Misfortune: Christmas With Scrooge Read Online Free PDF

away
from this man, and as far away as possible.
    Her attempts, however, proved to be useless.
The vehicle's resting position left her movements clumsy. She
couldn't seem to get a grip in order to extricate herself from his
disturbing body.
    At last, mortified, she had no alternative
but to ask for help. “Would you mind lifting me slightly so I can
get my balance?”
    Throughout her struggles he remained silent,
his body stiff and his face set in a dark foreboding stillness.
Now, he stared unsmiling up at her. “Why did you come back here in
the first place?”
    “You were shivering,” she uttered
defenseless.
    “So?” He snapped.
    “Well, it seemed a good idea at the
time.”
    Sighing heavily, he placed two large hands
around her tiny waist and firmly lifted her to one side. Then in
one swift motion he sat up, separating the distance between
them.
    She muttered thanks and received no response.
Instead he looked out the window surveying their predicament. The
sun had come up and shone its brilliant light over the earth. The
daylight provided a clear view of their location. It was much worse
than he feared.
    Not more than three feet away, the edge of
the gorge dropped off to the rocky ravine far below. Laura shivered
from the realization. Dexter's expression only sharpened into a
harsh grimace.
    “Let's go.”
    “I can't.” All of a sudden she froze, her
fear from the night before, resurfaced.
    “What do you mean you can't?”
    She turned a frightened face from the gorge
to him and repeated, “I-I mean, I can't.”
    Still scowling he stared at her, then,
unexpectedly, the smallest flicker of understanding crossed his
features before he immediately turned away, suppressing the look.
“If you plan on getting off this ledge I suggest you ignore your
childlike fears and get your—”
    “Childlike!” If he had slapped her, she
couldn’t have felt more anger swiftly replace her fear. “How dare
you! Just because you are some fearless barbarian willing to come
down this gorge—”
    “Barbarian, possibly.” He gave her.
“Fearless, no. Now move it, or be left behind.”
    Her eyes widened in shock. He wouldn’t dare!
Then, not waiting to see if he was serious, she sprung over the
front seat intent for the open window. However, she had moved too
quickly, causing the car to rock precariously in its unusual
resting spot between the two trees. Immediately, she froze and
glanced behind to Dexter. Their eyes locked as they waited a heart
stopping moment for the car to settle. When the rocking at last
eased, he visibly relaxed and nodded to the window. “Let’s go.”
    Nodding, she began again, crawling across the
front seats toward the open window. She had just managed to plant
her knee over the shift gear when she heard Dexter shout, “Get out,
now?”
    He vaulted the front seat, barking and
shoving at her backside propelling her non-too-politely out the
window. “The car's moving! Move it!”
    With a forceful heave, he shoved her out the
window. Fear gripped Laura once more and caused her movements to
falter half way through the window.
    Enough for Dexter to shout at her. “Move,
Laura, now!”
    Then she felt his hands on her backside and
her body hurled carelessly into the snow outside. She turned just
as Dexter came flying toward her; the vehicle behind him groaning
as it completed the 180-degree somersault to its demise far
below.
    She sat stunned staring after it, realizing
what happened could have easily befallen them last night as they
slept. An eerie chill swept up her spine. He noticed her shivers.
“I sure hope you have insurance on that thing.”
    She looked at him. What a stupid thing to
say. A stupid, uncaring, and unemotional thing to say. Here she
sat, convinced she was traumatized for life, and all he cared about
was if she had insurance or not.
    “I'm fine thank you.” The sharp edge in her
voice surprised her.
    “Then let's go.” He got to his feet.
    Reluctantly she followed, battling a