The Truth-Seekers: Story #282:

SNOWED IN
(A holiday story)

Written by Richard Broadstreet

Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 01:23pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I sat on the couch, watching a news channel. They were speaking of the weather. "There is a storm brewing in southern Wyoming that could cause up to ten inches to fall in western Colorado overnight." the weather forcaster said.
As I watched, I heard a knock at the door. I stood up, walked to the door, and opened it. Jennifer Claycomb stood on the other side of the door. "Hello! Welcome." I told her and we hugged each other tightly. She walked past me and into the living room. I closed the front door.
She took off her heavy, dark green coat. "Man, it sure is getting cold out there." Jennifer commented as I grabbed her coat from her and placed it in the closet. "It's so nice to see you again, Richard."
"It's nice to see you again too. I missed you." I told her. "You told me that you loved me...on the phone."
"I do love you, Richard." Jennifer said to me. She walked up to me and gave me a long, romantic kiss.

DAY ONE: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 8:31am EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I awakened to see a completely dark room. I rubbed some sleep matter out of my eyes and looked over at the alarm clock radio to check the time. The LED numbers told me that it was eight-thirty. The sun was supposed to be up by now.
I got out of bed, picked up a small flashlight, and spread the curtain open with my hands. I turned on the flashlight and shone it at the window to see something white and textured totally covering the window. I touched the window and discovered that it was very cold.
"What the--" I muttered. "Snow?" I turned away from the window, quickly got dressed, putting on a black T-shirt and blue jeans, and went into the living room quickly.
I turned on a lamp and went to the front window quickly. All I saw was snow against the window. I looked back at the lamp. Atleast we have electricity, I thought.
I then ran to the phone, picked it up, and held it to my ear. The phone was dead. There was no dialtone. I sat the phone back down.
I knew what had happened. The blizzard I had heard about yesterday had done this. We were trapped in here, in this house. We were snowed in.

DAY ONE: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 8:52am EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I had woken everyone up and told them to meet me in the living room. I also told all of them of our problem.
"First, we gotta find out what happened." I said to them. All three of them sat on the large couch. I walked to the TV and turned it on. There was a click and the screen lit up. The TV screen was covered with static.
"I told you we should've gotten cable here instead of that digital satellite up there." Scott said.
I turned the TV back off. "Well, we're sure are screwed now, huh?" I said.
"That's pretty much correct." Tabitha replied.
"We can't have Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. We have to save the food. We don't know how long we'll be stuck in here." Jennifer told us.
She was right. We could be trapped in here for days, weeks, or even months.

DAY TWO: Thursday, November 25, 2004 - 1:23pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I stood in front of the stereo, slowing turning the 'tuning' knob, hoping to pick up a radio station. I sighed. "Damn." I muttered and scowled. I turned off the stereo and walked slowly toward the couch. I'll just try again later, I thought.
I thought for a second, turned back toward the TV, and started walking toward it. I picked a DVD disc and placed it in the player/recorder. I began to press 'play' when Tabitha spoke up.
"Why are you going to watch that stupid 'Alien Autopsy' documentary again? You've nearly worn that thing out." Tabitha said.
I turned around to see Scott and Jennifer lying on the two couches, sleeping. Tabitha sat in the single lounge chair in one of the room's corners. "I just like watching it. I don't know why." I replied.
"We have bigger problems to deal with right now, Richard." Tabitha told me. "We have to get out of here."
"We could do that later." I replied, walked to the DVD player, and pressed 'play'.

DAY FOUR: Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 3:39pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I typed the information into the computer for my next UFO book and left the room. I left the UFO study room and entered the living room.
Scott and Tabitha were in thier rooms and Jennifer sat on the couch. I walked to the stereo and turned it on. I began tuning it slowly, trying to find a radio station that I could intercept.
"Any luck yet?" asked Jennifer.
"Nope." I answered. "I'd tell you if I did get lucky." I continued to tune through the virtually endless static hopefully. A few minutes later, I stopped turning the knob and struggled to listen as close as I could. "I think I hear something." I muttered.
"What?" Jennifer asked.
"I hear something." I replied. I turned the knob again a radio station was intercepted. There was still a little static. "I hear something." I repeated.

DAY FOUR: Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 3:52pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

"The most severe snow storm in decades is continuing to stall over southern Colorado and it will not stop snowing. The evecuation procedure went into effect early Wednesday morning. There are still a few people still missing and feared to be dead. More updates later. Now let's return to the--" the DJ's voice ended as I switched off the radio.
"They talked about us." Jennifer said.
"Well, now we know what's caused this." I told her. "Now we've got to find a way out."

