Ice

• Aleyah Boyd, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

The snow piled up thick against the damp window as I crawled out of the thin linen sheets that had sprawled themselves across my weary body and the bed that previous night. I walked downstairs to eat the leftover soup from last night's dinner. While I put the food in the microwave a sense of uneasiness set itself upon my mind, searing it there and leaking the bad thoughts like great drops of blood from a freshly opened cut. I tried blocking out the thoughts as I approached the front door with a lumpy sack of a backpack but they were too big of a siren.
When I opened the door, the bitter wind washed over me biting my face. I struggled through the snow to my friend's house. We walked together along the crooked path towards the frozen lake that we had to cross in order to get to our school. In the background I could hear a distant echo calling out to me and warning me but before I could follow its unknown advice I heard the ice crack under the pressure of my body. The cracks got larger as I tried to shift my weight onto the snowy platform above me. I couldn't move! If I tried, I would be an ice block in seconds! I felt my body turn into a puddle of water and my legs become stiff and paralysed as the thought that I couldn’t call for help and that my friend had already run away in search of help thundered through my head. Just as she came back I fell in!
I swam through my panic-stricken brain like a clownfish trying to frantically escape the jaws of a hungry great white. Now I knew I couldn’t escape this. Suddenly a deafening noise started screaming in my ears but before it could get louder there was a thud and the siren stopped. I felt my head sink deeper into the dark depths of this icy mess. Although I felt weak, I forced my hands as far up as I could and tried to pull the water so I could reach the surface level, but nothing worked! The sand drew closer and just as I hit it's coarse texture, there was a sudden blackness which started to cover my eyes in entirety like a black hole, hungry for anything in its path. The darkness seemed to be getting darker and darker as the seconds went by, until all my thoughts had vanished and I seemed to be a cloud floating above the heavens and the houses. All of a sudden there was a slight beeping noise and a harsh ringing in my ears that seemed to be piercing my ear drums. Then there was a sweet purr that relaxed me and took me to a soft, soothing happy place. It seemed to be telling me something, but the only words I could make out were, "Don't worry my child, you are in safe hands now."