The icy wind blowing across my hands and face was extremely cold. Needle-like ice crystals found their way into every infinitesimal crevice of my thin fleece jacket and froze on my chest. The sensation in my ears and feet had stopped long ago. Instead, a dull ache had spread to my extremities. At first, the numbness had been a welcome relief, but now I longed to use my hands as I struggled to open the gate I'd searched for hours. A warm light shone from the windows of a cozy house a few hundred meters away, although I couldn't see it through the snow. My useless fingers continued to push and scrape against the lock, but the unyielding steel had been immobilized by layers of ice. Below me, my legs buckled in exhaustion and defeat. I leaned against the fence and let the relentless snow begin to bury me. I felt like I had been wandering around this frozen purgatory forever. The kiss of the summer sun on my face and the joy in my mother's smile were only brief flashes of memories, quickly extinguished by the endless expanse of s...