Lila’s breath fogged in the frigid mountain air, her gloves stiff as planks of ice. She’d been lost for two hours, and her hands had long since stopped burning—now they were heavy, useless lumps, unresponsive to her brain’s desperate commands. Her stomach gnawed; the granola bar in her coat pocket was her only chance at energy to keep moving.
She fumbled the crinkly plastic bag out, clamping it between her elbows to hold it steady. Her fingers, blue and swollen, wouldn’t curl. She pressed her palms together, trying to rub friction into them, but the motion felt like moving someone else’s limbs. With a shaky huff, she hooked one numb thumb under the bag’s tear tab and pulled. Nothing. The tab slid across her skin like it was glass.
She leaned against a frost-covered boulder, jaw tight. She pictured her fingers working, nimble and warm, back in her apartment. Focusing hard, she used her teeth to grip the tab, then wedged her index finger—stiff as a popsicle—into the gap she’d made. She pulled with every ounce of strength, her arm trembling. The bag split with a faint crack.
Tears stung her eyes, not from cold, but from relief. She dumped the crumbs into her mouth, one slow, clumsy handful at a time, already planning her next small battle: unclipping her compass. In that moment, opening a bag wasn’t just a task—it was a win.
Turn 2 Answer
Jake’s fingers felt like thick, dead branches as he stared at the metal doorknob leading into his apartment. The wind had howled for hours, turning his hands into useless lumps that wouldn’t curl, wouldn’t grip. He pressed his palms together, rubbing hard until his arms ached, then tried again—his numb thumb slipped off the knob for the third time, sending a jolt of frustration through him. Leaning his shoulder against the door for support, he hooked his elbow under the handle and used his whole body weight to yank. It turned with a groan, and he stumbled inside, collapsing against the wall. For a second, he just stared at his hands, still unfeeling, and smiled. He’d done it.
Turn 3 Answer
Jake’s fingers were dead weights, blue and unresponsive, as he stared at his apartment doorknob. He’d rubbed his palms raw trying to generate heat, but his numb thumb still slipped off the metal three times in a row. Finally, he hooked his elbow under the handle, threw his whole weight into it, and stumbled inside. Leaning against the wall, he stared at his useless hands and grinned—he’d beaten the cold, one tiny victory at a time.
Turn 4 Answer
February’s frost bit sharp at Jam Prep, and I found our class iguana, Spike, huddled frozen stiff under the windowsill—his usual scaly swagger gone, claws locked around a half-eaten mealworm. My hands burned then went numb as I fumbled to cup him, fingers refusing to curl around his cold body. I pressed him to my chest, rubbing his back with my wrist since my palms wouldn’t move, and sprinted to the teacher’s desk. By the time we plugged in his heat lamp, his tail twitched once. I stared at my still-numb hands, grinning—we’d brought him back, one clumsy, shivering effort at a time.