wind was howling, and none of the woods behind my backyard was visible. It wasn’t pitch black but more of a very opaque silvery grey.

I turned and pointed the nearly useless flashlight to the right, seeing more of the same—

Except … what was that? I blinked a few times, trying but failing to wipe my wet lashes with my equally wet gloves.

A tiny faint light shone in the distance. It appeared to be flashing on and off, unless my eyes were deceiving me—which was quite possible.

Wait, that’s …Peter’s house.

Or at least near his house.

My jaw hung open until I tasted snow on my tongue. I kicked some freshly blown snow out of my path back into the house and tugged the door closed again. Panting, I ripped off my wet winter gear and dashed over the couch, wishing I had a fireplace.

Peter probably has a fireplace. Or several, in that massive house that wasfartoo big for just him.

But since it was big, maybe …

No.

No.

But …

No.

I bit my lip and face-planted into the nearest pillow.

The last thing I needed was to deal with that jerk. Even if it was cold and dark and a bit panic-inducing.

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