A typical Wisconsin winter day turns dark and miserable in a flash of an eye for senior, Savannah Ely. As an avid skier, she hits the slopes with family friends a day in January.

With a classic day of skiing under her belt, Savannah determines it’s time to turn it up a notch and head to the trick park where jumps, moguls and ramps lie. She guides herself down the hill and glides over to the rollers; when all of a sudden ー BAM ー someone cuts in front of her and falls. She tries to turn out of the way, but hits an ice patch and slides into the ravine where she hits a light pole.

The shock takes over.

She feels no pain as the ski patrol medics brace her arm, reset her leg into place, and wonder how she did not make a sound through the pain. They drag her on the stretcher to the ambulance where she travels in fear to the hospital because she is not allowed to talk with her mom on the phone.

“When things like this happen, you just want your parents there.”

After an emergency surgery, she knows her life will never be the same because of the scars that mark her skin like snakes and the mental horrors that exist in her head of that day.

Though she has no hostility toward the man that made her crash, she resents the fact that he made no attempt to call for help. Rather than securing a medic, he simply skied away. His level of crudeness makes her realize that not all people are full of selflessness as she thought; therefore, she expresses a new gratitude to those that have helped her through recovery.

She learns to admire those who provide help on dark days.