DAY SEVEN: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - 5:24pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, Co, USA

As we sat there in the house, the radio played music at a low volume. We were as bored as hell. As we sat there in the near-quietness, I heard a creaking noise. I had been hearing it for the last two days. Was the house going to cave in on us? Only time would give me my answer.
The creaking sound seemed to be coming from in front of me, where the stereo was sitting and where the front window is placed. I sighed lightly. Could it be the window creaking under the pressure of the heavy snow?

DAY EIGHT: Wednesday, December 1, 2004 - 2:48pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

The stereo continued to play at a low volume as we sat, thinking. I noticed that the temperature had dropped significantly in the last ten minutes. "Why is it getting cold in here all of a sudden?" I said.
"We're snowed in, Richard." Scott replied. "It's supposed to be cold."
"No, I mean the heater isn't working anymore." I told them. "If we continue to sit like this, we will probably die of frostbite." I stood up and walked to the thermostat. I could see the temperature dropping on the thermometer. I also saw that the heater switch had been turned off. I switched it back on and the heater came back on. "It was turned off." I explained. "Who's the joker?"
"I didn't do it. I swear." Scott said.
"Me niether." Jennifer said.
"Me three. None of us would do something like that at a time like this." Tabitha told me.
"Then who did it?" I asked and wondered.

DAY ELEVEN: Saturday, December 4, 2004 - 1:13pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

Tabitha and Scott were in their rooms again. Jennifer and I sat on one of the couches alone. The stereo was still on and the volume was turned low. Jennifer and I kissed each other.
She stood up and stood in front of the stereo. She began stretching her muscles. "Ooh, I love this song!" Jennifer said. I stood and walked up next to her as she turned up the volume. The song is "Rockin' around the Christmas tree". It was my favorite Christmas song. "Want to dance?" Jennifer asked.
"No thanks." I replied. Hearing the song reminded me of our Christmas tree. "Do you think I should put up the Christmas tree?" I asked her.
"Of course." she replied. She began singing along with the song and dancing.
I stood there and watched her graceful moves. As I did, I heard that creaking sound again to the right of me. It was coming from the window. It began getting louder and louder. Jennifer stopped dancing and began listening as well.
"What's that?" Jennifer asked.
I turned down the stereo. "It think it's the window." I answered and reached up to open the curtain. Jennifer was standing in front of the window and I stood to the side of it.
Suddenly, one of the nine glass panels in the window cracked, causing a small piece of glass to fall inside. We both jumped back in surprise. Then the window began pushing inward and it shattered toward us. Snow rushed through the broken window and I jumped away. The snow rushed in, knocking over the stereo. Then it hit Jennifer and she fell to the floor. Snow continued to rush in, covering Jennifer's unconcious body. The snow finally stopped coming in, leaving Jennifer out cold underneath.

DAY ELEVEN: Saturday, December 4, 2004 - 1:21pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

"Scott! Tabitha!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. They stumbled out of their rooms and into the living room. They saw the pile of snow and a surprised look covered both of their faces.
"What--" Scott began.
"Jennifer's in there! We've got to save her!" I told them, cutting off Scott. We ran to the snow pile and began digging. I hope that we find her before she dies. "Here she is!" I said to them. Her face stuck out from the pile of snow. We dug until she was totally out. "Get her onto my bed." I told them.
The three of us grabbed her and carried her into my room. We layed her on the bed. "We have to get her warmed up." I told them. The two immediately left the room.
I looked back to see Jennifer lying motionless on the bed. Snow still clung to her clothes. I wiped some of it away with my hand.
"Please Jennifer. Please wake up." I said to her as I felt tears coming on. I sighed.

DAY THIRTEEN: Monday, December 6, 2004 - 2:32pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I stood before the bed where Jennifer layed. She hadn't woken up yet. Jennifer felt warm to the touch. She was breathing now, but still asleep.
As I watched, her eyes opened slowly. "Jennifer?" I said.
She looked up at me. "Richard." she mumbled. She slowly got up off the bed and stood in front of me. We put our arms around each other in a tight hug. "I missed you." she whispered into my ear. "I was watching you."
"What?" I said as we broke our hug. "What did you say?"
"I... I left my body and stayed in the house. We've been watching you for the last two days." Jennifer explained.
"We?" I said. "Who's 'we'?"
"Oh, I meant 'I'." Jennifer told me.
"Don't lie to me, Jennifer." I warned.
"Well,..." Jennifer began and sighed. "...I promised not to tell yet." She paused. "There's another spirit here. I saw him when I was in the spirit world. He told me he turned off the heater. It was meant to be a joke. He's here to help... to help us."
"How?" I asked. "How is a spirit going to help us?"
"He didn't tell me. He said he was going to reveal himself to us soon." Jennifer told me. She walked past me and left the room.

