The winter trip   von Ninjagirl
================================================================================
                                       
                                       


The winter trip
Written in 2006 for my Creative Writing class in my American high school. (It
got me 95%, an A.) I decided to upload it, I think the dialogues are still kinda
neat.
The characters are named after two characters of SSX 3 (a Playstation 2
snowboarding game I adore) :D  
Claimer: Plot, characters = mine. Utah isn't.
Enjoy 


Finally, Griff and his family were at the small ski-resort in Utah. The fifteen
year old boy and his older sister would spend every day up in the mountains,
skiing and snowboarding, while their parents would do some culture stuff like
visiting museums and enjoying the time without their kids. They arrived around
noon and a while after that Allegra, Griffs seventeen year old sister, took him
to the store where they rented the equipment, the snowboard for him and the skis
for her. 
And the next day it was finally there: the first day they could go skiing and
snowboarding this winter. It was the first time Allegra, or Ally, was getting
dressed faster than her brother. She could hardly wait for him to get ready. 
"C'mon, Griff! Hurry, I wanna leave," she said excitedly, while her bother put
his warm sweater on. The boy took his gloves from the bed and got the sunglasses
and then, finally, he was ready to go. Their parents were still laying in bed
when the kids told them goodbye.
"Do you have your hat, Griff?" muttered his mother tiredly. He sighed and
grabbed the hat, because he knew his mother wouldn't let him go without it and
actually it was pretty cold outside and he knew better than leaving without
anything warm protecting his ears. Finally, they both were ready to leave the
hotel, after they got their equipment. For it was the first time skiing this
winter Ally had a hard time getting used to the heavy shoes she had to wear and
to carrying her skis and ski-poles around. Even Griff had some problems with his
board but they actually made it into the bus and to the first ski-lift, even
without fighting.
"Okay, do you have money for your ticket, Griff?" asked the girl, searching in
her pockets for her own money.
"Tickets? What tickets?" the boy responded, baffled.
"The tickets for the ski-lift, of course. How do you want to use it without a
ticket, idiot?" his sister answered sharply.
"But I thought Mom would pay for that," Griff said hoarse.
"Well, did she give you any money?" He shook his head slowly. "See, looks like
we have to pay it with our own money," Ally added and pulled out a couple of
bucks. Her brother looked at her, miserably.
"My dearest sister," he started softly. "Could you please, please, please pay
for me? I'll pay it back right when we're back in the hotel, I promise," be
begged. His 'dearest sister' sighed and finally nodded. She quickly bought the
tickets and then handed Griff his one. He stuffed it into his pocket while his
sister already put her skis on. The boy hurried and also stepped into the spot
for his left foot on the board. He made sure she shoe was hooked in and then
followed his sister. Together they passed the little machine checking their
tickets by reading the small magnetic part on the ticket. When it was their turn
to get into the chair lift they stood still, waiting for it to appear behind
them. Griff had no problem getting into the lift. He only had problems with the
other kind of lift, where he had to bring the bar of the t-bar lift between his
legs. That was always hard for snowboarders.
On the chair lift Ally enjoying the view over the snow covered mountain side,
where she saw some skiers moving down the ski piste. She couldn't wait until she
was finally doing the same, swishing down the mountain without any limit, all on
her own. The girl even forgot that she had to take care of her terrible little
brother who bothered her whenever he got the chance to. 
"Stop dreaming, we're almost there," Griff said, poking her into the side.
"Stop it, idiot! I'm not the one that's falling down all the time," she
responded angrily while she was getting ready to leave the chair lift. 
"That ain't my fault, it's so much harder to do that with a snowboard," he
answered. They were almost at the point where they had to get off the lift and
Griff knew it would be embarrassing for him. He learned snowboarding a year ago
and hadn't done it for almost twelve months and back then it was hard for him to
even get out of a chair lift. 
"You always use that as an excuse! It's not the board, you just suck," his
sister said and jumped on to her feet, out of the lift. For a couple of seconds
the boy completely forgot that he had to get out because he was still a little
distracted by his sister's words. Just a moment before it was too late he got to
his feet and tried to get out of the lift but because he was so nervous he
tripped over his own board, fell down and rolled out of the lift, landing right
in front of his sisters feet. She was bursting out laughing while Griff tried to
get up. 
"Do your friends know what it looks like when you tell them you go
snowboarding?" she laughed loudly, holding her stomach. Griff turned to her,
looking angry. "I should tell them that you can't even get out of the lift
without falling over."
"Oh, shut up," the boy yelled, disgruntled. That was the reason he hated being
with his sister. She never stopped teasing him when she found a weak point. 
"Don't you think you better stay here? I know you will tell our parents it was
my fault when you crash into a tree," she went on, grinning widely because she
knew how mad it made her brother.
"I said, stop it!" shouted Griff getting even angrier. 
"Okay, then let's go. But don't start crying when you fall down again,
baby-boy." 
"Cut it out!"
"Cut it off!" she answered, pointing at his long black hair that was almost
falling into his eyes. He knew Ally would say that because that has been her
response for a while. Allegra said it because her brother and her Mom were
always arguing about his hair. In her mother's opinion girls should have long
and boys short hair. She didn't care about the newest trend for teenage boys to
let their hair grow until you couldn't even see their face anymore. They had an
argument about that almost every morning and the whole family was already sick
of it. 
"Let's just go, okay?" Griff said, hooking the other foot on the board and
starting to glide on the squeaky snow. Allegra followed him slowly, enjoying the
feeling of the snow under her skis and the cold air on her face. This was a
winter trip like she had always wanted it. Four years ago she and her brother
had the idea of going on a ski trip and they begged their parents to do that one
winter. It didn't take them a long time, because their parents loved snow as
much as they did. The kids both enjoyed skiing, the trip was better than they
even imagined it. And the following years they always went to the same little
ski-resort in Utah, the kids didn't even have to beg on their parents. For the
adults it was a nice change that their children were in complete agreement about
something and during these days they didn't fight as much as at home. And the
last year Griff had started to learn snowboarding. Even though the ski lifts
were his weak points he was not too bad for a beginner and he had decided to
keep it up.
On the first slopes Ally had to get used to the skis and the environment, but
she soon got the hang of it again. She and her brother started rushing, trying
to be faster than the other and rarely watching out for other people. Luckily
