"Westbound Interstate 40 is still closed after the fatal five-car pileup four hours ago. State patrol suggests the road should be cleared within a few more hours…"

I sat on my bed half-listening to the evening news while trying to figure out my homework. Junior year had definitely been the hardest school year, but senior year of high school came with plenty of homework, and calculus two was throwing me for a loop.

"Eight state governors have already declared a "state of emergency" as Winter Storm Procella looms. Meteorologists predict landfall by tomorrow afternoon…"

Barely registering the drone of the tv, I tried to finish the integration problem I was stuck on, but realized I had worked it wrong. I erased my work and started to try again, only to stop as I glanced at the tv. Three words on the subtitle catch my attention, and I turned it up.

"…We can expect several feet of snow over a forty-eight-hour period, though how many feet remains to be seen. Procella will make landfall just south of us, near Charleston, then crawl up the coast toward New England…"

I was stunned for a second. Feet of snow? This is Tennessee; we don't get feet of snow. We barely get inches. I watch the video for another minute or so as the news anchor described the other storm coming in from the east. The two storms were going to collide right above us, completely pounding us with snow.

Of course, my first thought was utter joy: no school tomorrow! Which means no homework tonight! Then reality set in, "Oh, crud!" I bolted down the stairs.

"Mom! Machaela! Jesse! Turn on the news!"

I hurried into the living room where I found them lounging on the couch staring at me, some mystery solving show on the tv. I reached down and scooped up the remote. Pressing the record button to save their show, I turned it to the local news, which was now showing sole coverage of the coming storm.

Once they realized what was going on, various versions of euphemisms started flying around, and I spoke up again. "We need to get a move on. It's due midday tomorrow, but I bet it'll hit sooner. Mom, the store should still be open. We need to have enough food and supplies to last at least a week and a half. We currently only have a few days' worth, and we all know the town won't reopen for a while. The shelves are probably getting bare even now. Jesse, go bring in as much firewood as you can. Stack it in the garage. They said earlier the temperatures will stay in the twenties during the day for a while. Machaela, help me turn the living room into a sleeping area, then we're going to start putting wards around the house."

Mom was out the door almost before I finished speaking. She would go to the small shop up the street first before trying Walmart, and she took along her LotusCash card to make sure we could afford that many groceries at once, especially since a betting war could get started with the incoming storm. With how crazy people here acted with only a few inches, I knew people would go insane with the real storm coming in. We rarely get snow in this part of the country, so several feet coming in would close the town. She may have to fight for some groceries.

Jesse grabbed a coat and gloves and went out back, where I soon heard him moving wood in. We'd use that in the wood fireplace. As long as he brought in a big enough stack, we'd have heat and something to cook over if the power went out.

Machaela and I cranked up the volume so we could hear the storm coverage, then started moving around the house gathering blankets, pillows, and other bedding. We also plugged in any rechargeable device, plus all of our power-packs to ensure things stayed charged if the power went out. We found fresh batteries and assigned them to various devices, and brought candles down from the tops of closets.

By the time we gathered everything we might need downstairs, Mom was back from the store with a carload of groceries, which we helped put away. She went to help Jesse with the firewood and Machaela and I went outside to the front of the house to start warding the house. We couldn't do anything in the way of preventing the snow from falling or piling up, but our spells made sure the house wouldn't collapse under the weight, and the cold would better stay on the outside.

Finally, a few hours after sundown, we'd done everything we could to prepare, and all we could do was wait for the storm to hit.

And hit it did. Though not forecasted until the next afternoon, snow had started to fall by the time I woke early the next morning.

By lunchtime, we had at least a foot of snow on the ground, and the four of us decided to have some fun with it. The snow still falling hard, we bundled up and went outside. Without a hill to sled down, we planned to build a snowman.

Mom and Machaela turned and started compacting the quickly gathering snow when I got a mischievous idea. I glanced over at Jesse, then grabbed a plastic stick I'd brought out with me. The stick had an empty ball on the end, cut in half, with one side spring loaded to close the sphere when pressed. Holding up my toy, I slammed it up and down in the thick snow, then swung it like a lacrosse stick. A tightly packed snowball hit Machaela in the back right as I hid my snowball launcher. I looked around as if search for sticks for our snowman and Machaela, unsure which of us had thrown the snowball, went back to gathering snow. By now, Jesse had realized what I'd done. I packed another snowball, and he packed a second. Mine hit Machaela again, while Jesse's hit Mom.

Machaela spun around in time to see Jesse's hit Mom, and that time I couldn't pretend innocence. I dove behind a nearby tree while Machaela and Mom stopped gathering snow and started packing it into snowballs, and a snowball fight ensued.

Snowman completely forgotten, the snowballs flew back and forth across the yard until all of us were much too frozen to continue the fight, and too worn out from tromping through the now-foot-and-a-half deep snow. We piled inside to warm up and dry off.

Hello, my wonderful readers. This is a new story I started writing after my state got hit with a record blizzard just over a month ago. There won't be an updating schedule for this. It's not done yet and I don't know when I'll get to it, but posting this first chapter is a promise to finish it. Let me know what you think of this first chapter! :)

Someone I used to talk to has a b-day today. Idk if you read my stories anymore, but happy birthday! You know who you are :)

My eternal disclaimer is still on my profile.