DAY FOURTEEN: Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - 3:51pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

We placed ornaments on the Christmas tree. We had moved the lounge chair in the corner of the room to put it there.
The stereo was destroyed by the small amount of snow that had fallen through the window. We had moved the fallen snow into the bath tub to melt. We still didn't know what to do with the completely broken window. The hole beyond the window where the snow was previously could be used as a way out, if we dig for a while. I had closed the curtains to hide it.
Christmas cheer began to fill my soul, making me almost forget that we were snowed in. I was with my family and friends and I was happy. That was all I truly needed for the holidays.

DAY SEVENTEEN: Friday, December 10, 2004 - 12:43pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

The electricity had went out yesterday. That most likely meant no lit Christmas tree this year. Christmas cheer drained from me as I stared at the dark, plastic tree in the corner of the room.
Tabitha had brought out her boombox and was playing a Christmas CD. "You might want to preserve those batteries, Tabitha." I suggested.
Candles sat all around the room. The burning flames were like the stars in the sky. It made me miss seeing the star-filled sky. The candles were the only light sources we had, except for a few flashlights we had stashed away for a day like today.
Tabitha and Scott sat on one of the couches and Jennifer and I sat on the other. We were more bored than ever before, being trapped in this house like mice in a cage.
We had to find a way out of here. Our lives depended on it.

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 6:47pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

Only three days until Christmas, I thought to myself, and I had no gifts to give. But I had no idea that we would be trapped in here for this long.
I sat in the living room lit up by candles. I was sitting next to Jennifer. The others were in thier rooms. I had a worried expression on my face.
"What's wrong?" she asked, trying to be helpful.
"I don't have any presents to give to you guys. I didn't begin shopping before this happened." I explained.
"That's ok, Richard." she comforted and hugged me. "I have a gift for you. It's in my coat pocket." she said. "But you can't open it until Christmas Eve."
"You do?" I said. I was surprised that she had gone out so early to buy it.
"Yes, I know that you'll enjoy it." she replied with a smile.
"I probably will. But, it just isn't the same without a lit-up Christmas tree." I told her and looked over at it. I sighed, stood up, and left the room.

DAY THIRTY-ONE: Friday, December 24, 2004 - 8:32pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

Jennifer opened the closet door, fished into her coat pocket, and pulled out a rectangular gift. She closed the closet door and walked toward us.
I looked over at the dark Christmas tree. "I wish that tree was lit this year." I mumbled. Jennifer walked up to me and gave me the present.
"I hope you like it. All three of us got it for you." Scott said.
I turned to the tree again and sighed. It just isn't the same, I thought.
"Open it." Tabitha said to me.
I ripped the wrapping off to find a MiniPC. "Wow! This is cool." I said. I took it out of the box and opened it. It was like a smaller laptop computer. It was small enough to fit in a pocket. The screen of the device was moderately large and colored, like a desktop pc. It also had an Internet program that went through air, instead of wires. It was five inches long, three inches wide, and a centimenter thick. "Thank you, guys." I told them.
I turned back to the Christmas tree and frowned. It still wasn't lit. Suddenly, as I watched, the lights on the tree flickered on. My mouth opened in amazement.
"Merry Christmas!" a deep voice said with a laugh.
"That sounds like the guy...um...spirit I told you about, Richard." Jennifer said. We looked around the room in search of the spirit, but he was nowhere to be seen.

DAY THIRTY-TWO: Saturday, December 25, 2004 - 10:48pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I sat in the living room, holding the MiniPC in one hand and typing with the other hand. I was typing a file about the abnormal events that have occured since we've been snowed in. I was going to move the file to my desktop computer when the power comes back on.
The Christmas tree lit up last night and stayed on for about two hours. No other electrical appliances would work during the time that the lights were on. We had a hunch that the spirit we encountered last night was the spirit of Santa Claus because of the voice we heard was reminiscent of Santa's voice.
I closed the file and turned off the MiniPC. Then, I began to sit silently, thinking of a way out.

