Dec. 25

It’s Christmas Day, and we have been so fortunate this year. Jenny and Sarah both got new dresses and they look real pretty-like in ’em. Jenny gots herself some books, too! She was all excited, jumping about like a jackrabbit who’d just found his way into the earth’s biggest carrot patch. She’s gonna have all kinds of fun reading them books.

Pa and Ma were real happy when they got their presents too. Pa got some cleanin’ supplies fer his new hunting gun that he bought not too long ago, and Ma got some new halters. At first, we was confused. Why would Pa get Ma halters? Ain’t got no critters to put in ‘em. And then we got the bestest surprise! Oxen was waitin’ outside, along with a wagon!

We’re movin’ out West!

Dec. 27

After packing up our belongings and placing them in their rightful places, we headed out for the West. Pa and Ma say we’re going to make a new life there. Ma wants me to write in this journal at least once a week, and she wants me to practice my spelling and other learnings when I write.

I don’t see why. I don’t talk like this, so why would I write like this? There’s gonna — I mean going to be plenty of time for school when we get there!

Dec. 29

It keeps getting colder and colder. Up North it gets rightful cold, but not like this. We should be somewhere around the middle of the country by now. How can the middle be so cold? I had always heard stories of the prairie and how the grass stretched up for miles ’til you couldn’t see the sun anymore. But all the grass I see sticking up from the snow is cracked and thin and weak. It practically shatters when you touch it.

Pa says this is a difficult time to make the journey, but that it’s also one of the safest. He’s afraid we’re gonna be raided if we go at a different time. He also says we’re a strong family, the strongest around! He says we’ll make it out West no problem.

Dec. 30

Snow’s starting to fall, which could be real bad. It makes travel harder for us and we can’t seem to find any food. There’s no outposts around here, but we’ve seen a few abandoned cabins. Pa says we may have to take shelter in one of ’em before too long. Sarah’s been getting real cold, her cheeks turning to look like the color of blueberries.

Jan. 1

Wri^^ng  so h^^^. ^^^^^ cold ca^^^^^ feel my ^^nd. Pa ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^stbite. Oxen ^^^^^d ^^ne died. Will ha^^^^^ ^^ use ^^ food. ^^nd whip^^^ ha^^er ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^^. Taking ref^^^^ ^^ ab^^^^^^^^ ^^bin.

Jan. 2

This is John, Jeremy’s father. In finding a suitable shelter, Jeremy has fallen ill. He has asked me to write in his stead, but I’m not sure what there is to write about. Certainly no cheerful news from this frontier.

Both oxen are dead, and we lost a lot of our belongings, including all of our food. Snow has made travel impossible. The wind is bitter and angry. It doesn’t want us to survive. This is a horrible place.

Jan. 4

We lost Sarah to hypothermia. We don’t know what to do with the body. Snow has sealed us into this empty cabin and besides, it’s too cold to go outside.

Jeremy is still holding out for now. The girls have been grieving all day. Their wails hound me when I try to sleep.

Jan. 6

I have become utterly and thoroughly convinced that nothing could survive here in this Hell. The temperatures continue to plummet, and I am sure that soon we will all die. The wagon has become buried in snow, and there will be no way to turn back. I had hoped that we might outlast this blizzard in this cabin, but with things as they are…

Jan. 2

Jeremy, Sarah, and now my beautiful wife Leanna. All gone. Starvation making it hard to focus. Have chewed on boots and bark to try to sustain myself, but they do not satisfy me. I am hungry.

Jan. 3

Jenny has held out amazingly well, considering the circumstances. Either she is incredibly resilient or she is holding out on me. What does she have? What is she hiding? I find myself wondering if she has food or warmth that I don’t know about, the little thief.

So hungry…

Jan. 4

It is the unthinkable, yet I find myself thinking it. It is the un-committable, yet I find myself wondering just how I would cook that meat, and where I would begin… What spices go best with roast leg of human?

END

I found this journal lying in a heap of snow from freshly plowed roads. Lord knows how it got there, but only the devil could conceive its contents. This is a sign, people. This is a sign, Iowa State. This is a sign, President Geoffroy!

And what does that sign say?

CANCEL CLASSES, ALREADY! IT’S COLD! I don’t want to have to resort to cannibalism as I freeze to death in my tiny SUV apartment!

– Sophie Prell is a junior in pre-journalism and mass communication from Alta.