From Beneath the Snow

By Ifeoluwa Akintola

When one is young, you go out on adventures. That was the plan for the five friends who would make their hike up Drift Peak to see a site rumored to be the most beautiful in the world. What they did not know was that something else lived on the peak and was not happy with visitors. Will these hikers discover a way to escape what came from beneath the snow?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Epic Worlds, LLC
• Release date: Jan 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393017615

Ifeoluwa Akintola

Ife Akintola is a poet, an educator, and an author of thrillers for adults, youth and teens. A co-author of the book; ‘The Ujuzi (A Collection of Contemporary Short Stories and Poems) by Deji Akin (2015). She studied English language in the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. She was born in Ibadan, Nigeria and has lived most of her life in Lagos. When not writing or teaching kids in Ajah suburbs of Lagos, Ife can be found haunting local book shops in search for her next read.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Meredith Jolie

The reflection of a late morning sun flooded the room where Meredith was lightly snoring. She hated too much brightness when sleeping, and if she had not been almost absolutely unconscious when she fell asleep, she would have ensured that the blinds were closed adequately before she slept.

It, however, took the effort of her phone’s alarm to bring her back to life. She sniffed hard and turned to ignore the phone, but there was the brightness already, penetrating through her transparent green eyes and shutting off whatever drowsy feeling was left in her.

Meredith scrunched her face into a frown; not the best way to be awoken, she shoved the duvet aside and slipped out of bed.

She had spent a long night with the neighbors, chattering, sniggering, and drinking, before drowsily staggering into her apartment to sleep. She had decided to give them that time because Jeff complained that she rarely played with them ever since she got that job at Legend Bite. Meredith didn't want to be responsible for causing a wedge between the friendship, so she consented to the boys' small party.

As she got into her slippers, she inhaled the freshness of the air and stared around the room. Just outside her glass window, a quiet owl was waiting to see her acknowledge its gaze. When she finally did, the owl hooted, shook its little tail and flew away into the cold morning.

Meredith chuckled at the delightful sigh and then dragged her legs lazily to the bathroom.

As the toothbrush ran around her mouth, gliding roughly over the thirty-two top teeth she had, memories of the night strolled into her thoughts. Or perhaps, only parts of it.

She could hardly remember what had happened after drinking her third bottle of beer and the third shot of vodka - taken amidst jokes and teases. Despite the atmosphere and dizziness in her eyes, she could remember the boys comported themselves well enough when they were together. She trusted them that much.

As she spat foams of chloride into the drain, she remembered the discussion about following them on their next mountain climbing tour.

The discussion on that matter was not very clear in her head now, but she acutely remembered consenting to that request. Even now, as she tried hard to remember details of the discussion, she felt excited at the thought of climbing mountains again.

It had been two years since Meredith last climbed any mountain. Maryjane had told her about a minor accident that had occurred when the former was climbing the northwest face of Kasky Peak, and an unprecedented fragment of ice broke off and crashed along her path. Despite narrowly escaping what could have been a colossal disaster, the incident left a gashing wound beneath M.J.'s thighs.

Following Maryjane’s story, the group of mountain climbing friends had all coincidentally pushed the activity aside for several months. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t have taken their chances if the opportunity arose, but many things have gotten in the way.

When the boys mentioned it, a tipsy Meredith