Winter’s Storm

        Lips won’t curve as I stretch them. Heels form blisters, popping, reforming. Hands crack and sting. Blood freezing and cauterizing with wind. Tip of nose like a rock, I sense fingernails scratch, nose isn’t mine. Ocean rolls ahead forever. White waves form from snow gusts. One step: boot lifts, with all my strength, falling on it’s own. Steam rises from it’s cracking plastic shell. One more step.
        Screaming wind blows endlessly. Nothing is heard. Ice melts form my face mask down my neck. Steamed breath warms my nose until it itches again. Hold your arms to your chest, take up less space. Don’t fight against wind: cold, bitting, endless.
        Snow drifts pile higher, knee deep every few feet. Find their tips. Snow drifts always point north. Lost track of direction. Thirty kilometres from camp. I hope. Hands slide into mitts; warmth. Eyelashes frozen together, jaws of sight. Blood gushing too much, too warm, take hands out again.
        Squalls throw me back into white sands. Snow melts around my hands: stinging, numb, bloodied. Animal fur around my face pulls on my neck; choking. I turn around. Wind to your back, breath into fur, keep face warm. I pat my legs. Knife. Knife. Knife. And cut pieces off my shirt.
        Wrap my hands in rags, shove them inside mitts. Blood: frozen and wet. Blizzard currents push against my back as I stand. Hands up, keep collar tight. Gusts blow against my chest, block snow, hold collar, stay dry. Lift a leg, one more step.
        Too hot, steam making arms cold. Storm seeps through old stitched repairs. Keep going. Cheeks pricked and stung, fur blowing too hard. Grip loosens. Too weak. Tilt body forward, more. Steps growing shorter. Tuck elbows in, hug chest. Breath.
        I sit down, air out parka. Last piece of caribou. Looking up; grey throated sky is swallowing me, gust after gust. Snow drifts build against my back. I twist my head for salvation, no cabins, no fires. Animals too smart to stay out. Let storm kill for them.
       Knees lift me, facing wind. Endless white, endlessly pushing. One, more, step.Perpetual motions: one foot lifts, dragging through viscous air, then anchors my body. Tips of my toes push me forward. I slouch steeper. Face mask frozen. Lips numb. Grip tightens around collar, other hand blocks ice from eyes.
        Screeching cry pierces blizzard.
        I shake. Head panics: crane left, right— nothing. Endless white forever. Can’t see. Keep going. You stop, you die. Not too far now. Body drags through snow. Torso shaking violently, sweat cools as it forms. Pull arms through sleeves. Hug core. Reach up, hand clasps collar around face from inside. Arms, those of a stranger. Lips, unmovable. Breath barely felt on fingers. Head sweat forms ice. Too hot, too cold.
        Screeches swim through tundra. I stop. Snow tunnel too thick, blinding. Fight against winds— north, keep going, north. No gaps to see between flakes.
        “Help!” I cry to a looming figure. It doesn’t move.
        Climbing small hill: legs sink deeper, one step hard one step soft, ankle deep then stomach deep. Arms push through sleeves, I crawl. Winds stronger on top. I kneel in-front of— stone.
        Inuksuk.
        It stares in silence, pointing to camp. Frozen water bottles sit at it’s feet for spring. I’m going— body fights, hard to stand— right way. I gaze ahead, iced eyes tearing wider. Another, Inuksuk. Figures mock me. Air out bleeding hands. Walk. My lips crack: immovable, bloodied, blackened. Toes burnt in frost. Following guides, land carries me.
        Fingers scratch at my face. Stranger touching a stranger. I hear skin rubbed by nails. A rhythm moving tundra. Frozen ocean vibrates, then snow gusts. Neck shakes in terror. Steam rises from nose and teeth. Alone in a failing body, breath quickens. Keep— I grab my soul— going.
        Wind carries more screams; spine seizes, body frozen. Knees hold my weight. Hands: browning red rags, peeling skin, and peeling nails. I rub my eyes, ripping eyelashes. Fog breath melts ice-drool dribbles, I drink. Tears freeze against cheeks.       
        Fists hit ground. Lungs empty air. I watch myself, far away. Screaming. Pleading. Forced further from my body by endless winds. I claw. Get, up. Almost, home.
        Red sea washed barrels in a row. Follow, trail. Collar grip loosens from wind, iced fur scratches dying cheeks, I feel pressure against skin. Shore breaks, snow deepens.
        A scream violates me. Shaking, blank eyes search. Neck twists, cracking with winds. Wooden walls rise above snowdrifts. I stare, following black smoke stacks. Storm’s breaking above camp. Raid sirens blare. Dogs howl.
        Empty black eyes larger than moons, stare from above. Skeletal jaw grinds open, it’s piercing cries guiding wind rows. Fur sways around giant’s neck. It’s living cloak of snow covering all.
        Black moons look into me. It’s cracking arm rises, sharp finger uncurling from it’s knuckle, pointing ahead. Screech morphing to a dull throbbing horn— shakes my bones— as it’s jaw opens wider. Storm follows it’s finger. Wind cloaked, towering above all worlds as it rises, shepherd leads it’s flock. War horns blare from it’s gapping maw, shaking earth as it walks. A mono-rhythmic call blossoms to a whisper in my skull. Words repeat.
         “Beware of Storm-Elemental."
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