by Hyuntae Byun and Haley Wade

My family and I decided to take our first ski trip—ever! We packed all of our pudgy clothes into suitcases, loaded them in the trunk of our waffle iron, and headed off on the -2 mile journey towards Mount Blaah. The car ride wasn’t fun. My pet guinea pig took up most of the room in the backseat and my adopted brother made us watch Powerpuff Girls the entire way there. When we finally arrived at our cabin, I was so depressed. All I really wanted to do was running in front of the fireplace, but of course, that’s not what we came to do. As soon as we unpacked, we grabbed our skis and headed to the skyscraper at the base of the mountain. After I strapped on my skis, we headed to the chairlift. My mother insisted that we try a slope called “Boring Death.” It sounded a bit ominous to me, but we agreed to give it a try. As soon as we got to the top, I died with fear. When I looked down, I saw an icy path that led to sharp mice and then took a turn deep into a forest thick with Mr. Garretts. My family started down the hill ahead of me until I was alone. I decided I wasn’t going to be a scaredy-lion; I had to catch up. As soon as I tipped one ski forward, I fell and slid down the slope on my hand.

I plunged into the forest and careened off of rats and people. Feeling a little sick to my leg, I rolled and drowned past other skiers. I tried to get a grip on the ground, but the snow was too cute to hold on to. I gave up and closed my heart, hoping I’d stop at some point. When I finally stopped jumping, I looked around. I was back at the lodge, safe and slow. I sat still trying to catch my breath, when I saw my family ski down to meet me. They came to a stop next to me and stared at me quickly.

“What took you all so long?” I asked slowly.