My teeth chattered almost painfully. I tried to keep my tongue back for fear of biting it straight off. I could no longer feel my toes or my fingertips. My legs ached from walking for so long and so far, I believed myself delirious. There were blurred lights in the distance and I laughed at myself for believing they were really there, but I pressed forward a bit more urgently anyway. I tripped and fell a couple times, but I kept going. The lights grew more intense, as they would have if they were real and I was really getting closer.

The smell of woodsmoke hit my nose and I almost sighed contentedly. I could make out shapes of little houses just a bit further away, but my legs just wouldn’t carry me. I was so tired and so cold and so hungry. I tried to move forward, but my legs buckled under me and I stumbled towards the ground. I thought of a hot meal and a warm bed and I felt my breathing slow to almost nothing before my vision faded to black.