A Badlands Christmas

Section 3- Realization

"Left!" I yelled breaking out into a clumsy run through the snow. Brinley grunted as a hard breeze hit her face, forcing her to close her eyes. The indents in the snow became fainter the more I walked along the trail. Six footprints became four, which became two, then zero. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"That's it, I'm goin' back," Brinley said, turning around. "We ain't gonna find nothing. We never were." She looked up at the rock structures that now looked like mountains with snow caps on them and sighed. I ran my fingers through my frozen black hair. "You trippin'. We ain't gonna find her. No matter how hard we try-"

"That tree got a scarf," I said, pointing her towards a thick, evergreen tree which had a white scarf hanging from one of the branches, which barely stood out against the white snow covering it. I looked at Brinley, then back at the tree. "That something, Brin." She rolled her eyes and unwillingly followed me.

The closer we got to the tree, the more my blood buzzed. Another sudden gust of wind hit us in the face, causing us to stagger back. I gritted my teeth and pushed against it, trying to maintain my balance. I placed my hands in my pockets and began to shiver. Brinley's brown curls were unravelling as her hat fell onto her eyes. When she would fall back a couple of steps, I'd hear numerous curses come out of her mouth. Some came out of mine as well.

With my eyes now fixed at the near solid ground, I continued to trek forward.

"The hell! My toe's warm!" Brinley cursed as she curled over, clearly in pain. I narrowed my eyes and headed over to her. She wiped snow off a nearby rock and sat on it, clutching her foot. Red liquid dripped off the underside of her shoe and fell onto the snow, staining it red. "And it's bleedin'!" I gasped as she removed the shoe and discarded it. "It's from this thing." She said pointing to the tiny prick that was no bigger than a crumb. "Son of a gun." I searched the four pockets on my jacket and pulled out a lighter, flashlight, empty wrapper, empty pod packs, a vape and the diary.

I handed her the empty wrapper. "Put this on it." She looked at me questionably, but took the wrapper and placed it underneath her toe. I shoved the other things back in random pockets and huffed. "How'd that happen?" I scanned the horizon around me. In an area where the snow began to melt, I noticed something poking out of it. Watching my every move, I headed towards it. The more I could feel the ground below, the more I realized that something was about to puncture my shoe as well. "The hell?" I stepped onto a rock and crouched down. I ran my fingers along the top layer of snow, feeling the thickness and solidity of it. I reached into my pocket, pulled out the lighter and lowered my hand.

"Hello?" a raspy voice said. I jumped, holding the still lit lighter tightly. I let the voice sink into my mind for a little, then relaxed. "Hello?" My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

"Chelsea?"

"Behind the boulder..." she barely whispered. I ran towards the gigantic structure and gasped as soon as I turned the corner. There she was, but you could barely tell it was her. Hundreds of prickly pear cacti littered the ground underneath her and hundreds of those needles were stuck in her. Her clothes were stained red with her own blood, hair frozen in the snow and body cut up, grayish blue with black spots and mangled. A tear fell out of my eye and froze once it hit my cheeks. Her eyes were struggling to stay open, and her chest barely rose and fell. I fell on my knees next to her and quickly removed my jacket, throwing it on her cold body. "No... don't..."

"I can't watch you die. I won't," I insisted as her hand slowly lifted, her fingers wrapped loosely around something. Her fingers gingerly touched mine as she let go of what she was holding. A beautiful pin that had a picture of the Badlands without all the snow and ice and the words; "Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing- Badlands National Park, SD" was now in my palm. Another frozen tear fell onto my face as I fastened my fingers around the pin.

"I knew you'd come... that's why I left my scarf on that tree..." she said as her eyes flew open and she slightly lifted herself off the snow. That didn't last for long, as a moment later, she fell right back down and her eyes shut. "You're more than what others think you are..." She pried them open. "Merry Christmas... Serena..." Chelsea's voice faded as a faint smile appeared on her lips. Her eyes closed slowly this time, her body slowly giving way. Her chest no longer rose and fell at a steady pace and her body made no movement at all.

"NO!" I wailed, shaking her cold and limp body vigorously. "CHELSEA COME BACK!" I let out a loud cry and fell on top of her.

"You found her!" Brinley said as she limped over. She halted as her jaw dropped, moving one hand above her mouth. "Oh... well... that's happening." She carefully sat behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I continued to sob as she carefully pulled me up.

"NO! I can't leave her here!" I failed my arms and fell right back down next to her. "CHELSEA!" I cried leaving her shirt stained with more than just blood. She sighed and lifted me right back up.

"C'mon girl, get yourself together," she lightly swatted my shoulder. "That's what she'd want. She don't wanna see you cryin' over her dead body." She took a deep breath and threw her arms in the air. "It's Christmas dammit! Ya know, have a Holly Jolly Christmas! Not have a cryin' about a dead girl Christmas!"

"W-what she said to me..." I said through quivered lips. I looked at Brinley, who nodded for me to keep speaking. "She said that I'm more than what others think... and I've never been told that," I broke out into another sob as I felt Brinley's hand moving back and forth on my shoulders.

"She a good woman, that ain't up for debate."

"She had faith in me Brin... s-she cared about me?!" I broke free of her grasp and fell back onto Chelsea, engulfing her stiff body into the biggest hug I've given someone in years. "You ain't gonna stay here, that I can promise. I'm gonna take you home. You ain't gonna stay here and have your insides freeze up and your pretty face more wretched than what it already is. I'm gonna take you back home with me, and bury you in my backyard. I need you Chelsea, and you need me. I ain't gonna ever forget you. I'm never gonna take this pin off. See," I unfastened the clasp and clipped it onto my shirt, pushing the shirt in front of her closed eyes. "I ain't gonna do it. I got a present for you too Chelsea." I pulled the diary out of my jacket and tucked it neatly in the jacket pocket on the left side of her chest. "Merry Christmas Chelsea." I stood up and sighed. I knelt back down and picked up her lifeless body with my bare hands.

"She ain't gonna look like that. Let me fix her up." Brinley came over and readjusted her body so that her arms were crossed, not hanging loosely and that her frozen hair was tied in a frozen ponytail, not sticking out.

My black hair blew in the wind as Brinley picked up my jacket and placed it over my shoulders. She sighed as she slowly placed the hood over my head and gazed into the distance. Chelsea's shoulder pressed against the pin on the left side of my chest as I took a deep breath. After standing there for a few long moments, I picked my feet up and started making my long way back to the cave with more weight on my chest than before.

                                                         ~...This mystery has now come to a closure...~ .             

                                                                          ~...Thank you for reading...~                    

                                                        ~...Oh... one last thing... Merry Early Christmas...~