As the winter storm howled across my face.
Breath*
My final thought before the end.
Was it breathe or breath?
Chilling
As I lay in the cold, I huddled for warmth.
I dreamt of fire and food, hot drink and soup and most of all of the warm sun and summer.
What’s the horror? I always thought hypothermia is the best way to die, maybe second to getting vapourised by an atomic bomb.
I finally forgot the end.
After hours of shivering, that led to violent shaking, that led to uncontrolled convulsing as my body fought to the bitter end.
I’m Indigenous from northern Ontario and my parents were born and raised in the wilderness and I learned a lot from them. Hypothermia, frost bite and losing limbs to the cold was a common enough occurrence a long time ago. It actually takes a long time because your body is really good at conserving heat, preserving itself and in fighting to stay alive for as long as possible, even in the face of certain death. It takes a long time to freeze to death and even after one is frozen, there is still a distant chance that they can be recovered long after the fact.
Getting vapourized by an atomic explosion is instant … freezing to death takes hours of being aware of the end and then your body fighting every moment for as long as possible.
