Lightning slowly woke up, opening her eyes and rubbing them. Then she stopped, looking around and realizing this was not her bedroom. She had no idea where she was, but it looked like a forest…and it was snowing.

Then the memories rushed back to her. She had just been in a train crash! She was going to the bathroom…no, she was talking to Frosty and Minty. Then there was a screeching noise, lots of screaming, pain, and then darkness. She couldn’t remember anything between that moment and now.

Slowly, she sat up, wincing as she did. She was sore everywhere, but she needed to look around and find…oh, no. She gasped and got to her feet as quickly as she possibly could, looking around quickly. Her dad…where was he? And everyone else who had been on the train? And the train? It looked like she had just been dropped in the forest somehow.

As she started walking, she winced at the sharp pain that it caused. Not that it was the worst of her concerns, though. She ignored it as best she could, as she had quite a high pain tolerance, and trudged through the snowy forest. She needed to find some way out of this now.

After a few minutes of walking, she still hadn’t found anything or anyone. At this point, she had no idea if her dad was alright or even alive for that matter. Thinking back to the last words they had exchanged, she cringed. It was hardly a conversation at all, as she had been ignoring every word he said. Lightning took a deep breath, not allowing herself to think of the worst.

She walked for at least 15 more minutes, the pain in her ankle starting to make her feel dizzy, and no one had come along yet. All she could do now was keep looking. She was a strong and determined girl, and she would get out of here.

“Hello? Is someone over there?”

Lightning heard a voice in the distance, but couldn’t tell which direction. She looked around quickly before seeing someone sitting on the ground against a tree, just to her left. She took a deep breath and walked over to them, not thinking about who it could be. As she got closer, her heart sank. No…not her.

Minty was sat at the edge of a tree, her face stained with tears. She looked up at Lightning desperately, then got to her feet and rushed over. Lightning was surprised when Minty pulled her into a tight hug, crying.

“I- I didn’t see anyone else,” Minty sobbed. “I thought everyone else on the train…oh, my gosh, I thought I was the only one who made it.” Minty pulled away, noticing how unimpressed Lightning looked. “Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Lightning said. “I didn’t think I would ever say this again, but I’m kind of glad to see you, too. Have you seen anyone else?”

“No, you’re the first person I’ve found,” Minty replied nervously. “I was with you in that car with Frosty, just before the crash.”

“Oh yeah, I remember,” Lightning said, thinking about the fight. She glanced around for a moment, then looked into Minty’s eyes. No matter what happened between them, they were in the same situation, just 2 girls who wanted to get home and see their families. “Are you…okay?” Lightning finally asked.

“I’m a little sore, but nothing else terrible,” Minty responded. “But now I’m really worried about Frosty.”

Despite her anger towards Frosty, Lightning felt her anxiety raising at the thought of something happening to her. “Hey, don’t worry, we’re going to find her. She’s got to be around somewhere.”

Minty nodded, still shaking quite a bit. “Well, since I found you and we were in the same train car, she should be here too.”

The girls began walking. Lightning had almost forgotten about her injured ankle until she started walking again. She winced in pain, and Minty looked at her with concern.

“Are you alright?” Minty asked.

“Yeah, I think it’s just a sprain,” Lightning replied. She had grown up playing sports and had her fair share of injuries, so she could usually tell the difference. They continued walking for about 5 minutes, then heard a voice.

“Hello?”

Both girls recognized the voice. Minty looked to where it had come from and sighed in relief as Frosty ran up to hug her tightly. Lightning stood off to the side, waiting for them and gazing at the ground. They finally pulled apart.

“It’s okay Minty,” Frosty reassured her in her usual comforting tone. She looked at Lightning. “Um…hey.”

“Have you seen the train?” Lightning asked.

“Um…no, I haven’t seen it,” Frosty replied. “Never even saw any train tracks. Do you still have your phone?”

Minty felt around in her pockets, and Lightning reached in hers too, then remembering she left her phone on the table where she had been sitting. Instead, she felt something else and pulled it out. It was the necklace she had gotten on the train. She blinked a few times, shoving it back in, not wanting to think about what happened.

“Must have gotten lost it in the crash somewhere,” Lightning finally told them. “We can walk a little ways and see if we can find anything. A little pain is worth it to get out of here.”

Minty nodded slowly, still holding onto Frosty’s hand tightly as they continued walking the same way they were going. The forest never seemed to end, and the trees covering the small path they found made it darker and therefore colder. The train had been going through the forest for at least 15 minutes before the crash, so they were far from any civilization.

Lightning occasionally glanced over at her former friends, remembering all the good times they had together. If only they weren’t so dramatic, the friendship didn’t have to end like it did. But no matter, they needed each other right now. She heard a sniffle and turned to Minty, who was crying again. Frosty still looked quite shaken up, and too disturbed to notice.

