Tears On The Ice

• Harvey Scott, Grade 7, Meridian School -
• Short Story
• 2019

Finalist in the 'Just Keep Writing 2019' competition

Wind and ice slashes across my face cutting it open like a dagger going into flesh… Blood covers my face, running into my eyes so all I can see is red. Slowly I stagger, lost, feeling like I’m going in circles. I trip and land on a pack of ice, I hear a sharp crack. I edge myself up, my hands completely frozen, and feel my chest. A bone is stuck into my stomach, I groan as I push my rib out of my flesh. Pain sweeps over me, as I lean to one side and spew up a mixture of vomit and blood.
Suddenly, I fall into and endless pit of blackness, sucking me in. ‘THUMP!’ I hit the bottom, my legs smash onto the brick like ground. Pain paralyses me, tears whirl up in my nearly blind eyes, stinging them like a whip cracking across them. I lay there unable to move, dying in the most inhumane manner. Without warning, a terrifying howl rampages through me and everything seems to freeze. Every movement stops, and the air no longer moves. Fear rises in me, a tingle, a shake, a shudder runs through me. Like a bullet, something takes over my mind, shuts out the pain and everything goes numb as I claw my way through the snow and ice on my body.
Slowly, I inch forward coughing up blood. I am unaware that my teeth are gashing my lip with every sickening jolt. A trail of blood is left. I reach for something. I force myself into a small gap trying to get away from what is coming. I wipe my frost and blood-stained eyes, so I can merely see. My blood turns cold as I hear a beastly snarl with a pair of luminous green eyes. They slink closer to me. A grey, white coat appears, a mouth lined with razor sharp teeth. It keeps coming closer. I can now see its whole body. ‘So, this is how it will end,’ I think, shivering with terror.
My mind plays back a blurred memory of what happened only 12 hours ago. A freak snow storm had hit us, the biggest in years. Our guide was blown off a cliff leaving my wife and I stranded. The cold was too much for her. I had tried to save her, but it was no use. She gradually died in my arms.
An ocean of tears falls from my face as the memory tears me apart. My mind freezes as I realise the wolf is within striking range. The wolf snaps, quick as lightning, wrenching me out of the gap. He lifts his head and howls into the wind. His pack answers him and follows his voice. He is the alpha, he gets the kill. His fangs close around my neck… my vision fades to darkness.