Under Ice

• Indigo Kassel, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2022

The snow was falling from the gloomy grey sky, the ground was frozen solid. On a cold and gloomy night, I attempted to light the fire. After collecting wood from by the lake, my frozen fingers fumbled striking the damp matches into the grate. The bitter cold had made my bones ache and my muscles tight. In a hot sweat next to the feeble fire, I felt myself being lured into dizzy sleep.

Cold sweat beading up on my lip and brow as I fretted among the sheets, drenched with the sweat from a waking nightmare. Struggling to fill my lungs, my vision was obscured by the horror of this dream from which I could not escape. The shiver of frosty night air blowing in from the opened window crawled up my spine and my skin seemed to pucker from the cold. Flashes of a creature whose ghastly form augmented my mind. Its skin was blue as if it had been asleep under the thick frozen surface of the lake. In the form of a woman, icicles clung to its long lank hair. Her dress, torn and ragged. Her red-raw fingers grabbed my wrist, shocked by its icy embrace, I was startled awake.

Ardently I leapt from my bed, convinced that the creature which stirred me from my sleep would be standing before me. But alas all I saw in my chamber were fading embers of my weak fire in the grate and the silken curtains flapping and swirling out the open window. I stole a glance at my wrist, the unpleasant sting of a frozen hand still tingling my skin.

Urged by shivering misery I drew the curtains and fastened the window. I clambered back to bed. The horrid image of the frozen woman swirling before my eyes as I was lulled back into fretful sleep.

I was roused the next morning by the dull light of a feeble sun behind green-grey clouds. My supply of firewood was dwindling, and I felt the motivation to restock that which kept me warm.

I began to load my sled with logs. Seeing a promising pile of logs across the lake, I began to walk over the slippery surface of the frozen lake. When adjusting the handle of my sled, a splinter of wood sliced my glove and pierced my icy skin. I winced as the blood began to soak through my glove and drip onto the ice.

I then felt a reverberating boom vibrate the ice. I felt the fear creep up my limbs as the thudding that seemed to be coming from under the ice approached. My body was frozen. This thudding was fast approaching until it seemed to be right under my feet. I looked down and thought I saw movement below. I knelt down resting on my haunches. I brushed the powdery surface of the ice and with a shock I felt the thud again, accompanied by the familiar sight of frozen fists banging the ice from below.