FREE READ - PROMPT #1

I asked for some prompts to enable me to write a free read of no more than 1000 words a time.
The first prompt comes from Araya... but I can't access her profile on blogger so can't link her blog in this post - which sucks.  But this is her prompt... 


PROMPT #1 - The wind was whipping through the mountains and he drove down the snow covered road.

The wind whipped through the mountains as he drove down the snow covered road; the snowflakes so big the wipers could barely clear the windscreen fast enough. Mack had spent the last half an hour hunched over the wheel with his nose practically pressed against the glass, and he could still see less than a foot in front of the car.

What the hell was he doing driving in the mountains in a blizzard?  Good question.  It had something to do with true love, he knew that.  Shame it hadn’t been his own.  His sister had talked him into driving her to her boyfriend Andy’s family’s cabin, where they were going to spend the holidays.  Of course, when they’d set out yesterday, there’d been no snow on the ground and everything had been plain sailing.  He’d spent the night with her boyfriend’s family and then began the drive home. 

The journey had started out like any other.  Andy’s mom had handed him a bag laden with sandwiches and chips and even a square of Christmas cake wrapped in tinfoil, along with a few bottles of water for his trip—just in case he got peckish.  Mack had smiled and dropped a kiss on her cheek, thanking her for her kindness and hospitality, and thinking that if he ate everything in the bag, the car would probably only reach thirty miles an hour.  He hadn’t known at that point that he’d be grateful for that bag of goodies when forty minutes into the drive, there was six inches of snow on the ground and visibility was practically nil.

Rounding the bend, he cursed loudly and swerved to avoid the shape crossing the road. “Fucking Christ!” he sputtered, stamping his foot on the brake and turning the wheel into the inevitable spin the car skidded into.  Snow kicked up all around him and when the car finally stopped, the nose of his Prius was in a ditch and his back wheels were no longer on the ground, turning on air.

Mack laid his head on the wheel, unable to remove his fingers from where they were clenched around the leather covering of the ring.  His heart beat so hard against his breastbone he was sure it was going to flop out of his chest onto his lap.  Then it picked up pace again when there was a loud bang on the rear window.  Holy shit!  Is it a bear? Can bears write?  Mack looked in the mirror and a wave of nausea hit him when he read what was being frantically outlined in the snow on the glass, the bear having to write them several times as fresh snow kept covering the indents he’d made.

Sixty foot drop!

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Mack choked on his own intake of breath and gazed out into the blanket of snow before him… not that he was sure what he expected to see, a big cartoon sign floating in mid air saying sixty feet in big red letters?  He slowly eased his weight into the back seat and crawled towards the door the bear had opened.  The car teetered and he half-launched himself and was half-dragged out just as his brand new Prius disappeared into the sea of white.

“Are you okay?  Say something for God’s sake!  Are you hurt?”

The bear was yelling at him, which pissed Mack off, considering it was the bear’s fault for walking in the road in the first place.  “My car!” he screamed back, trying to be heard above the whistling wind.  “You moron!  What were you doing in the road?”

“You’re bleeding!”

Mack shook his head at the bear, not understanding the growls coming out of its mouth.  The bear pointed to Mack’s forehead and he lifted his hand to his temple.  “Oh my God, I’m bleeding’!”  He could have sworn the bear rolled its eyes but the snow blowing in his face was too thick to be sure.  Not that he had a chance to say anything else, because the bear hauled him to his feet and began to drag him along the road, with a huge arm slung around his waist.  “Wait, what are you doing?  My car!  Oh, God, you’re gonna take me to your cave and eat me, aren’t you?”  I never thought I’d be going out this way.  Is it gonna hurt?  Will he knock me out first?

After what seemed like a lifetime walking through the driving snow, Mack squinted at the shadow of a building up ahead.  He was pulled up the steps and pushed against the wall next to the door by the bear, who reached out and pushed the door open before nudging Mack inside. 

“Come on, man,” the bear said, “let’s get you out of these clothes before they freeze to your body.”

“Make it quick,” Mack said, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

“What?”

“When you eat me.”  Mack’s eyes widened when the bear stepped back and pulled a zipper beneath its snout to reveal white blond hair, big blue eyes and a strong square jaw. “Oh… you’re not a bear are you?”

“Nope, I’m Micah Stevens, this is my house,” the man grinned, stepping out his salopettes and kicking them to one side.  “You hit your head pretty hard on the wheel.”

“That probably explains why I thought you were a bear.”

“I would think so,” Micah said on a chuckle.  “But…” his gaze travelled over Mack, sending a pleasant shiver of anticipation down Mack’s spine, “if you’re really lucky, I might still eat you.”

THE END