I woke up on the cold snowy side of the road surrounded by familiar faces asking “Are you okay?”

It all started on New Years Eve day. My family and I were up in the mountains of Gatlinburg Tennessee enjoying the white holidays. We were getting ready for the elegant frosty dinner under the stars downtown. “Daniella are you ready? We’re going to be late for dinner.” is all I heard every five minutes as I was doing my makeup. “Yes mom, almost. Makeup is a process, so don’t rush it.” When I finally finished, I found my mom, dad, and step sister talking amongst each other while they were waiting for me and simultaneously rushing me. “Looks like we’re all ready.” my dad said. We grabbed our fancy coats and headed out the door of our lodge, all starving and imagining the amazing and delicious food we were about to eat. And then suddenly, about two miles down the mountain we start noticing cars at the side of the road with their blinkers on. My sister, Giulia, rolls down the window to be greeted by a rush of cold wind. “Do you need help?” Giulia asked the stranded people. “We’re all good.” they responded, “Just be careful yourself, the road is slippery, I don’t think your car will make it to the bottom of the mountain without slipping to the side of the road.” We didn’t think much of it and thanked them for the advice and kept going. But within no time we were doing just as they said, we were slipping to the side of the road into a ditch with nothing but darkness and trees, and there was nothing we could do about it. “MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!” my mom yells frantically as she holds onto my dad’s arms. “We’re going to fall and die!” is all I heard Giulia screaming in my ear. My dad is doing everything he can to make the car stop from rolling into the forest. He constantly reassured us everything was going to be fine and that we had to calm down. Because panicking was not helping the situation we were in. Once we stopped slipping, half of our car was on the road and the other half was dangling on the side of the ditch. We were all as still as we could be making sure we didn’t make any wrong or unnecessary moves. We tried leaning to the side that was still on the road. We had to get out from the left side of the car. First one to get out was me. I carefully opened the back door. Cautiously stepped outside and BAM, I fell face front of the icy road. I dropped my phone and picked it up staring at a cracked screen. Giulia was the second to get out of the tipping car. She grabbed my arms helping me to get up, until she also slipped and fell. We came to the conclusion that if we were going to walk back up the mountain, we couldn’t do it wearing four inch stilettos. Giulia and I took our heels off exposing our barefeet to the snowy floor. We got up, dusted ourselves off and walked to the other side of the road, where we waited for our dad and mom. Watching as my mom got out of the car by climbing on top of my dad from the passenger seat had to be the only good thing about this moment. Since Giulia and I were standing on the cold ground with nothing but our bare feet, I gave myself a head start and began to walk back up the mountain determine to get there before I got frostbite. As I am walking up in the snow I feel my feet start to go numb. I panic and start running uphill. There was nothing I could do. If I put my shoes back on, it would be impossible to walk up the mountain. I'm running faster and faster and faster, stepping everywhere I don't see snow, shaking my feet back and forth, trying to see if I could still feel them. Until I suddenly strip on a fallen down tree branch and go unconscious. I wake up surrounded by familiar faces asking me if I was okay and if I could hear them or see them. That is when I realized it was the worst New Years ever. And I would make sure to never stay at a cabin in the mountains during the coldest months of winter.