Hidden in the Snow

We hop off the ski lift, then trudge across the snow to come to a stop at the edge of the slope. We fall silent as we stare into the distance, and the other skiers around us seem to do the same. The air becomes very still and quiet as we collectively fall captive to the magical trance. The great, white Himalayan mountains stretch out before us, protruding from the earth and reaching for the sky, its snowy caps glittering golden underneath the suns rays and its peaks piercing through low wispy clouds. Breathing in this crisp air feels like a drug. I turn to Sophia. She's already staring up at me, a wide and beautiful smile across her face. I wrap one arm around her waist as I kiss her.

When I pull away, her smile disappears as she stares over my shoulder. "Woah..." She mutters.

I turn around following her eye line, and see an army of men a little way in the distance. They're heading towards the snowy forest, some with shotguns slung over their shoulder. "What's going on there?" I say, half to myself.

"Apparently someone saw something out there," says a strangers voice with a strong German accent.

Sophia and I turn to him. "Like what?" I ask the skier.

"People are saying it was something like a large bear, earlier I even came across a very shaken up young woman claiming she'd seen a yeti. Quite a lot of deer carcases have been found in that forest too."

"There's a bear out there?" Sophia says softly.

"Don't worry," I say, gently nudging her. "Those guys are probably sorting it out. And I bet it's just a rumour."

The man shrugs. "I don't know. Bears aren't uncommon around here. That lady was screaming."

Sophia and I share a glance.

"Sorry, I'm not trying to scare you," the man chuckles. "She'd probably lost it. One thing I can reassure you is that whatever's out there isn't the abominable snowman."

"Yeah," I chuckle nervously back. "Are you from around here?"

He nods. "Lived here for about a year now. I assume you folks aren't?"

"We're from England, we're here on holiday," Sophia says.

"Mm, well you definitely picked the right spot to come. Beautiful here isn't it? And don't worry about the whole bear thing, you two just enjoy yourselves, ay?"

"We will, thank you."

From the sheer size of the slope we ski down, I don't expect to pick up speed quite so fast.

Sophia glides effortlessly beside me and cheers with delight, and I grip my ski poles as I devote too much of my attention to simply staying on my feet. The cold air bites at the skin on my face as our skis cut effortlessly through the powdery snow, flying with our feet on the ground.

"This is amazing!" She cries.

"Yeah," I call back, trying to contain the fear in my voice. Perhaps I should have listened a little closer to the instructor. I'm going too fast and I don't know how to slow down, eventually causing Sophia to disappear from my peripheral vision. She shouts at me from behind, but I can't make out what she said over the wind whistling in my ears. And now I'm going so fast I can barely control the direction I'm going in, and my panic isn't helping. I end up veering off to my left, plummeting at great speed towards the forest on one side of the slope, admittedly screaming in terror the whole way. I miss a tree by inches but feel a branch cut my face, and several more trees whiz past me in a blur. Before I know it I've come ploughing directly into a hard, white object.

I press a hand to my forehead and groan. My head throbs and the wind has been knocked straight out of me. I open my eyes, disoriented as I blink at the bright sunlight and watch snowy treetops spin in circles. My hands feel for the ground, and my trembling arms just about manage to sit me upright. There's a large, peculiar shaped mound of snow in front of me. I rub my eyes to adjust my hazy vision and look again. The mound of snow is not snow. It has legs. And arms. And a face. And it is definitely not a damn bear. I yelp, clawing at the ground as I scramble to my feet, but the skis still strapped to my boots cause me to trip and quickly fall back down after a desperate attempt of an escape. Lying sprawled across the snow and breathing heavily, I take a quick glimpse up at the large thing. The creature that stands before me is blanketed in thick, white fur, the only parts of its body without hair and bearing greyish skin being its ape-like hands and feet which brandish long claws. Its face, resembling that of an ape also, holds two beady blue specs for eyes that gleam and fixate down onto mine. I take a quick breath before I get up and run as fast as I can, which isn't very. Electricity courses through my veins, and I don't even bother to look back at my ski poles still abandoned at the feet of the monster. I hear it let out a growl from behind me, and I sound crazy to say that it almost sounded as if it said something. I hear it again, uttering in a gruff, low voice, this time with more distinction. "Please." I shoot a glance over my shoulder. It isn't chasing after me. It hasn't even moved from where I'd left it. My eyes incapable of leaving its own, gleaming in the distance, I find myself slowing until I come to a stop. I turn to face it. My breath escapes my lips in forms of swirling white clouds as I stand there panting, my heart pounding violently threatening to break through my ribs. The creature speaks again in a voice I have to strain to understand. "Please. Do not... tell man."

