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Man was it ever frigid!

And they say it's global warming, well whatever! Wold love to see some of those extra degrees endangering the Earth right about now!

All the while driving to the house I was cursing and pleading with my piece of crap car ( DO NOT GIVE UP ON ME!). Those hills are bad on good days and hell on bad days and this was the epitome of catastrophe.

High winds, drifts of snow, temperatures below minus 40 centigrades, stepping outside the car was like entering the forbidden realm of Antarctica. I could have sworn my nose was frostbitten going from the office building to the car and I decided against tanking up although I was close to empty because I couldn't bear facing the wind and pumping gas, I had forgotten my gloves in the office.

All I wanted was to go home and relax, turn the furnace on full, chase that chill from my bones. Drink hot chocolate drowning in marshmallows, or hot soup, anything that would burn seemed like an awesome idea.

The house was dark as I pulled in, but it still looked like salvation. Grabbing my wallet, phone, bag, I took one deep breath, cringed against the inevitable, wishing I wasn't in heels and skirt, and plunged outside.

As bad as I expected or worse. The wind was a unforgiving slap in the face that stole the breath right out of me. I was nonetheless climbing over the drifts immediately before I became a permanent decoration in my front yard.

What ever had possessed me to want to live in the boonies? Away from noise and people and nosy neighbors? Right now I would have given anything for another house to give me some relief from the wind.

Anything that would have dispelled the " Last Person On Wasteland Earth " vibe I was getting from the environment.

Inside it would be bliss. Hot shower for an hour, furnace blasting, I would recuperate from that aggravating assault.

And never again wearing heels to the office, no matter what important client we would be entertaining. And scratch skirts permanently in winter as I tried to maneuver around those drifts with the wind whipping at me from every direction. I was already blue all over as I reached the front porch, but finally! Relief in sight!

My fingers were numb but I was too happy to see the touchpad, one quick code and my hell would be over. A very modern house I was renting, top of the line, the future in home technology. Meant for richer people than me but I was giving it a trial run, fixing the bugs, so to speak, before really important people would move in.

And bugs there were. The voice assistant worked only a quarter of the time, couldn't cook for crap... The washing machine started tumbling in the middle of the night, and the self-contained vacuum robots could start up a ruckus at any time of the day or night... and forgo the carpets in favor of the hardwood floors.

But as long as there were bugs, the house remained mine, and that was all that mattered.

The house assistant should have let me in ( the doors had no handles) just with me saying: Here I am ! but it wasn't working and no one had come to fix it, so the pad was my only option.

Quickly, with fingers that were bright red and I couldn't feel anymore, I typed in my access code.

I was at the door waiting for it to open and so I barely heard the negative buzz. But when the door didn't open, I couldn't ignore it anymore.

" UGHHHH, come on! " I grunted when I saw the message on the viewscreen.

John, the password is incorrect. Please try again.

A glitch at the worse possible time. Not like I am called John and no reason why it would reject my password as I had typed in the right one.

Cursing and swearing in my head ( and I know quite a few that would make sailors blush) I typed in my code again, going more slowly and carefully, to be sure to get it right. This day was really a nightmare.

Password incorrect.

" You piece of craaaaaaaaap! " I yelled, and gave it a mighty whack.

I just ended up hurting my hand, it felt as though the whole thing was frozen solid. The cold was robbing me of any conscious thought, all I needed was to get in.

Why was so hard to get in!

" Let me in, let me in! " I growled, hitting the keys with a vengeance, as though that would somehow help. But I had no better idea. I was definitely freezing in place.

The screen started flashing: Reset Your Password.

I felt like screaming even harder. What was this joke? I couldn't take a minute more of that wind. But there wasn't even a handle that I could shake or pull, nothing at all, that door was sleek and impenetrable.

The cold was too numbing, my brain wasn't able to process, my toes were cold lumps in my useless shoes, what was happening?

I needed heat and quick, was I going into hypothermia? Confusion was a symptom of hypothermia, at least I thought I remembered that.

The house, I needed in! The pad was my only hope.

I tried to heat up my fingers by rubbing them together but that was a lost cause. How I wished I hadn't given up smoking... not that a lighter would have helped me now, the flame would have probably been snuffed out by the wind...

Pins and needles in my legs, I was really freezing, I had to get in! I clicked on reset password, maybe the system just needed a nudge in the right direction. The code to identify and prove my identity would be sent to my phone but there was a delay, a few minutes, and I was not sure I could stand the cold for so long.

I made my decision, but in truth I had no choice, I could barely move. I had to go back to my car and get the heat back in my limbs.

The wind had already rebuilt the drifts, I was crying as I made my way back to the car. How could everything be going so badly right now?

But I didn't know the half of it. I took out my keys and beeped my car open, but when came the time to get the door open, it would not budge. The wind and snow had frozen it in place. I couldn't even feel my fingers, the metal was burning cold, I didn't even know if I was applying any pressure at all.

And all I could think was: This Cannot Be Happening.

What was happening? I was locked out of my home and car, away from any source of heat, in an arctic blizzard.

I realized with some numbness that I could very well die. In fact I was dying this very instant, I needed to call for help. I was so frozen I couldn't even think properly anymore. I had trouble holding onto my phone and it was slow, the screen a bit frosted over... and the too obvious happened.

No signal. I found myself laughing hysterically. Could this really be happening?

How to get in the house and call for help to get in the car?

How to get into the car to get inside the house?

This was hilarious, one password meant the difference between life and death, more than hilarious... but suddenly I was crying, the tears freezing my lashes together. Staying in place would get me dead, maybe near the house I could think properly again?

The drifts were even higher, if such a feat was possible. I lost my heels and continued barefoot, I couldn't even feel my feet anymore, so what difference did it make?

The front door was locked, sealed tight, and I couldn't get inside. I could see inside through the window but I could not get inside.

So what to do?

My phone was still in my hand but the screen was blank, it had stopped working. No codes for me.

That seemed hilariously sad, was I crying or giggling uncontrollably?

The window.

I was about to drop to my whitened knees ( already swelling) when I remembered the window. Made of glass. I could break it. I could get inside, or at the very least start the alarm and get armed agents to save me. Anyone would be welcome at this point, anyone at all. I hit my hand against the window. I couldn't feel pain but neither could the glass, apparently. I barely heard any sign that it had had any effect.

I hit with my elbow, my phone until it broke apart, my purpling foot. Nothing. And out of breath and literally frozen, that was when I saw in small characters on the glass. Armored Glass.

I slipped and fell, laughing or crying, but at that point it didn't really matter.

What a perfect home, meant to keep everyone out.

The future of homeowners. Technology at its best.

Reset your password...