Frozen Anniversary Mystery

Veronica and Elizabeth have been married for three years. Every winter, they get to celebrate their anniversary and are always finding new activities to do to keep the celebrations interesting. This year, they just moved to an old farm house and one of the best perks is the large pond that came with it. They have heard many dark rumors about that pond, people disappearing, deaths, but they refused to let that scare them. No one knows how people have disappeared or died in the shallow pond, it still remains a mystery.

            To celebrate their anniversary this year, they decided to invest in some ice skates and new winter gear to learn how to ice skate on their pond. The day finally came, the weather was cold enough that the pond had a thick layer of ice on top. Both Veronica and Elizabeth have skated in rinks before, but this was their first time skating outdoors. They immediately but their gear on and went over to their pond to skate. It felt wonderful having a place to skate right in their own backyard.

            After a few minutes of skating on the frozen pond, the ground began to shake. As the ice began to crack, they both rushed to the edge as fast as possible, but neither made it. The ice shattered and both girls fell through. They expected to fall into the freezing water, but they didn’t hit any water. After what felt like hours of falling, they came crashing to the ground. “Elizabeth? What just happened?” Veronica asked. Elizabeth was just as confused. “How did we not hit any water? Isn’t that supposed to happen when you fall through ice?” Both girls got up and began walking in hopes to find somewhere or someone to help them find out where they are.

            As they were walking, they kept trying to make sense of it all. They were enjoying skating on the pond, everything began to shake, and next thing they know, they fell to the ground through the ice. They look up and didn’t see any broken ice or anything like that. Just a blue sky. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except for the fact that there was no sign of civilization in sight. “This may take a while to find out where we are,” Elizabeth stated as they continued walking.

            They walked a few miles and eventually came across another frozen pond. One that looked just like the one in their backyard, frozen and everything. But where was their house? The pond is only in their backyard, why can’t they see their house? Anxiety officially set in for both girls. They knew they had to keep walking to find where they are.

            It was getting dark outside quickly. They knew they needed to find shelter and fast. Another couple of miles later, they stumbled upon a cabin. As scared as they both were, they knew they had no other option. They went to the front door and knocked. A man opened the door and they realized, this was one of the people in the rumors they heard about the pond. “Can I help you?” the man asked. Veronica and Elizabeth looked at each other and then looked back at the man. “We are just trying to figure out where we are, but we’re assuming your guess is just as good as ours?” Elizabeth said. “This may sound crazy, but we fell through the ice on our pond, and ended up here,” Veronica stated. The man’s eyes widened and let them in immediately.

            “That doesn’t sound crazy. That happened to me a few years ago,” he looked over at them, “I’ve been stuck here trying to find a way out ever since.” Elizabeth looked over at him, “you’re Anthony, right? We’ve heard rumors about the pond being the reason for your disappearance. Guess we know that rumor was right.”

            Veronica looked around the mostly empty cabin. She noticed Anthony’s map he had laid out on the table. “These are all the routes I explored so far. None of them show a way out, but at the end of each route is another house. All of them house people that disappeared before us,” Anthony explained. Veronica and Elizabeth were immediately worried. Will they ever escape? Will they ever get back home?

            Anthony let the two of them stay the night in his cabin and informed them he will be meeting with the others to explore another route in hopes to find a way home. The next morning both the girls were up bright and early to join Anthony and the others on their excursion to find an escape.

            “Everyone, we have two new members joining our team. This is Veronica and Elizabeth. They fell through the frozen pond yesterday and are willing to help us explore this new trail,” Anthony told the group. With that, the group began their journey. This trail was unlike any others that were previously explored. They knew that those who have tried this trail alone, made it back, but they didn’t make it back alive. Maybe a group will end with success.

            The further they made it on this trail, the darker it got. Trees looked like they were disappearing, and it made it more difficult to keep track of the trail. Noises were heard in the distance. No one knew what they were, but they knew it was important to stay on task. The trail was officially lost. Around them was just black. Nothing in sight, but the noises got louder. Everyone on edge, prepared to fight for their lives. “Let’s keep travelling the way we were going, stay with the group, and we can stay alive,” Anthony stated. “We don’t even know where the trail is, how will we know if we’re going the right way?” Veronica asked. “We don’t, but it doesn’t hurt to keep trying,” Anthony replied. Elizabeth grabbed onto her wife’s arm, to ensure they don’t lose each other. Who knows what is lurking in these woods and what could happen.

            The group realized there was no going back now, the trail was officially gone. Nothing in sight, they kept moving forward, or what they thought was forward.  The strange noises soon grew louder. Whatever was lurking is close and the group stood their ground. If they ran, that could make whatever creature this is angry.

A bright light shone around them and several of this creature they heard surrounded them. “Moon jellies! I didn’t think they actually existed!” one member of the group exclaimed. “What are moon jellies?” Veronica asked. “Moon jellies are a creature that can either attack or protect you. We must become friends with them in order for them to protect us and get us out. One wrong move and we’re done,” Anthony explained. “We heard of them from some older gentleman that used to be here, they must’ve became their enemy,” another group member said.

Elizabeth, interested in the moon jellies, moved slightly closer to one of them. “One wrong move, and I’m dead,” she repeated in her head. She got down to the creature, they seem so harmless, but we only know they can be so powerful. As Elizabeth is gaining the trust, another group member speaks up, “we cannot trust them, this is how they get us. They will gain our trust and then betray us all!” This was the wrong move for the group. One moon jelly attacked this man and sent him through a portal that appeared.

“That must be the portal to take us back. The moon jellies must control it!” Veronica stated. “That is how the dead bodies must have been found! They send them back up to the pond, dead,” Anthony said, “but, how do we get them to send us up alive?”

Elizabeth kept working on gaining their trust. “I’m not going to hurt you, we want to protect you. We want to help you,” said Elizabeth. Everyone in the group stayed still as Elizabeth worked her magic. Soon, she gained the moon jellies trust. “How did you do that?” asked Veronica. “They want us to protect them, and help them on their journey. We may not get out of here any time soon, but once we help them, we’ll be on our way.”

It wasn’t an easy task, but the group chose to stay and help the moon jellies. They don’t know if they’ll ever make it out, but they’re willing to help in order to stay alive.