Micah did not remember the exact second he lost his balance.
One moment, the world was bright: white snow, blue sky, wind biting at his cheeks as the tube sped downhill. The next, everything tilted violently.
His head struck something hard. A sharp crack echoed inside his skull, followed by a burst of white light behind his eyes. It felt as though the sky itself had shattered and collapsed inward.
He rolled. The slope was steeper than he had realised. His body tumbled, shoulder scraping against packed snow, ribs knocking against hidden stones buried beneath the thin layer of ice. Then his forehead hit something small but solid, a stone protruding from the frozen ground.
The impact made his vision explode into darkness. When he forced his eyes open again, everything was wrong. The world swam in and out of focus. Snowflakes blurred into streaks. The sky felt too far away. Warm liquid trickled down the side of his face.
