CHAPTER 1
Trinity
I take a deep breath and I brace myself as the chairlift approaches the drop off point at the top of Breckenridge Mountain.
My left hand white knuckle grips the metal arm rest and my right holds on to the edge of the bench for dear life.
The two snowboarders right of me on the chairlift are kids no older than twelve. They’re laughing and joking and seem oblivious as we approach. I saw the little buggers in line. I may be almost twice their age but they look a million times less nervous than I do about the coming dismount.
Three…two…one.
The chair pauses at the top and I push off from the seat.
For a split second I see the kids effortlessly slide forward in front of me and then everything turns white as I faceplant into the snow.
“I’m okay!” I yell, as I raise my head off the cold patch of ice feeling my cheeks tear away from its cold grasp.
Thud!
The cold, metal chairlift carries forward plunking me on the back of my head sending my face right back into the ice.
I do some sort of shuffle slide combination sideways to make sure the next chair, and the group of riders on it, don’t land square on my back. I look like Bruno Mars doing some kind of strange dance…just on my face and in the snow.
“Are you okay?”
I look up and see the chairlift operator. Her nametag says Hi I’m Paula, from Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Just wonderful. This beautiful, tanned girl about my same age managed to come all the way to my own home state and figure out how to snowboard so well that they gave her a job. I’ve lived in Denver my entire twenty-one years and I haven’t even managed to dismount a chairlift. Epic fail.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think my…my…shoelace got caught,” I say.
“Oh. I can help you,” she says.
I go to stand up as quickly as I can forgetting there’s a board under my feet. I do some kind of a weird roll and feel Paula’s arms come up under my armpits as she tries to get me in a respectable sitting position.
“Yeah, I’m getting it.”
I look up and see two different little boys standing about ten feet in front of me. Is he filming this? That little brat.
I pack up a snowball as quickly as I can and toss it at him. It lands way short and only causes him and his little buddy to laugh even harder.
“Don’t worry about them,” Paula says. “They’re out here every day causing trouble.”
Every day? Who can afford to be out here every day? And who has that kind of time?
Well, at least I have goggles on so if this winds up on YouTube I won’t be recognizable.
The boys let out a cackle that’s way too loud and obnoxious and then take off down the hill.
Paula helps me to my feet.
“I can help you get going if you like?” she says.
“I’m okay,” I say. “Really.”
But the truth is I feel like Bambi trying to take his first steps. My balance is nonexistent. My knees are shaky. I’m so wobbly I could topple over at any second.
I feel Paula’s hands on my waist and before I can ask her what she’s doing we’re gliding down the mountain.
Oh my god! This is scary, but kind of fun at the same time.
“You’ve got it! Awesome!” she says.
And she’s right. This is awesome!
“Lean to your left,” she says.
“Now to your right,” she says. “You’re carving. Great!”
We straighten back out and slowly make our way down the hill at very wide angles so we don’t gather too much speed. That’s absolutely the last thing I need right now.
“Okay. I have to branch off here and go back to the chairlift. My partner will be waiting on me.”
“Okay,” I say. I feel Paula’s hands release and hear her board move over to the side as I continue down hill. I don’t dare look back knowing it will surely throw off my balance and I’ll be right back on my face. This time with a lot more speed and a bigger crash at the end of my launch through the air. I’ll look like Superman, minus the landing part.
But I’ll worry about stopping later. This feels incredible. Suddenly I’m really glad I decided to come up here today. My anxiety level was through the roof all morning, but maybe this isn’t so bad. Maybe this is fun.
I notice that I’m getting closer to the trees on my right so I prepare to carve back to my left.
Suddenly I notice a body standing in the middle of the trees. It’s in all black, but I recognize the face anywhere.
It’s him!
My body freezes but my snowboard doesn’t. I ride out of bounds and into the trees right towards him.
Your body goes where your eyes go. I remember them saying and look back down hill. The board turns just as I see him slide a pair of goggles over his eyes and take off running towards me.
Oh my god!
I focus ahead and see the trees in front of me. I look to the left and maneuver right past it. Then another! I look to the right and maneuver past it.
The go where your eyes go trick is working but I’m also picking up speed. A lot of speed.
“Trinity! Come back here you fucking bitch! I’m gonna kill you!”
Speed is just what I need right now, but I need to get back in bounds.
I look left and don’t even see the main run anymore. Where am I?
I continue down the hill but now I’m flying and I have no way to stop.
Oh no!
Suddenly the trees clear away and the slope starts to level out. Hopefully I’ll start to lose sp—
I feel my board hit a slick spot and my entire body lifts. Then suddenly I’m tossed and turned about like I’m inside a dryer on the spin cycle.
I feel my shoulder pound into the snow. Then my board catches an edge and my legs twist into positions that Mother Nature never intended. I feel the back of my head hit and then suddenly I’m floating.
I look down and see I’m airborne over a gully! And there’s a rocky stream below!
As I continue to spin I look forward and realize I’ll never make it across.
My entire body tenses and I close my eyes bracing for impact.
This could be the end.
I feel a thud and everything goes black.