My Favorite Mistake

Snowflakes tumbled to the ground in any which order they pleased on their way to the already blanketed ground, but did I stop to think about the weather? No, of course not. I saw the snow and thought, Oh, this looks pretty.

It did. I loved snow. I was terribly disappointed when it was a green Christmas, so I believed that Mother Nature was making it up to me by snowing now. I should have known better. Mother Nature was never contrite. Nope, she was a vengeful, malicious bitch or at least she chose to be one on tonight of all nights.

The New Years bash was being held in a rented chalet in the country. Well, not the country exactly. Not the cute-little-farms-and-horse-ranches country, but the secluded, isolated place with winding, twisting, dirt roads surrounded by acres of huge, looming trees and signs that warned of deer or bear that might be crossing the road.

It wasn't crowded or well-lit or alive at night like the city. It didn't give you the feeling of safety that city nights gave you either. It wasn't ominously silent and isolated and oh so dark in the city. This place at night would be the prefect setting for a horror movie.

Of course, when I entered and started up my car, I didn't think of that. That would show foresight and impulsive, rash, stupid people like myself did not have foresight. If I did have foresight, I might have thought to write the directions to the chalet on something better than post-its. As it was, I lost one of the post-its, the second one. I had followed the first; the third was still there, but no second post-it.

Only God knew how far I had traveled from the chalet, but I miserably turned back around. It looked like I was simply not meant to leave the party. I had only driven for two minutes in the direction of the chalet when I heard a little bell ring once.

To make my horrible night complete, the car was acting up again. One small little light lit up when it simply was not supposed to. I thought to ignore it and keep on driving. It proved to be a persistent, little pain in my ass for it started blinking. Still, I kept driving. What else could I do?

That was when the car got really pissed. It was steaming, nope, smoking. Let me tell you something that most of you smart people probably already know. Smoke, coming from the hood of the car, is a bad thing. I, grudgingly, pulled over the car to the side of the road and turned the ignition off. Still, it smoked.

Call me paranoid, but that did not seem like a particularly healthy thing for a car to do. I simply had seen to many action movies. After a strenuous car chase, one car would always start smoking. The occupants of the car would give each other a panicked look and run out of the car. Then as if timed to, which in movies I suppose it was timed, the car exploded into a fiery ball from hell.

So taking my cue from Hollywood, I got out of the car as fast as I could. However, much to my relief and acute disappointment, my piece of junk that I passed off as a car did not explode. Of course why would it do a cool thing like that? Alright, I was also thankful, but not overly since it was still smoking. Therefore, I would not get back into the car. At least if it had exploded, the fire would have attracted noticed and people would have come in my aid.

It also would have provided the warmth necessary to help me survive. But alas, no such luck. I was left to shiver and have my teeth chatter. I was wearing nothing but a blue silk gown and a black duster to go over it. I wasn't wearing much underneath my gown as I had dressed for vanity tonight, not survival. One layer of silk simply was no protection for the freezing temperatures and the biting wind that had begun to pick up.

It was until that moment that I thought of the eerie silence of the night or how the huge trees blocked out the moonlight, casting me into a world full of shadows. I sidled closer to the car so I was standing in the light given off by the headlights which I had left on.