When David opened his eyes, he wondered if he was dead, for all he could see was a white, filmy emptiness that seemed to stretch out forever. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't feel anything. In fact, he could not be sure that he had a body at all. The situation he found himself in struck him as very unexpected, but he was not afraid. If he really was dead, then he would proceed with the same detached, analytic mindset that he'd had in life.
The last thing he could remember was falling asleep in the shade of the tree he'd been sitting under to avoid the summer heat. He couldn't imagine how he had died, but it seemed that somehow he had, and was now in some sort of afterlife. David had never really believed in an afterlife, but the two possibilities that immediately occurred to him were heaven and hell. Now, the whole whiteness stretching out forever thing certainly gave off a heaven sort of vibe, but something about that conclusion seemed off. This place felt too desolate, like he was all alone in the universe, and he didn't feel particularly euphoric or blissful. Besides, David was not a particularly good person, and he'd always wagered that if an afterlife actually did exist, then hell would be his destination. But something about that conclusion seemed off too. Hell was supposed to be a fiery inferno, but this place was... cold. He was beginning to feel it now. An intense coldness permeating his entire body.
This is much to cold for hell, he thought. As his senses returned to him, he slowly unburied himself from the blanket snow that had accumulated atop his body. He was still beneath the same tree that he had fallen asleep under, but it too was covered in snow, as was the entire surrounding landscape. It was still snowing heavily, so much so that could barely see in front of him. A howling wind gnashed at his body, and his sense of depth was thrown off by all the whiteness. He had to lean against the tree with his arm to prevent himself from falling down. However, even if he did fall, his fall wouldn't be very far, since the snow was already up to his waist.
How could it be snowing this much in the summer? Trying to get his bearings, David pulled his smartphone from out of his shorts pocket and squinted at the screen. Luckily, the phone had not been damaged. He saw that he had gotten an notification a few hours ago, which read:
Emergency Alert System
Severity: Extreme
National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning. Please remain indoors. Total accumulation is indeterminate. Blizzard warning will remain in effect indefinitely.
He also saw that he had a number of missed calls and texts asking him some variation of "where are you?" or "are you okay?" He could not focus on answering these texts now though. First thing was first. He needed to get the hell out of the cold, or he really wouldn't be okay for much longer. Slowly, he trudged his way through the snow, making his way back to his house.
I am so cold, he thought.