A Badlands Christmas

Section 2- Realization

I slammed the diary shut and ran to the cave entrance. As my eyes wandered the landscape around me, all I could see was inches of snow piled up to an incredible height. It'd be pointless to head out. That's a death sentence right there. I sat down on the ledge of the cave and kicked my legs over the side.

"Serena, you still holdin' that?" Brinley asked as she sat down on the ledge next to me.

I shoved it in my pocket and rolled my eyes. "Oh wow! It's a damn white Christmas alright!" Her face lit up as she gazed at the outdoors.

"I just..." I trailed off. I looked up and saw Brinley's eyes moving from one rock structure to the next, glistening. I stared at the rocks below us. The more I squinted my eyes, the more I was able to see indents in the snow that seemed to go on for a while. My eyes widened as I shot up. Footprints! I was about to jump off the ledge, but I halted. The snow below reflected the morning sun and emitted cold rays that could be felt from up where I was. There's no way I'm going to traverse the Badlands alone. I noticed Brinley still admiring the world around her for once. "If you come looking for Chelsea with me, I'll hook you up."

She turned to me and smirked. "With what?"
"I know a guy on Sydney with great nic and booze. I've bought from him a couple a' times."

She held out her hand. "Deal."

I shook it and jumped off the ledge landing in a patch of deep snow with a crunch. It went up to my knees, making it almost impossible to walk in. The path on my right had the footprints, so I headed that way. About 5 steps in, I got tired and out of breath. Looking up, I realized Brinley was somehow steps ahead of me. She turned around.

"Just step in the footprints Serena," she said as she turned back around and continued walking. "Learned this from the time me and the gang were being chased by them cops. Saves time, and those idiots have no clue where ya went. I was in that alley downtown-"

"That's great, I really don't care," I said catching up to her. We reached the end of the trail and stopped. There were footsteps going both ways now. Son of a gun. I put my hands in my pockets. I felt the diary in one of them and pulled it out. My fingers trembled as they flipped through the pages, finally reaching the last page with ink on the paper.