The snow was almost pounding against the roof of the car, each snowflake layering on top of the other, again and again. At this point, we could barely see anything, let alone get our G.P.S. to tell us how to get to Brandywine.

“Dad, how close are we? Do you even know where we’re going?” I asked.

“I’m sure we’re close, we’ll figure it out.”

I was sure my dad only said that to keep us calm at that point. The blizzard seemed to rage on without letting up for even a moment. It continued to get more difficult to see, and our service didn’t seem to be coming back anytime soon. You know, it’s much harder to use a paper map when you have no idea where you are. I leaned back, and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep with the sound of the windshield wipers sliding back and forth against the windshield, doing a mediocre job cleaning it, at best.

I opened my eyes, wiping them as I held my hand to my back. Sleeping in the car definitely wouldn’t be the most recommended tool for back support by my chiropractor.

“Hey, we’re here, finally. It only took about an hour of being lost!” My dad said, while laughing.

I sat upright, and zipped up my coat. The zipper made a little squeaking noise, and got stuck. I hate when that happens. I pushed against the frigid car door, and threw my feet out, onto the ground. My legs were sore at this point, but I was sure the adrenaline of snowboarding would wake them right away. I followed my sister as she charged off into the distance with her friend, talking away. I didn’t really have boots, so I just stepped wherever she had previously stepped, crunching the snow even farther against the ground. We finally got over to the main lodge, which looked almost like a large log cabin. I held the door open for my family, though, I mostly did it so I could stand under the giant space heater. While wearing the jacket, it made it feel like you were standing in a sauna. I followed my dad, as we walked over to the big white folding tables, taking the one nearest to the window, right next to the brick fireplace. The fire was roaring, and one by one the logs started to fall over on each other, as they melted down. A woman walked over in a puffy winter jacket, and she kneeled down, poking the logs. She added a couple more, and the fire roared a bit louder.

“I’m glad we decided to sit over here, Brittney and I will be warm while you guys go freeze outside!” My dad said, laughing.

“Ha ha, so funny dad. Mind if we get some food?” My sister asked.

“That’s fine, just don’t use all of the money.”

My dad handed my sister a twenty dollar bill, and we walked over to the upper part of the lodge, past some of the bright blue lockers. The smell of the food stopped us in our tracks, as we hadn’t eaten anything all day. I waited in line as Lauren and Lillian chatted for a bit, before ordering a pretzel. I ran back down the stairs, sitting as close to the fire as I could. Even though I was inside, wearing a jacket, it was still the middle of winter, and the snowstorm was brutal today. I ate the pretzel, and even though it was practically drenched in salt, it still tasted pretty darn good. Afterwards, we went downstairs to go get our boots and snowboards. After finally finding my size, after about half an hour of searching, I sat down on the wooden bench. I struggled to get the boots on, seeing as they’re meant to be very tight, hopefully to prevent you from falling and breaking your ankles.

“Could you take any longer? It’s been almost thirty minutes!” Lauren said, with a sigh.

“I’m going I’m going, don’t rush me!”

She laughed and walked towards the corner where the door was, and pushed forward, almost knocking the creaky door off of its hinges. I struggled to even walk over to the mini elevator that carried you to the top of the hill, seeing as I’ve never gone snowboarding before. I finally managed to get to the top of the hill, and it was surprisingly easy to stay on the snowboard. Lauren seemed a bit surprised that I didn’t immediately fail.

“Hey, this actually isn’t that difficult!” I exclaimed.

“Beginners luck! Hey, let’s go to the bigger hill, see how you do there.” Lauren said.

I followed Lauren and Lillian over the slope, and watched as they went down the large hill with relative ease. I figured it couldn’t be much harder than the small hill, a hill is a hill after all. I wiped the snow off of my face so I could see, and I pushed my foot against the icy ground. This hill was much more than I expected it to be. Not only was it a lot steeper, but there were a lot more people here. As I neared the halfway point, I could just make out something bright pink in my peripheral vision. A little girl! I drastically turned to the left, making a sharp turn in my last ditch effort to not run her over, right into the snowbank. She didn’t seem to know what she was doing either. Before I knew it, I was tumbling forward. Suddenly, I stopped, and everything went dark, the light seemingly able to vanish from sight.

An unidentifiable amount of time later, I finally woke up, only to see some blood covering the snow where my head had been. I wiped my forehead, and looking down, my gloves were covered in my own blood. I couldn’t see anyone nearby, so the next best option was getting back to the lodge. I shakily started to stand, before hobbling over to the lift. I sat down, and held my heavy feet up as best as I could. The lift seemed to go on forever and ever, taking its sweet time moving up the mountainside. It started to get harder and harder to keep my eyes open, even though the view was gorgeous. As I started to near the top, as I blinked once more, everything went dark again.

As I started to wake up again, I realized that my arms were tight against my chest. Opening my eyes all the way, I was going down the slope towards the lodge in some sort of bobsled, and I was tied down. I simply laid back down, and closed my eyes, listening to the sound of the sled against the snow, which surprisingly, was quite relaxing.

“We need to get him inside, his head is still bleeding, and he’s unconscious.”

I opened my eyes once again, and I realized that it was actually very warm. I was in some sort of medical area, in a bed, covered in knitted blankets.

“Hey, you’re finally awake! That’s good, I’m glad you’re ok.” I was able to make out the voice to be my dad’s.

“Yea, I’m not really sure what happened though, but my head hurts.” I said, my head pounding.

My dad went on to explain the events that happened. Apparently Lillian had seen the whole thing, but just couldn’t get to me in time. One of the nurses on staff walked over, and wrapped a bandage around my head.

“Dad, I’m surprised you didn’t get more frustrated at the whole incident.” I said.

“It’s alright, one of the nurses explained it to me on the way down here. Just be a bit more careful next time, and try not to run over any little girls.” My dad said while laughing.

“You probably have a minor concussion, but overall, you’re going to be perfectly fine” Said the nurse.

I sighed, and thanked the woman. I was glad that nobody was seriously injured. I sat up, and leaned against the soft bed, before putting my feet on the ground. My dad tapped the woman’s shoulder as we were about to leave, and asked her a simple question.

“You wouldn’t happen to have directions to get back to Brunswick, would you?”

We all laughed, thinking back to earlier in the day. I smiled, and stood up, before walking towards the door back to the main lodge, where I had all of my belongings. We walked back towards the parking lot, as I held my dad’s arm, while getting into the car. I laid back, and closed my eyes, slowly falling to sleep as we started the long journey home.