The wind howled like a wolf circling its prey, rattling the windows of the small farmhouse. Snow piled higher by the hour, burying the fences and erasing the world beyond the walls. Inside, the Murphy family huddled close to the crackling fire.

Pa paced the room, his shadow flickering on the log walls. "If this keeps up, the barn’ll collapse under the weight," he muttered, pulling on his coat.

"You’re not going out there," Ma snapped, clutching her shawl. "You’ll freeze before you get halfway."

"I won’t lose the animals, Margaret."

"You’ll lose yourself. Then what’ll we do?"

Their eldest, Sarah, watched in silence, her little brother Timmy tucked under her arm. The boy’s face was pale, his breath shallow—he’d been coughing for days, and the cold made it worse.

"We could dig a tunnel," Sarah said suddenly.

Pa stopped pacing. "What?"

"A tunnel. To the barn. We could make it, all of us together."

"Don’t be ridiculous," Ma said.

But Pa’s face lit with the stubborn determination Sarah had seen in herself. He grabbed a spade from the corner and handed it to her. "Let’s see if you’re right, girl."

The snow was suffocating, the kind that swallowed sound and pressed heavy against your chest. They worked in shifts, Pa digging while Sarah cleared, then Ma taking a turn when Pa’s hands turned blue. They made slow progress, each inch a battle.

By dawn, they reached the barn. The roof sagged under the weight of snow, but the animals inside were alive, their warmth a welcome relief.

When they returned to the house, Timmy’s cough had worsened. Ma sat by his side, stroking his hair, her face lined with worry.

"We’ll get through this," Pa said, his voice breaking for the first time.

Ma looked at him, and in that moment, Sarah saw something unspoken pass between them—a history of struggles, of losses, of love that refused to waver.

As the storm raged on, the family gathered closer. Secrets fell away like snowflakes, unspoken hurts softened by the warmth of survival. And though the world outside was buried, within those walls, they found something stronger than the blizzard: each other.