Breaking Through the Ice

Cold. Dense. The hills and mountains along the Alaskan ranges sat in steep piles. Between every curve and mythical peak on these mountains, sat various amounts of these ice crystals. However, there was this myth of the ancient snow creature that lived amongst them. From the sides of the mountains, all the way down into a valley also sat steep piles of snow. There were also many lakes and ponds that had been frozen over. All the kids in the small neighborhoods would go ice skating every day on them. But, there was one frozen over pond that no one dared skate across. It's said in the stories and myths that this very pond lies in the valley up against the snowy mountains, where the snow creature, the Minotaur passes through throughout the day. So from there, everyone was scared and avoided it.

One day, all the kids in the neighborhood came out when it started to snow. Running across every snowflake that landed. Every kid in their giant snow jacket and thick gloves grabbed snow off the ground, balled it up real tight, and threw it at another kid, thus starting a rapid pass back and forth of a snowball fight. But, there was a kid who thought he was the biggest and the coolest of all the kids in the neighborhood, his name is Ted. He was the neighborhood bully in a sense. As he came out to play in the snowball fight, every kid started to slow down the fight and soon enough stopped.

“Don’t just quit because I came out here. Now let’s play losers”. He said.

The kids felt very frightened and a little threatened. They picked up their snow balls and started up the game once more. Ted had walked over and picked up a chunk of snow. He smashed it into a ball, but it was harder than any snowball that these kids formed. And he forcefully launched it from his placement to across the way, hitting a poor kid right in the nose. He fell to the ground and grabbed his face as he started to cry. There was blood gushing out his nose. Some of the kids ran over to help him, and took him to his home. Ted laughed and called him a loser. Then he walked away. Loser seemed to be Teds all time favorite word.

After that incident that afternoon, Ted was bragging about it to his buddies as they played a game on their PS4 all night. He kept bragging about how he made a kid bleed today and that he thought it was amazing. His buddies however, didn’t so much agree it was funny, but they just went along with it anyway.

As the next day rolled around, the sun started to peek through the Alaskan clouds. Sun glistening off of the pearly white snow. You can almost hear the faint sound of birds, but birds aren’t so common, as it is too cold throughout the days and nights. But you can barely hear them. Some kids came out to play and build snowmen. But not a lot of kids came out because of what happened the day before. They used carrots for noses, raisins for eyes, rocks for buttons and sticks for arms.

Throughout the day, Ted was sitting in his room. Plotting with his buddies. They were going to go to the pond that lied underneath the mountains, even though the myth had still been in place. No one dared to ever go near the edge of the mountains, especially to the pond. But that didn’t stop Ted. He wanted to prove to everyone he was and could be the coolest person in the entire neighborhood. They decided that they were going to double up on clothes, because it was going to be a bit of a hike in snow. And Ted decided to grab a backpack and put supplies in it. He put food and tools like a shovel in case he needed it and his ice skates. He then told them that he was ready. Ted left his house and they met up at the edge of the neighborhood. S00n after, they started on their journey.

They proceed walking for hours. Hiking through steep snow and sleet. They got a little tired so they decided to stop and take a rest. They found a giant rock to sit on. They all sat down and Ted pulled out some food.

“Do you have anything to drink there Ted?” One of the boys asked.

“ No. Of course not”.

He reached down and grabbed a handful of snow and put it in his mouth.

“You use nature’s resources you idiot”. Ted had said.

After their short break, they proceeded on their journey. As they started walking, one of the boys stepped into a hole, sinking his leg into the snow all the way up to his knee. He exclaimed and then the other boys pulled him out. He started laughing and then they kept on walking. They started to see the frozen over pond. They can see condensation fog arising from the frozen top. They seemed excited but a little frightened about how spooky it almost looked. Ted wasn’t frightened at all. He was trying so hard to get to it. As they kept walking, they finally arrived at the pond. Ted wanted to skate on it. He zipped open his backpack and pulled out his skates. He untied his boots and slipped them off, only to replace them with his skates. After his skates were on, he stood up and walked over to the pond, slowly stepped onto it and skated across it. He was trying to get the boys to come skate with him but they refused. So he decided to skate without them as they watched.

After a short while, the boys started to hear a faint cracking noise that grew louder, but only to their ears and not to Teds.

“Ted! The ice is breaking!” One of the boys yelled.

Ted ignored them. He didn’t believe them. So he kept skating. He pulled his earbuds out of his pocket and popped them into his ears turning his music all the way up because he didn’t want to keep hearing the boys yelling.

All of a sudden, the boys were hearing a loud thudding noise. Almost like walking. They stopped yelling at Ted, and froze. They looked around and didn’t see anything, until one moment they heard a noise that wasn’t walking. They were so afraid. That’s when the Minotaur that was to be believed in the myths suddenly walked out from behind a huge rock on the mountain side. The boys stood and froze in fright. Ted wasn’t aware of this and kept on skated until one moment, he turned. He saw the boys standing there in fright, frozen. So he too, turned and locked eyes with the Minotaur. Ted then felt the ice beneath him suddenly break and him and his entire body weight plummeted into the water beneath him, breaking through the ice. From that point on, those 3 boys were never to be seen again and will now forever lie in the myths.