"What?"

"Do not tell man," it repeats, "Do not tell man. Please."

"What the hell are you?" I mutter as I stare at its monstrous form, racked with repulsion and terror.

"Do not tell man."

Curiosity conquering fear, I begin to take slow paces back towards it. "What do you mean? What man?"

"Bad man." He presses a claw to his chest. "Man... want hurt me."

"Oh, you mean the men with the shotguns?"

His quizzical expression tells me he doesn't understand.

I make a gun with my hand, aiming at it. "Bang. Gun."

The creature nods repetitively. "Yes, yes, gun, yes. Do not tell gun man. Gun man want hurt me."

Lessening the distance between us, only now do I realise its body is trembling all over. Once I get so close that I'm only a few feet away from it, it takes a step back. "Please," it softly growls.

I dig my nails into my palm and feel pain. I'm not dreaming. I chuckle in astonishment. "No way," I mutter to myself. The yeti exists. This eight-foot monster exists and it's standing right in front of me, and I'm actually communicating with it. And not just that; it's cowering in fear, perhaps it's even more fearful than I am of it. "There's no way..."

The creature stares down upon me, its beady blue eyes wide and unblinking.

"You're scared, aren't you? You don't want to hurt us, do you?" I ask the creature.

It shakes its head. "No, no, me no hurt man."

I glance around through the trees of the forest. Sounds of voices are distant and I see no one. I turn back to the creature. "My name is Michael," I say, pointing to myself with a shaking hand. "Me, Michael."

"Michael..." It mutters in syllables.

I point to it. "You?"

It points to itself, looking puzzled. "Me..."

"You have no name?" I don't know why I would have thought otherwise.

It points to me with one long, extended claw almost the size of my head. "Michael," it repeats. "Michael... good man."

I smile up at it, laughing again. "Yeah, you aren't so bad yourself."

Moving very slow and cautiously, it reaches down and picks up my ski poles before holding them out for me. One has been snapped in two. Taking caution also, I take a few steps closer and swiftly take it from its claws before stepping back. "Thank you," I say.

It nods.

"Listen. You need to go. There are lots of people around here, they'll kill you if they find you. Go far away from here. I won't tell anyone I saw you. Do you understand?"

The yeti takes a moment, processing what I'd said before slowly nodding. "Yes... me go... bad man want hurt me."

"Yes, exactly. You go."

It nods again. "Thank you, thank you. Michael good man, thank you."

For a moment it holds still, staring at me with wonder in its eyes. I stand frozen, and as time passes I begin to question if it's about to jump and attack me and these are the last few seconds I have to live. But suddenly it turns, and runs in great strides into the forest, kicking up powdery snow with each step. In only a few seconds it's blended with the white scenery, and it's gone.

Emerging from the trees I plod across the snow towards the sounds of voices and figures of unidentifiable people all dressed in thick coats and goggles.

"Michael? Michael!"

I look up when I hear Sophia's voice.

"Oh my god there you are!" She rips off her goggles as she rushes over, and holds me by my shoulders and cups my face in her hands when she reaches me. Her skin is warm against mine. "Michael! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I'm... I'm ok, I'm alright."

"Michael you're pale, and look your cheek is cut... what happened?"

"I uhh..." I clear my throat, shake my head and try to think straight. "I ran into a tree, but I'm fine. I'm not hurt."

She lets out a short breath of relief. "If you keep your skis parallel like that you're going to end up going that fast- did you even listen to the instructor? You scared me, I was even starting to think that bear might have got you."

"I know, I just panicked a bit..." I give her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine Sophia, I promise. Let's try and do that again. This time without keeping my skis parallel."

She huffs in annoyance, but a smile creeps up her face. "You're an idiot," she chuckles.

~

Sophia's quiet on the journey back to our hotel. She stares out the window as I drive, thoughtful and unmoving. After ten minutes of silence, I decide to say something. "Something on your mind?"

There's a brief pause before she turns to me. "I know you didn't run into a tree."

I shoot her a quick glance, speechless.

"I'm not stupid. What really happened out there Michael?"

"I..." I trail off and sigh. "You're not going to believe me."

"Try me."

I drum my fingers against the steering wheel, stalling, my mind racing. "Alright... This really is the truth..."

"I'll believe you. I know you're not going to lie to me, tell me."

She stares at me as I pause again, waiting patiently for my answer.

"I saw a yeti out there, Sophia. It exists."

Her eyes grow wide and her mouth opens in shock.

On one side of the road I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of a large white shape, moving quickly through the trees, and I follow it with my eyes as it passes my window. I turn back to the road and smile. "And you know what? He's rather nice."