Daily Writing Challenge: Day 4

Nothing Good Will Come of It

I changed my own rules today, but I decided that since the intent is to be writing , it’s okay. My rules originally said I would write a piece of short fiction or microfiction and post it here every day. But today my brain demanded I work on a bigger story, so who am I to argue?
But I do want to keep posting daily, so here’s a story I wrote a couple years back for a short fiction contest. It didn’t win, or even place, and I honestly don’t remember exactly what the prompt was, but it lead me to an avalanche.

I still need all the suggestions I can get for writing prompts: a setting, a word, whatever you’ve got. Until then, here’s Toby’s story.

Nothing Good Will Come of It

Toby poked the snow in front of him with his grandfather’s cane. Once he was certain the footing was secure, he trudged forward. The snow was wet against his jeans and small clumps slid into his boots. His feet were cold and he was tired, but his family was depending on him.

“Follow the tree line, down the mountain to the road. You’ll probably find someone on the road, but if not, keep going down the road into town.”

He repeated Momma’s instructions over and over in his head to remember what he was supposed to do. No one else in the car was small enough to get out the window after the avalanche pushed the car off the road and Daddy was still sleeping against the steering wheel with blood on his forehead.

Momma and Grandpa had argued for a couple minutes before they decided to send him off to find help.

“He’s too young,” Grandpa said firmly, “and what if…”

“What if, nothing.” Momma replied. “We tried the OnStar and it’s not reaching anyone. There’s too much snow covering the antennae. Jack needs medical attention and we can’t get out of this car. Do you have a better idea?”

“Nothing good will come of sending him off like this,” Grandpa said.

Toby was going to prove the mean old man wrong. He was going to save his family.

He trudged on through the snow, heading mostly left and down, then right to go around a deep snow drift and then back to the left again. He sang songs from his favorite cartoons and tried not to think about “what if.” He was pretty sure Grandpa meant, “What if he gets lost and freezes to death?” but that wasn’t happening today. Today, he was finding help and saving Daddy.

Toby wasn’t sure how long he had been walking, but it seemed like forever. His big toe felt burning and cold at the same time and his legs were tired. Snow-caked his clothes and his eyelashes were tiny ice crystals, but he pushed on around another big pile of rocks and snow resting against a tree.

As he turned back in the direction he thought was toward the road, he sniffled and rubbed the snow out of his eyes. Was that a cabin? And smoke?

Toby cried out for help and stumbled toward the cabin. A tall woman dressed in dark green opened the door and pulled him inside. The park ranger helped Toby out of his wet coat and boots while he told her about the accident. She wrapped him in a sleeping bag and sat him by the fire.

“I’ll radio in and send someone out to find your folks. We may have to wait until tomorrow to get you back to them. I came in on skis. We’ll have to see if the rescue team can get a snowmobile up here during daylight tomorrow,” she explained to Toby.

He drank some warm cocoa and Ranger Nancy double checked to verify that she had no cell service and then pulled the radio off her belt.

“Hank, you there?”

The radio crackled, but through the static Hank’s voice was clear. “Right here, Nan. You got trouble?”

“We had an avalanche on Scutter’s Ridge. Got a boy here in the cabin says his folks were in car that got pushed off the road up there. He’s cold and might lose a toe from the looks of it, but we’re fine until you can get up here tomorrow. Someone needs to find that car though.”

“EMS found it about 20 minutes ago, Nan. Satellite service reported the location. Three adults, all with minor injuries taken to the hospital. Driver has a concussion, and a passenger’s got a broken leg, but that’s the worst of it. But Nan, they didn’t mention a kid.”

***

Toby spent the night in the mountain cabin with the ranger and then the next morning rode down the mountain on the back of Hank’s snowmobile. Hank took him right to the hospital to see the doctor.

Then a nice police man came in and asked his name. “Toby James Brennan” he answered, just like Momma taught him.

“Did you ever have a different name, Toby?” the police man asked as he had the boy roll his fingers in black ink.

“I had a dream once that my name was Brian and I had a little dog named Sparky and a different Mommy, but Momma said it was just a nightmare.”