“Don’t…don’t cry,” Lightning told Minty. “You, uh…shouldn’t be doing that.”

Minty smiled slightly. Lightning hadn’t had much experience comforting anyone before, but she was trying her best.

“I told you already,” she continued. “We’re going to find them.”

“How are you so…positive?” Minty asked quietly, shivering a bit and wiping a tear from her eyes. “Aren’t you even a little worried that…everyone else who was on the train…”

“Hey, we can’t think that way,” Lightning replied. “We’ll get through this. It’s called positivity, and you should try it sometime.” As they continued slowly walking through the snow, it seemed that she was a little bit warmer. The movement was definitely helping, even if it was only a small amount.

After another 10 minutes, Frosty had stopped walking and propped herself against a tree, holding a hand to her head.

Minty stopped and walked over to her, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“I just need to take a little break,” Frosty said, making her way to sitting on a log nearby. She took a deep breath as Minty sat next to her. Lightning would have kept going if it were just her, but it didn’t feel right to leave these girls. She sat down on the opposite end of the log, actually needing a break herself. The pain in her ankle was getting worse, and she was starting to think something was broken after all.

There was a long pause as the girls glanced around at the trees, but not directly at each other.

After a while, Minty spoke up. “You guys, it can’t be this way. Look at me.” The others turned to look at her as she continued. “Who knows how long we’re gonna be out here for? I’m scared to death, I mean, think about what could happen to us. We have to work together now, more than ever, and we can’t be bitter and miserable to each other the whole time.”

“Says who?” Lightning went back to playing with her gloves casually.

“Says me!” Minty said, quite loudly for her. “I hate conflict, and if you care about me, then don’t do this.”

“I care about you,” Frosty smiled, then turned serious again. “But since you have different interests than Lightning, she probably doesn’t care what you think.”

“Don’t even start with me,” Lightning began, but Minty stopped her.

“Listen,” Minty told them. “This is already a terrible situation. We don’t need to make it any harder. Can we just get along until we get back home? Then you don’t have to talk to each other ever again.”

Frosty took a deep breath, then moved a little closer to Lightning. “She’s kind of right. We’re wasting time and energy by fighting with each other. I’m gonna be the mature one.” She reached her hand out.

“Alright, if you can stop being dramatic,” Lightning took her hand. “I’ll forgive you, but only until we get out of here.”

“Thank you,” Minty said.

Finally, Lightning had a thought. “What time do you think it is?” she asked, still not looking over to the others.

“Well, the sun looks like it’s got about 2 hours until it sets,” Frosty said, pointing to the sky. “Sunset in the winter would probably be around 5:30, but there’s still some light for about an hour after that.”

“So, it’s about 3:30,” Lightning said.

“Seems like it,” Frosty replied.

Lightning laughed. “That’s all I really wanted to know, but alright. You up for walking again?”

“I think I’m good to keep going,” Frosty responded, getting up.

Lightning stood up as well, trying to dust the snow off her clothes.

“That’s not going to do any good, you know,” Frosty said. “You’re all wet from where you’ve been sitting in the snow.”

“Oh, shut up.”

~.~.~.~.~.~

It had been 2 hours now since the girls started walking, and they still hadn’t found any sign of anything. The sun was going down quickly, and Frosty had decided that they needed to start a fire if they wanted to survive the night without freezing to death. And the next day, they would keep looking. They gathered up leaves and branches, anything that could burn, and eventually managed to light a fire.

“At least this will warm us up,” Minty said. “Hopefully someone will see the smoke and be able to find us.”

“If we had something to use, we could fan the smoke so people could see it above all these trees,” Lightning said, looking around.

Frosty looked at her. “That’s actually a great idea, but there’s nothing around.” She sat down on the opposite side of the fire, still feeling very weak. It was now that she realized she hadn’t had anything to eat since before she left home. That was about 6 hours ago, and she wasn’t going to eat anything now. The only option would be snow, and it was probably polluted.

They had a long night ahead, at least 12 hours until sunrise. Frosty glanced over and noticed that Lightning looked extremely tired, and like she was about to fall asleep.

“Hey, you can’t fall asleep,” Frosty said, moving closer to her. “If you fall asleep in this cold, you might never wake up again.”

“It’s too freaking cold to sleep anyways,” Lightning replied, putting her hands over the fire. “It’s got to be colder than normal.”

“I think it is,” Minty said. “Plus, we’re out in the forest in the snow. But at least we have hats, scarves, and warm boots on.”

Lightning smiled at her. “So, you can think positive.”

“Guess so,” Minty said.

It was quiet for a moment before Lightning spoke up. “You know, maybe we should talk about something, or play a game? It would take our minds off the cold, and keep us awake.”

“Okay, fine,” Frosty nodded. “Let’s talk.”

⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐⚡⭐

Author's Note

Is anyone still reading this 👀😂