A Blanket of Snow

The snow crunched underneath his feet as he slowly stood up. He looked down at his feet and watched as a soft breeze of wind moved a few snowflakes around, eventually tossing them aside and moved on.

The man did not know how he got here or who he was. But that wasn’t the main thought running through his mind at the moment. Where was he? He hadn’t seen a landscape like this before. The whole world seemed to be covered with snow. His surroundings seemed only to exist out of a few rolling hills, all covered in a blanket of snow. As far as he could see, there were no trees to be found anywhere. There were no signs of any other human presence except his own. He searched for tracks on the ground, hoping to find a lead to who or whatever brought him here. But the snow was untouched in every direction.

Could he have fallen from the sky?

Looking up at the sky he noticed that there weren’t any clouds. The color of the sky itself seemed a little bit off as well. It looked as if the sky was filled with … more snow? Everything was covered with the same strange substance he thought was snow. He squatted down and put his hands in the snow. It felt cold, but not as cold as he remembered it to be. He grabbed some of the snow and held it in his hands. The cold feeling disappeared after a few seconds as he started to realize he didn’t feel the cold air as well. He wasn’t wearing a jacket and was standing outside in a snow-covered landscape. Shouldn’t he be freezing by now? He stared at the ball of snow in his hands. He was waiting until it would start to melt, but it didn’t. He started to dig in the snow. After he had dug a hole that was about two feet deep, the snow got so compact he couldn’t dig any deeper. He sighed disappointed. He had hoped to find some traces of grass or rocks. Or anything else that could tell him where he was. He looked closer at the snow while trying to figure out if he was missing something when a sudden gust of wind threw him off balance.

WHO ARE YOU?

There was no sound accept the wind. The words seem to appear out of nowhere in his mind.

“Hello? Is anybody there?” He shouted as he got back up. The wind was gone and there was no answer. He turned around while he searched for any signs of life.

A small ray of light caught his attention. A little further ahead a ray of sunshine appeared to break through the carpet of snow. The odd thing about it was that the ray of sunshine seemed to be coming from underneath the surface and not from above.

He started to walk towards the ray of light. His feet sank a few inches in the snow with every step. He wondered if he would be able to feel the warmth of the sun. He reminded himself that something like that was not possible. Whatever that light was, it couldn’t be a ray of sunlight. Sunlight should come from above him. But as he looked up again, there still wasn’t anything else to see except snow.

The change of the underground was subtle, but he could feel it as soon as he took another step. He looked down and saw something shining underneath his feet. A gentle breeze blew some of the snow away. Underneath a thin blanket of snow now laid a layer of ice.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

The words appeared again his mind. They sounded threatening. As if he was trespassing at someone’s property.

“Where are you!” He yelled back in anger. But again, the mysterious voice did not answer. He shoved the snow underneath his feet aside and used more force than necessary. He was getting angry and afraid. He sat down on his knees and pushed the snow around him away in an attempt to take his mind of his current situation. Who was watching him? And why was he being watched? How was someone able to hide in a frozen and deserted landscape like this? Maybe he could hide himself in the snow too?

He dismissed that thought almost immediately. There was no chance to stay hidden in a place like this. Whoever was speaking to him, must be using a form of communication that was unknown to him. After he had cleared the snow around him, he could now see through the icy surface of what appeared to be a river or maybe even a lake. It was dark underneath the ice, so he couldn’t tell how deep the river or lake was at this point. The layer of ice seemed thin, but it was able to hold his weight so it must be thicker than he imagined it to be. A few dots of light flickered vaguely below him, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Maybe they were diamonds and did he stumble upon an ancient hidden treasure. He started to shove more snow aside while making his way towards the ray of light. The surface beneath the ice got brighter with every step and suddenly he saw something under the ice move up ahead.

He started to chase the mysterious creature under the ice and forgot about the ray of light or the voice in his head for a few moments. He felt the wind picking up speed again but decided to ignore it and kept his focus on the creature underneath the ice. He was only able to catch a few glimpses, but it didn’t look any fish he had ever seen before. After a few minutes the snow on the ice disappeared and he could see clearly through the icy surface.

Beneath him was a green valley with mountains and trees. Once he was convinced that he wasn’t imagining things, he could even see small houses on the edge of a tree line. The mysterious creature that he had been chasing passed underneath him. It wasn’t a fish. It was a bird.

He jumped up while he tried to make sense of the scenery underneath the ice. The ray of light was indeed sunlight: it pierced through some clouds a little further away. It shined through the icy surface and had melted the snow in front of him. The green valley beneath the ice was waking up as the sun casted her first rays of the day.

A sudden gust of wind knocked him of his feet again and pushed him towards the center of the ray of light. A bunch of cracks immediately appeared in the ice underneath him. The cracks widened. As he tried to get away from the center, the wind kept pushing him back.

He looked at the direction where he came from and watched with horror how a gigantic snowstorm was circling around him.

He got up a last time and carefully took a few steps towards the snowstorm. With every step new cracks appeared in the ice.

“What is happening?” He shouted in fear.

YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE!

The words appeared in his mind again. They were shouting at him in anger.

He recognized his own voice. A final gust of wind knocked him off his feet one last time.