nobody was crossing their way so they continued their race all the way down
until after the last few meters the girl first touched the ticket machines. She
raised her arms in a winner pose and laughed loudly. 
"I WON!!" she screamed excitedly but her brother already passed her and went
into the lift again, ignoring Ally completely. "Oh, c'mon, Griff! You could at
least congratulate me." The boy mumbled something and she was sure it was not a
congratulation because she knew that he just hated to lose. But that's life -
sometimes you're a winner and sometimes you have to congratulate the winner.
Ally followed her brother deciding to just drop this subject and forget about
it. When they sat on the chairlift Griff pulled out a small blue lighter and
started playing with it. "Put that away, idiot! You'll burn yourself up one
day," the blonde girl exclaimed but her brother just grinned at her. He loved
provoking her and he knew that she was scared of him burning something. 
Five hours later Ally could hardly feel her feet. They went numb from the cold
although she wore those big ski shoes, her hands also felt frozen to death in
the gloves. But it was still such a great feeling dashing down in the highest
speed with snow flying up behind her. Griff didn't actually fall too much on
that day, he managed most of the t-bar lifts and started speeding down the
mountains just like his sister. When they were on a t-bar lift again his sister
examined him unsuspiciously. The boy seemed to be cold, too, he was rubbing his
hands together and was shivering a little. The blonde knew they wouldn't stay
very long.
"Hey, Griff, let's go up to the cool piste and take the hidden route around the
mountain, okay?" Allegra demanded, looking bright. Her brother raised his
eyebrow and looked at her.
"Hidden route? You mean one of your 'short cuts'? When you just leave the track,
which actually is illegal," Griff said doubtfully. He knew that his sister had
the habit to get them both into trouble but on the other hand he was feeling so
great today and he felt the adrenaline rushing through his veins that he thought
it might be fun to do a little forbidden stuff. 
"Come on, don't be a coward. No one will know it and we won't get lost," Ally
pleaded with him until he finally nodded in agreement. So they went out of the
lift - without falling down - and took another one, a chair lift this time that
led to what was almost the top of the mountain. Up there they had the most
beautiful view over the winter landscape. The sunlight was already fading a
little and there were a couple of dark clouds in the sky. The kids left the ski
lift and went down the slope for just a few seconds. There was a red barrier on
the border of the piste and when Ally and her brother were sure there was nobody
around watching them they snuck through the barrier and into the forbidden area.
The girl grinned widely and headed down a little. She felt the deep snow under
her skis and she knew it would be really hard to get up once she fell down here.
But that was the thrilling part of it and actually it was a lot more fun to ski
in really deep snow. With Griff being close on her heels she went further away
from the ski piste. They reached a deep forest and after a couple of seconds it
started snowing but Allegra kept moving on. They were almost on the other side
of the mountain where no slopes or anything were and they couldn't even see any
town or lights down there. The falling snow was so thick that sometimes Griff
lost sight of his sister and hurried after her until he saw her red jacket
again. Finally they left the forest and were all alone in the deep snow. 
"Griff, you go ahead. I don't wanna leave you here. In case you fall and break
your neck it's better when I'm behind you," Ally yelled because she was not sure
whether he could hear her over the soughing wind. Her brother nodded and
cautiously started to glide. When he felt safe he set off to go further down,
starting to go faster. The blonde made sure she could see her brother and dashed
through the snow behind him. They went on for a couple of minutes, not knowing
where they were going to, just enjoying the snow and the fun. Then Griff just
thought he could try those cool jumps he saw on TV. There were some rocks on the
mountain, some of them hidden under the snow and some of them visible. The boy
decided to jump down from one of these and before his sister knew what was
happening he was in the air already. It was a pretty high jump and it didn't
even look bad but Griff hadn't seen the rocks a little further down. Actually he
saw them about a second before he landed on them and he didn't even have the
time to scream. Instead of him, his sister screamed in horror and she stopped
skiing immediately, then pushed her ski poles into the deep snow to get to her
brother. 
"GRIFF!! Are you okay?! Griff, can you hear me?!" she went on yelling until she
reached him. Hectically Allegra stepped out of the skis and the first moment she
sank into the snow until everything under her waist was covered. She didn't
notice. The only thing she knew was that she had to get to her brother and she
was really scared about him. What if he was hurt? What if he really broke his
neck? Would there be help? Would someone come quick enough to rescue him? These
questions shot through her mind and the one thing she knew for sure was: it was
all her fault. She had had that stupid idea of trespassing. If only she were the
one that was hurt. When she reached her brother she sat down beside him on the
rock. The girl nervously shook her brothers shoulders and sighed relieved when
she heard an annoyed moan from the boy. She hugged him tight and then unfastened
his snowboard and sat him up. Griff slowly opened his eyes and blinked a couple
of times. Then he seemed to realize where he was.
"Oh wow... Did I really do this? Did I jump? What did it look like?" he asked
excited. Ally first stared at him and then slapped him so hard that his head was
thrown to one side.
"You stupid idiot! When will you learn to not risk everything! You should first
think about your actions! You could have died here and there is no help around."
The boy stared at his sister. He thought about telling her that actually she was
the one with the stupid idea of leaving the piste but it might not be the right
moment for a fight because right in that moment he felt a sharp pain in his leg.
Griff tried to move it but couldn't because he felt such a stabbing pain. "What
is it, Griff? Are you really hurt?" Ally asked anxiously. He just nodded and
stared at her, not knowing what to do. They were all alone and the sun was
setting. The blonde girl pulled out her cell phone but cried out in desperation
because it was out of service. She couldn't leave her brother there and she
actually wasn't even sure whether she could find her way back through the
forest. 
"What are we gonna do, Ally?" her brother whispered. She stared at her hands
feeling the numbness. She had no idea what to do. 
An hour later they were still on the same spot. Allegra had had an idea which
might be the reason they weren't frozen to death yet. She had told her brother
to get his lighter out and then she took his snowboard and her skis and hit them
on the rocks until they broke into smaller pieces which she then had burned. All
that had taken her about half an hour but now they had a fire burning in front
of them. On one hand it kept them warm and on the other hand it might be seen by
some people or at least by a helicopter or something. But the girl was still
anxious for her brother. His lips were turning blue and his pain got even worse.

