Misfortune: Christmas With Scrooge Read Online Free Page B

already.”
    “What about your car? Somebody is bound to
see it parked alongside the road and realize you're in danger.”
    He shook his head, the smallest hint of
irritation creeping into his face. “No. No one will, because you
see, you used a road not used during the winter months.”
    Laura's face went pale. In a small voice, she
muttered, “The fork in the road. I should have turned right, not
left.”
    He simply nodded. “And there is no way I will
be able to get us up the ravine in the dark. It would be like going
blindfold.”
    “But we can’t stay down here. We’ll freeze to
death.” Her eyes grew with alarm, hysteria beginning to bubble back
to life once more, as she reached out and clutched his coat lapels
in earnest.
    He studied her distraught face and was
annoyed by that same emotion which had surfaced earlier with his
mother. Perturbed, he thrust her hands away. “We have the shelter
of the vehicle, our coats and each other if need be. Do you have an
emergency box in the hatch?”
    She shook her head, her voice still unsteady
as she replied, “No, but there’s a blanket on the back seat.”
    The panic in her eyes had only eased
slightly. But it was really in the revealing tremble of her bottom
lip that gave her away. It wouldn’t stop quivering fiercely as if
she were sitting in a meat cooler, which wasn’t far from how it
felt. He wouldn’t admit it, but her concerns were probably
warranted. It was horribly cold and the broken window only made it
even worse. His eyes shifted back to her face and noticed her chin
was beginning to join her bottom lip in trembles. She didn’t even
attempt to control her fears.
    He sighed, turning away. “I'm going to try
and get some sleep. The sooner morning arrives, the better. I
suggest you do the same.”
    He threw himself into the back seat and
stretched his taut muscles on the cramped bench. Retrieving the
blanket she mentioned, he tossed it to her in the front seat. She
snatched it but continued to stare at him with her eyes wide and
distressed. That foreign emotion nagged at him again. He hated any
show of emotion and this woman certainly produced a lot of them and
had no qualms openly showcasing them. The quicker he got out of
there, the better. He was beginning to regret his decision to come
down the ravine. Aggravated, he squelched the little voice that
told him otherwise.
    Laura turned away at last, huddling deep into
the front seat, pulling the blanket around her and drawing her
knees up to her chest. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she
silently shivered, listening to the breathing of her rescuer. She
was frightfully cold and horrid visions of dying in her sleep had
her sitting with her eyes wide open in the front compartment of the
vehicle.
    She had no idea how long she sat there. So
many thoughts began running through her head; she lost track of
time. Here she was on Christmas Eve, virtually on the edge of her
deathbed, and she had the Grinch himself as her hero. Though the
evening could have ended horrifically different, she could not
shake the feel of self-pity.
    It was her first Christmas alone. She wanted
so badly for everything to go just right. But how could anything go
right when everything was so wrong.
    She should have been at home with her parent
celebrating the festive season. She should never have had to face
spending the holiday alone. And she most certainly should never
have found herself on death’s door. But she had. And the feeling
left her completely frightened and vulnerable.
    Tears rolled unchecked down her cold cheeks.
The desire to have her father there beside her was so great she let
out a tiny sob. It was Christmas Eve and she was alone. She feared
this greatly. Tried to prevent it, but alas the solitary loneliness
of her world could not be evaded.
    She raised her eyes to the twinkling stars.
They winked at her and she felt as if she was being mocked. Try and
change the course of the stars and only disaster lay in your