The Great Avalanche

By Emily Joubert Da Gama

I typically cannot find sleep at night. My dreams keep me awake, and they never seem to last long. But tonight was different….

I was sleeping soundly, dreaming the most beautiful dream. Dreaming of light snowfall, tumbling down my face, tickling my cheeks. Everything seemed so peaceful.

Out of nowhere, I felt a cold hand shaking my arm. I could vaguely hear a voice, calling my name in the distance. It seemed far, but real. Was I still dreaming?

It grew louder and clearer, it was trembling now, it was Pa.

“Kandis, wake up, wake up.”.

My eyes opened instantly, and there was Pa, kneeling over my bed, urging me to wake up. I was baffled. What was the rush? I reluctantly stood up and slipped on the coat and shoes Pa handed me.

“Kandis, hurry.”.

Pa gripped my hand and ushered me down the stairs. Half-asleep, I stumbled my way down. I could sense Pa’s panic. I knew something was terribly wrong.

We reached downstairs, Pa swung open the door. This is when I realised the danger that was ahead of us. A brilliant, buldozing avalanche, bolting down the mountain’s slope. It was a power-hungry one, so fierce, yet so distant. I shivered under my coat.

We stepped outside and I felt the ground quake beneath my feet, violently. Thump. Thump. Thump. I froze, terrified. I closed my eyes tight, pinching myself multiple times. Could this be real?

Pa and I dashed out into the bitter wind. There were countless snowflakes landing on us, chilling our bones. Villagers were running about everywhere, waving their hands in the air and crying out their dying prayers.

I couldn’t follow Pa’s pace. I was shaking, it was freezing. I was overwhelmed with fear. All at once, I could see the great avalanche roaring pass the pine trees, and knocking over the first house of our village. This wasn’t a dream, but a nightmare.

Horses from the stable were being offered to families. I wished I was a horse. I would gallop miles away with Pa. My hooves would go faster than the shot of a dart, and we’d make it to the other side, where safety was. I yearned to be on that side. But I knew I wasn’t the only one.

I remember, there was a young mother crying erratically with a pale baby in her arms, white as a ghost. The tears were continuously dripping from her eyes. She was searching for a horse. For her ill child and herself.

At that moment, I told myself, this could be the last place I stand. On the snow, shivering and weak, until it would come. Death. I had never thought of it before. Unexpectedly, I just stayed calm, for I didn’t want my last second to end in tribulation. I wanted to leave this Earth fearless and brave. Just how Mama did. So I closed my eyes. I held my head up at the sky. Snow was falling from above, tumbling on my face again. I smiled. I could hear Pa bicker with the erratic mother. She kept bawling at him. The next thing I knew, I woke up on the ground.

It felt like a second later. I got up. I hadn’t a hint of my whereabouts or where Pa was. All I knew was that I was somewhere far from the avalanche. Everything was calm like a hushed, balmy heaven, as if the whole world had ceased its existence. I began shouting for Pa, my voice echoed passed the birch trees.

“PA!”.

No answer. I kept asking myself a lot of questions, but these two were vivid in the back of my mind.

Could I be dead? Was this heaven?