A COLD NIGHT

• Benjamin Stephenson, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2018

The fire cracking. The car playing songs. The river running faster than anything. A bead of sweat dripped off my face because of the fire. The fire was not a big one but it was hot it was one of them fires that could heat up even the most cold of nights and that's exactly what the night was. It was minus 7. I was wearing 2 jumpers, a big pair of tracksuit pants, the warmest pair of socks and a pair of steel cap boots. It was a wonder the river didn't freeze I still don’t understand that to this day, dad says that it didn’t freeze because of how fast the it was running. I went to grab a drink from my soft drink, I couldn't it was frozen. Dad was right if water was running it wouldn't freeze. I stood up to grab another drink, my legs were frozen not literally but they felt frozen. every step I got colder and colder I opened the esky and the drinks weren't frozen, the warmest place to be was the esky. Once I got back to the fire I felt a lot warmer. I finally settled back in my chair when I hear a scream it was the most blood curdling scream if my bone marrow wasn't frozen enough it was now. I jump up faster than the cold could follow I instantly start running the to scream, because it was my dad. My dog follows me she knew what was going on every step I take I feel slower the cold was finally catching up to me. While I was running I was thinking about what could happen to my dad, just the thought of seeing my dad’s mangled body eaten and discarded by wild dog’s or frozen under the cold water, I was concerned about that because dad said that he was going to check the rod’s. All the sudden I hear a quiet gasp I freeze I look over at him. I. Felt. sick. He was blue I ran over to him the water that was in the river was now turning into ice on him. all the weight was lifted off my back but another heaver one was put on. I ran over and lifted him up I put him on my shoulders 100kg felt like nothing. I ran back to the car with 100kg on my shoulders I got the confused dog in the car, started the car and it jumped to life with a few coughs and splatters because of the cold. It was 2 hours to the nearest hospital and I needed to get to it fast. Every second felt like one minute. It was also killing me the thought of my dad dying would make me want to die, but on the bright side I knew learning how to drive a manual would come in handy one day, but finally we got to the hospital the weight was lifted of me.