"N-no! Wait! Mr. Unicorn!" She watched him walk away, distraught, then looked up at the tree he'd been looking at. She spotted something glinting... a key! She squinted at it. That was much too far up to climb. "Hmm..." She picked up a fallen stick and threw it. The stick fell short of the key by quite a lot; she didn't have the best arm for throwing. She groaned in frustration. "There are no branches low enough for me to climb even part way... and if I leave to look for tools, I'll probably never find my way back!"<br/><br/>She paced around in a circle, thinking. She spotted another tree. This one was a pine, which would be much better for climbing. "Maybe if I just..." She picked up another stick and started climbing this tree, unbalanced on the icy branches. As she got higher, she became faintly aware of how dangerous this was. She didn't dare look down, and by some stroke of luck, she made it high enough to  clearly see the key.<br/><br/>There was branch just above her that seemed to reach for the key, its needles brushing up against the branch from which the key hung. If she could just crawl out there... She swung herself up onto the branch and clung to it, slowly inching away from the trunk of the tree. By this time she'd dropped her stick, so she had to get far enough to reach to key.<br/><br/>By now the rest of the world had faded away. She was focused on only one thing: that key. She reached out one shaky arm and brushed her fingers against it. It swayed a little out of her grasp, but she pulled at the rope with one finger and brought it firmly into her palm. She gave a tug that shook the branch she was on.<span style="font-weight: bold">C-CRACK</span>---She bit her lip, closing her eyes tightly. After a few moments, she exhaled. The branch was miraculously still attached to the tree.<br/><br/>Now she had a different problem. The key was firmly tied to the rope, and the rope was firmly tied to the tree. She couldn't get it off just by pulling. She would have to use both hands to undo the knot. Wrapping her legs around the tree branch tightly, she reached out again with both hands and fumbled with the knot. Just as it started to come loose, the branch gave another  loud<span style="font-weight: bold">CRACK</span>and gave way. She clung to the key, and, screaming, with it clutched tightly in her hand, she fell. Branches snapped and slowed her fall, while scratching up her skin and leaving hot welts all over her body.<br/><br/>She hit the ground with a sickening crunch, letting out a cry of pain. She had landed on her side, breaking her arm, and a few ribs. Blood seeped from her cuts into the snow, but she had the key in her hand. For what seemed like an eternity, she laid on the ground, body wracked with pain, snow falling on her.<br/><br/>Finally, she pushed herself up, and slowly and painfully dragged herself over to the gate. Trembling, she got into her feet, and with her good arm she put the key into the lock and turned it. "I hope this was worth it," she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I won't be able to make it back home like this."