Stathis, the Modern-Day Icarus

Stathis Housmekerides 1 February 2013 Fantastics FCAs: Organization, Sentence Beginnings

Oh my god! Are you ok!? My friend shouts when I reach the bottom of the hill. I lay motionless on the ground, too cold to do anything. Mom! Dad! Come quickly! Weve got a problem. Once I got out of the car, all I could see was white. Apparently there was a skiing competition or something like that going on. The mountain was huge, and covered in glistening white snow. It seemed like paradise for a skier or a hiker, or generally anyone who liked snow. When we arrived to the restaurant, I couldnt help but notice that there was an enormous steep hill right next to it! The hill was very steep, making it even harder to climb up. My friends were already waiting for me at the top. It took me another 15 minutes to reach them. By then, they had slid down twice, and it seemed like they were enjoying it. But deep inside, my body was telling me not to do it, not to slide down. They helped me up the last few steps, and I was ready to slide. Everyone at the bottom seemed like they were ants. I have to admit I was a bit nervous. But curiosity overtook me, and before I knew it, I was on the sled. The rims sank down into the snow, so my other 2 friends pushed me forward. What happened next was nothing of what I predicted. I started picking up speed as I got closer and closer to the bottom. It was exciting. The air was colliding into my face and making it cold as ice. But I didnt care. I was too thrilled to notice. For about 2 seconds I closed my eyes, but the moment I opened them, disaster struck. A large chunk of ice was in front of me, getting closer and closer rapidly (this reminds me of the Titanic!). There was no time to think. Helplessly, I stuck out my

legs and attempted to stop the sled. It was too late. The left rim crashed into the ice and tipped over. I literally flew off because of how fast I was going. I stuck out my arms to feather my fall, but it was useless. I did a roll as I touched down. My arms had burrowed into the thick snow, and were plowing it. It was as if farmers were going to plant turnips in there. Almost immediately, my sight was blocked. I opened up a little window with my arms, and I saw a snowman. Abruptly, I collided into it. The impact threw back my hood and my hat, and made the area around my eyes freezing cold. At this point I shut my eyes they were that cold. Fortunately, the impact with the snowman also added a lot of snow piling up against me, so I slowly came to a complete stop. The area around my eyes had become wet, like when water gets in your goggles while swimming. The impact must have opened up my goggles and allowed snow to enter. My goggles were made to keep your eyes warm, so all the snow melted relatively fast. Exhausted, I drop down like a building collapse. I look to the left and my sleigh slid down and stopped right beside me as if to say Hello! How was your little ride? I lay down in the snow, and rolled down. Suddenly, my left side collides into some ice hidden beneath the snow. Grumbling, I looked up and saw my sleigh at the bottom of the hill. I continued with my rolling technique until I finally stopped at the flattened snow. Both my friends were already at the bottom, and start questioning random things like, Are you ok? and Can you get up? Those were the only questions I could recognize. All the other ones were blurry and mixed up. Using all the energy I could muster, I slowly stood up and walked to the restaurant. My face was as white as the few clouds on a clear day. My hands were like water under frozen ice. My back was like clothes that just got out of the washing machine. My mom hugs me as I tell her what had just happened. She gave me a hot chocolate and I gulped it down. My body suddenly feels like it had been dipped in fire. Lets go! I said, Lets go back to the car and get out of here!

So everybody hiked back and went back to the hotel. We took a shower, had a dip in the pool, and everyone lived happily ever after