Part Twenty-Five
Day 9–A Very Bad Day–Part 2
I did feel very much alone. The winds increased and it was very cold. I wore my warmest clothes and I felt colder then I could ever remember being in my whole life. The wind seemed to pick me up just enough that my feet seemed not to touch the ground. I tried to shuffle my feet so I could stay on the ground and not be blown away. A few very cold raindrops came down from the dark sky and hit me on the head and made me shiver.
Should I keep going or stop until the storm ended? Not knowing when it would stop I continued. I was almost to my destination. The winds picked up some more and it was getting harder to walk. This was the first time in my life I wished I were not so small because I was afraid to be blown away.
Slowly I continued to walk on as the wind whipped more then before making it more difficult to proceed as it blew against my defenseless body. Then it started to rain heavily. My hair was wet and blowing in my face and eyes making it hard to see as I concentrated just to keep going.
The dirt under my feet turned to mud and it seemed to stick to my boots. Each and every step was like torture. My small feet stuck in the mud each time I tried to lift them to take each tiny step. Now I could not shuffle anymore. The winds made my body go sideways, but the mud was holding me down to the ground or otherwise I might have been blown away. I hoped I would not fall.
Then the rain started to come much harder. It no longer felt like rain because when it hit my body it hurt. It felt like little pellets of ice that hit my hands and face with such force I thought I might be bleeding from it. I thought I was cold before, but now I was even colder with the small frozen pellets hitting me so hard that it stung my exposed skin.
I looked up quickly to see if I could find shelter and there was none in this desolate unforgiving land. The thought of staying by a rock came to mind, but I did not want to stop walking. I was so close to seeing Father that I had to go on. All the wind and rain slowed me down, but at least I was still walking upright even with tremendous effort to do so.
Then suddenly a powerful gust of very cold wind came and knocked me to the ground. Just as I thought I could win this battle I wondered if I really could. I was totally frightened, cold, and wet lying on the ground with no idea what to do. The rain pounded the ice pelts deeply into my back where it hit me with such strength it was hard to breathe.
The storm brought not only cold, but pain as well that kept me down in the mud so I could not rise to my feet. Then the wind pushed me down deeper into the mud making seemly impossible for me to move. It was all I could do to lean on my elbows as they sank deep into the mud to keep from being smothered.
I knew I had to keep my head up and out of the mud. The storm showed no signs of letting up. The ice pelts were hurting me and mud was so cold. I tried once more to get up to no avail. There I was in the middle of the dirt trail getting pounded with ice and rain covered in cold mud. I had no idea what to do, but I knew I had to get up or the mud would suffocate me. So I tried to lean on my arms and use my legs to rise then I realized I had lost my sack.
Slowly I tried to stand up to my feet. The wind was relentless knocking me all over again so I was sitting in the cold mud again. I was completely covered in mud from head to toe and sinking into it. As the rain came harder and harder I sank into it even more. I had to get up and stay up or I would not be capable of standing. It took shear determination on my part just to stay alive.
The wind still whipped with great force. As I looked up slightly I saw rain with the ice come down from the dark sky at an angle so it hit me sideways. Not really walking, rather crawling on my hands and knees slowly I headed for the rock I saw over to the side of the path.
At least I hoped I could hold on to the rock to keep from sinking further into the mud. It seemed to take forever to go such a short distance, but I finally got it to the rock. I tried to find the best side so I would be out the wind's path holding on tightly. The rock was wet, cold, and slippery from the ice that covered its surface. Yet holding on to the rock kept me from sinking into the mud.
The wind whipped my hair in my eyes. I knew I could not move my hands to remove my hair from my face so I just held on to this rock and closed them. This rock was keeping me alive for now. I had no idea how long the storm would go on.
The storm slowly turned to all rain again without the ice pelts. Still my hands and fingers were bright red with extreme effort to hold on to the small indentations in the rock face. I was so cold I shook so much I thought I might loose my grip as hard as I tried to hold on. Then suddenly a large burst of wind came up from behind me with so much force it picked me up and threw my small body back into the middle of the path face up so the rain was hitting my face, knocking the breathe out of me.
