Cry As If It Wasn't Your Fault

Chapter Seven

Will and Charlotte sat down at the foot of a huge tree, sheltered from the snow, both absolutely exhausted and shaken.
"are you okay, Charlotte?" asked Will, incredibly thankful that she was there with him.
She nodded, trying to connect to signal again, but it was no use.
"my phones about to die anyway.." she muttered, "yeah I'm good... This just wasn't how I expected the ski trip to go."
Will bid her sit down beside him, it was absolutely freezing, so he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"are you okay?" she asked him, and even at that question he thought he might burst into tears again. He thought about withholding it from her, she shouldn't be the first person he tells. But then again, she did just save his life.
"about an hour ago I became a dad." he told her bluntly, his chest rising and falling.
"shit..." she gasped, looking down in horror for him. "we've gotta keep going and try to get back onto a piste."
Will shook his head, "Charlotte we fell about forty feet. The snow doesn't look like it's settling. We'll get ourselves more lost if we go out in the open again."
"but- but you've just had a baby!"
"yes, I'm a parent now, but I'm also a teacher, and you're safe at the moment. But if we go out into the blizzard I might lose you, and I would not forgive myself if anything happened to you now." he told her honestly.
She sat down beside him, understanding his motives.
"so.. Is it a girl or a boy?" asked Charlotte, placing her back against the tree trunk.
"a little girl called Alice." he said, looking straight ahead as the snowflakes danced through the branches.
Charlotte smiled at him, "My mum was called Alice, it's a beautiful name."
"really?" he turned to look at her.
"she died on my tenth birthday. She was the loveliest person. You've an adventure ahead of you, sir." she told him, smiling comfortingly at him, but feeling her eyes tense.
"th-thank you, and... I'm really sorry about your mother." he responded, he had never seen this side of Charlotte before. He hadn't even really liked Charlotte, thinking she was annoying, attention-seeking and quite rude. But she was so kind.

"how long do you reckon it'll take till they find us?" she asked him, her knees to her chest, absolutely freezing.
"I think when the sky clears they'll get the mountain rescue for us." said Will.
But the sky didn't clear.

It was 4pm when the ski groups finished for the day and accumulated at the Hotel for lunch.
Carrie sat down at the teachers table first, taking off her helmet and gloves and laughing at the snow-covered Terry who flopped down onto the chair beside her.
"Okay how many times did you fall?" she giggled.
"I lost count after the fifth." he admitted, ordering himself a coffee.
"any sign of Will's group?" asked Carrie.
"yeah I saw Ronnie, Matthew and Andrew having lunch at the other table." he replied, making Carrie confused, so she walked over to the boys.
"Have you seen Mr Winters?" she asked them.
"we lost him and Charlotte a few hours ago, thought they met up with another group?" said Andrew.
"-Wait.. Wheres Charlotte?" questioned Jade, her eyes concerned.
"has anyone seen Mr Winters or Charlotte anywhere?" she called out, and everyone shook their heads.
She looked over to Terry who was trying to call Will,
"don't think he's any signal." he replied.
"can someone with Charlotte's number call her, please?"
Carrie sat down beside Terry, her eyes wide in panic.
"you can barely see a foot in front of you up there." she soliloquised.
Terry put a hand on her shoulder, "don't worry. They're good skiers. They'll be alright, they're probably skiing down the mountain right now."
Carrie just knew that they weren't. And that bad feeling just grew and grew deep into the night. As the mountain rescue team attempted to search in the thick blizzard, seeing absolutely nothing.

The two of them could barely move. Longing for the sound of a helicopter, or lights. But they saw and heard nothing but the strong swirling snowstorm that seeped through the branches.
They were both freezing and starving now, too.
"I'd quite like the- the snow to piss off now." said Charlotte, trembling.
Will turned over and looked at her. She was so pale, her breathing was rapid and it looked like she was struggling to stay awake.
"Stay with me Charlotte." he said, shifting her over closer to him, knowing that she was becoming hypothermic.
"I don't wanna die here." she cried, with frozen tears in her eyes.
"don't worry," he soothed, "don't worry, you're just fine." he unzipped his ski jacket. "I'm going to try and do this in the least weird way that I can."
Charlotte had stopped shivering, but her eyes were now closed, so he wrapped his arms around her and zipped his coat up again with her in it too. He held her as the wind howled behind the trees, and the icicles fell and smashed from branches, knowing they'd make it through together.

"H-Hi Mrs Winters. My name's Caroline, I work with Will... Umm, there's no easy way to say this.. But about twelve hours ago he and a student went missing. The mountain rescue- the mountain rescue have been searching for the last six hours.. They've found nothing so far. "
" B-but I was just talking to him.. About midday.. He called me?"
" I-I'm sorry that's the last anyone has seen of him. " said Carrie, tears streaming down her face, trying not to let it show in her voice.
" B-but I... I just told him about- about our daughter. S- she was just born today he- he couldn't have died! He told me he'd do anything for her. He said he was coming home." Mollie cried in the whole shock of everything.
"y-your baby was born today?" asked Carrie, cupping her mouth, as her eyes and nose tensed, she thought she was going to be sick.
"yep.. Your future stepchild." said Mollie, her voice cracking.
Carrie paused, questioning what she had just heard.
"I can tell these things, Carrie. It's okay. I know you love him more."
"I am so so sorry." She responded, her hand across her forehead. "I'm so sorry this is all my fault. And you've just had a baby..."

After about half an hour of sitting still, looking at the mountains outside her window just wondering where they were, there was a knock on Carrie's door.
"hey," it was Terry.
"hi, Terry." she said, allowing him to sit on the end of the bed beside her as they continued to look out the window.
"I tried to call Charlotte's dad. Tried every single number in the book for her. They all went straight to voicemail." he told her.
"god... So her parents don't know?" she asked, horrified.
He shook his head, "I've talked to the school and they're getting people to go round to her address... It's a mess.. What about Will's wife?"
Carrie looked over to Terry with tears in her eyes, "Will's wife just gave birth."
Terry through his head in his hands, but Carrie just kept looking out the window at the swirling blizzard over the mountains.
"they're out there somewhere... Freezing or dead..." she whimpered. The idea of them finding two dead bodies just made her feel so sick.
"you'll keep him fighting, Caroline." she said, pressing his hand on her shoulder.