Another hour later they still sat in front of the fire. Ally had thrown her hat
and gloves into the flames to keep them burning. It was so dark that she
couldn't see more than what the light of the fire fell on. The blonde girl was
looking through all of her pockets. She found a granola bar and gave it to her
brother while she was going on searching for some useful stuff. She found her
cell phone again and stared at it, stunned. 'One new message,' it said on the
display. With a sudden hecticness she read the message. It was from their
parents, asking where they were. She could hardly move her finger but managed to
type a quick answer saying that they were stuck on the other side of the
mountain, that Griff was hurt and that the adults shall send a rescue as fast as
possible. When she tried to send the message an 'Error'-sign showed up but she
kept trying and after a couple of times it finally worked. Ally sighed and
hugged her brother in relief. 
"Griff, they'll send help! Help is coming, they're gonna rescue us!" she cried
out, sobbing on his shoulder but the boy didn't answer. He had his eyes closed
and his mouth was half opened, the blue lips trembling. "Griff? Hey little
brother, don't do that to me! Not right now! Oh please, Mom, send them
quick..."
Ten minutes later the girl heard a helicopter and she jumped to her feet not
even noticing the pain of her numb limbs. The joy was so much bigger. It took
the mountain rescue service people a while until they had brother and sister in
the helicopter but then they could finally take off. Allegra was crying all the
way home, without having an actual reason because her brother was awake again
and he thanked her in a weak voice. Back in their hotel the ambulance brought
Griff into the hospital and Allegra and her parents went with him. He only had
to spend a couple of hours there. The doctors diagnosed a broken leg and they
forbid him from snowboarding for the rest of the winter. 
"Allegra, Griff, how could you do that? You know that you should never leave the
piste and now you saw what might happen," their mother yelled back home. The
kids just nodded without saying anything. They knew: the next time they left the
track they would not go that far and would not jump on any rocks. But
trespassing was still a lot of fun.

Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)