DAY THIRTY-EIGHT: Friday, December 31, 2004 - 9:23pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

"At least we had a white Christmas." Tabitha joked, speaking of the snow covering our house.
I laughed a little in response. Then, I sighed. "I'm tired of this." I said to the three of them. They watched as I stood up, went to the closet, and took out my heavy coat. I put it on, walked to the broken window, and opened the curtains.
"You're gonna do it?" Scott asked. "You're going to dig out?"
"You said it." I told them. "I'm tired of the crap. I'm getting out of here." I crawled though the window and began digging diagonally upward.

DAY THIRTY-EIGHT: Friday, December 31, 2004 - 11:58pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I was almost out. I could feel it.
"Richard! It's almost the new year!" Jennifer yelled. "Come down here and take a break!"
"I can't!" I replied, while digging. "I'm almost to the top!" I continued to dig upward. Man, this is a lot of snow, I thought.
A few moments later, the snow above fell onto me. I quickly grabbed the edge of the passageway to save myself from falling.
Suddenly, the packed snow that I was holding onto broke off. I quickly grabbed another part and held onto it.
I looked down the passageway that I had created to see a flickering yellow-orange circle of light at the end of a dark tunnel.
I then began climbing upward. I moaned and struggled to get to the surface. I had to get out of here, I thought. And then, I reached the surface.
One frostbitten hand reached up and grabbed the edge of the hole. My other hand reached up and grabbed the edge a few seconds later.
"Happy new year!" I heard my three friends below yelled.
I pulled myself halfway out of the hole and I looked up to see that it was snowing. A smile spread across my face. I was out, I thought, I was finally out.
Suddenly, I lost my hold on the surface and fell back down the hole. I passed out on the way down.

Saturday, January 1, 2005 - 1:12pm EST Hospital - Colorado Springs, CO, USA

I opened my eyes to see a white ceiling. Where was I? Was I dead?
Jennifer walked up to the bed. "He's awake." she said as she looked down at me in the hospital bed. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, as much as I know." I replied. I had a dry, icky taste in my mouth.
"The doctor said that you'll be okay. You fell down a chute that you had created to get out of our snowed-in house. The fire department has found a place for us to stay while they're digging up your house. It should be out soon. The snow is beginning to melt." Jennifer explained.
"That's great." I replied. "I just hope that I could leave here today."
"They said that you can leave in a few hours." Jennifer told me.

Monday, January 3, 2005 - 4:28pm EST 2nd street Pub - Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I drank the rest of my beer and ordered another. There was one empty seat on each side of me.
A bell chimed as another person walked through the door. I turned my head toward the door. I turned it back toward the bar. Out of the corner of my left eye, a man had sat in the stool next to me.
I turned my head to the man to see that it was Zachary Slate. He had come to me before to tell me of the 'game' which the government had created for me to divert me from the truth behind UFOs and ETs.
"Hello, Richard. I heard of the problem that you experienced. It's on TV and in the newspapers. Some are predicting that your next book will be a number one bestseller." Zachary said.
"Really?" I replied, interested.
"Yes. But let's change the subject." Zachary told me. "I've discovered that what you went through was in the last five weeks has been a test of your strength."
"What?" I asked.
"The military and the E.B.E.s--" Zachary began.
"E.B.E.s?" I asked.
"Extraterrestrial Biological Entities. Togather, they created this test for you. Go to your house. You'll see that all the snow is already gone."
"Okay." I told him, stood up, put on my coat, and walked out the door.

Monday, January 3, 2005 - 4:42pm EST Home - near Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

"Oh my god. It is gone." I said to myself. I stood outside my house. The only snow that was seen was about a half inch deep on the ground. There were patches of bare earth showing in some places as well. I noticed that the broken front window seemed to have been replaced with a new one.
"But how--" I began, but stopped. I continued to look around in wonder. A few moments later, I got back into my car and drove off.

Monday, January 3, 2005 - 5:22pm EST Grenwich Hotel - Wagon Wheel Gap, CO, USA

I sat on one of the beds, typing something on my MiniPC about the events that occured.
Zachary's theory was correct. The snow had disappeared in a period of sixty hours. Did it melt or otherwise? It sure wasn't that muddy around my house. We'll probably never know what really happened.
I saved the file, turned off the MiniPC, and closed it. Then I put it in my shirt pocket.

© 1999 Richard Broadstreet