Can’t Win Me Back

Elias frowned deeply; his worry etched onto his face.

"We've been shouting Ms. Alyssa's name the whole way.

With so many of us calling out, she should've heard us by now if she were nearby!" In a deep voice, Jasper said, The wind is too strong, and then there's the heavy snowfall.

Our voices are being drowned out.

Lyse might not hear us at all." Lyse.

Her nickname slipped from his lips before he even realized it.

"I'm just afraid she's injured—or worse, fainted.

If she blacks out in this cold..." Elias trailed off, his voice heavy with dread.

"Ona day like this, she won't survive long.

She'll freeze to death." The group exchanged uneasy glances, the reality of his words tightening their chests.

It wasn't that Elias was being a doomsayer.

Rather, this was the cruel reality that might actually happen.

Crater Mountain claimed lives every year.

Danger lurked unpredictably in the woods on the mountain—anything could unfold.

"Let's split up," Jasper commanded, his eyes fixed on the shadowy forest.

His voice carried an edge of desperation.

“We're not leaving until we find her." Elias hesitated.

"But what if—" "If anything happens to her," Jasper cut him off, his voice trembling with fierce determination, "I'll make this place my grave.

I mean it." Before anyone could respond, Jasper turned and strode into the darkness, his figure quickly swallowed by the night.

him disappear, exhaling a heavy

people with fiery hearts." Jasper trudged

make her a promise, all she asked was for him to go hiking with

didn't mean just a

them to retrace

would he go? Jasper's heart raced as

cave—the very place where he and Alyssa had

—the harrowing brush with death, the suffocating fear, and the unspoken bond of survival that had

I will." That promise wasn't just words; it was carved

had not forgotten

He had remembered it.

world swirled

thud echoed as his strength gave out,

and weary, glistened with the weight

"Alyssa...

to find you..." Clenching his fists, he clawed

screamed in protest, but he pushed

"I have to...

of hopelessness, the temperature continued

weather was as ruthless

huddled into a tight ball, pressing herself against the

her almost entirely, rendering her nearly invisible

shut, her lips a chilling shade of

to awareness, her mind

body would be frozen stiff, and

trembled violently as she curled tighter

of heartwarming childhood memories flickered in her mind—a

her senses, replaced by

mother had appeared, her arms wide open, enveloping

"Lyse, my sweet girl.

Don't be afraid.

and gentle woman stroked

you've