Snow Kills Read Free

although they looked as if they were unwitting contestants from a TV show – falling and slipping around in an undignified manner. She negotiated her route via a telegraph pole and a signpost – anything that would help her make it to her car unscathed. Looking back at the salon through the blizzard, she could see a couple of people who looked to be helping Marlene down the steps. She tutted, and Mavis said her boots weren’t suitable! She obviously hadn’t clapped eyes on Marlene’s stilettos.
    Walking like an octogenarian, Kayleigh became fascinated by the puzzle of the ice. In the near white-out conditions threatening to paralyse the town, she saw the outline of her car – and as her footsteps eventually cut tracks into the virgin snow around it, she was thankful to spot the orange, rotary, safety light mounted high on the roof of a snow plough coming her way. She looked up at the driver, whose face held no expression, but to her surprise she saw Mavis sat alongside him, chattering away. Mavis was highly delighted to see her, and waved as the gritter came to a standstill.
    As Kayleigh waited for the line of traffic to move, the window of the gritter wagon opened, ‘Hey Blondie!’ the driver shouted. ‘You’re going up towards the Manchester Road in that little pink monster, Mave here tells me.’
    ‘I’m gonna try,’ she shouted back.
    ‘I’m going your way after I’ve dropped her off at the train station,’ he said. ‘Follow me and I’ll show you the world and anything else you want.’ She could hear Mavis chuckling and could only guess at her retort.
     It must be dead boring gritting the roads, Kayleigh thought, but if she hurried he was right, she might have more chance of getting home following in his tracks. Looking down at the driver’s side door of her car, her hopes were soon dashed. She leaned against the car and moaned; all she had to do now was clear the snow that her knight in shining armour, had pushed against it. Her feet were wet and her toes were numb.
    Downhearted, she trudged around the car, scraping off the snow with her bare hands. She looked down at her new boots with despair, for they were surely ruined. Mavis, bless her, was right and she would tell her so when she next saw her. In future, she vowed to keep a pair of wellingtons on hand for days like these. Parked behind her car was a scooter, no doubt Donny Longbottom’s. Where was her tormenter when she needed him? Probably at home if he had any sense. He might have a screw or two loose, but even he wouldn’t risk riding his bike in these conditions.
    Red hands that had been numb began to feel painful at the knuckles as she attempted to rub life back into them. Kayleigh sat for a moment, cold and tired with the exertion. She picked up her mobile phone. ‘ Can I come to yours Matt?’ she texted.
    ‘It’s Wednesday. I’m at me mate’s but you’ve got a key,’ her boyfriend texted back.
    ‘Damn,’ she said wiping away a tear that ran down her face.
    Kayleigh rang her mum, but the phone went straight onto the answer machine. ‘I’m heading for Matt’s, mum,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry about me, love you.’
    Sighing deeply, Kayleigh threw her phone onto the passenger seat. Surprisingly the little car’s engine roared into action and as she waited for the windows to clear she turned on the radio to hear the next weather alert. She set the heater to blow warm air down onto her feet, and wiped the inside of the car windows with a leatherette. Kayleigh hadn’t been driving for long and had never driven in snow, but she adored driving her bright pink Ka and she was looking forward to the challenge now she felt a little warmer.
    The roads were congested. The daylight was beginning to disappear rapidly and the night was drawing in sooner than expected, due to the grey, low snow clouds. Kayleigh sat patiently in the queue at the start of the Manchester Road. Her windscreen wipers were going ten to the dozen just to clear