Chasing a ghost through the vast white
Microfiction
“Halligan!”
I can see his silhouette some way in the distance. He has been there for a while but he doesn’t seem to move, either toward or away from me.
I intend to shout his name but it comes out in a raspy whisper against the furious wind and is carried sadly off with it.
Everything is bright. Sun glaring off mountain snow; the air so thin that each breath is like trying to gulp down a litre of water when all you have is a thimbleful.
I lost the rest of the team yesterday and now have no notion of how to proceed through this malignant terrain. I can feel splotchy, biting burns on both of my cheeks: ice scorching like flame through my skin; coldness burrowing through every muscle; into the very marrow of every bone. Vaguely, I think I can hear my lungs squeaking with the effort of each inhale, like a sad plea for help from somewhere far in the distance.
“Halligan!”
This time it’s even huskier.
The spectre remains. If only I could reach it.
I consider then with the bitter pang of regret the obstinate, ugly arrogance of what I felt when I stepped off the plane at Kathmandu all those weeks ago, like some godfuckingdamn hero; all-powerful; strong; special. Even in my turmoil, I scoff at the thought now, standing here, wide-eyed in the snow, like a young Arctic hare who has lost his family in the endlessness of the vast white.
About the Creator
Beth Sarah
We've been scribbled in the margins of a story that is patently absurd
Reader insights
Nice work
Very well written. Keep up the good work!
Top insights
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Masterful proofreading
Zero grammar & spelling mistakes
On-point and relevant
Writing reflected the title & theme
Comments (11)
Congrats on Top Story!🥳
That's a lot of character progression in not very many words! Well done 👏
Exceptional work! Keep up the remarkable progress—congratulations!
The narrators voice resonated with me. I could feel the isolation and the bravado turned into fear. Excellent storytelling!❄️
Perfect and vivid descriptions that place me in the MC place, feeling the despair . Congratulations
congratulations on TS. that said, I could actually feel my lungs hurt and burn as your described what I interpreted as lungs freezing in the icy cold. GREAT story and even better story telling. Amazing.
Impressive... 🏔
This is stark scariness.
Damn this is good!!! Wow what a vivid and wildly sensory-filled piece
Wow I loved the descriptive words so much!
Arrogance in the face of Gaurishankar, reminiscent of the movie, "Everest", & the true story it relates (as far as it is known).