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Into The Black

Blood Is Thicker Than Ice

By BabuPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
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Photo by Julia Volk from Pexels

Walking down the quarter mile driveway, Kelsey realized how silent it was. Deathly silent. The only sound was the crunching of snow under her feet.

It had been months since she had been able to sleep for more than a couple of hours. After an hour of staring up into nothing, she checked the clock.

1:45 am.

She laid there for another 5 minutes before getting up, brushing her teeth, and getting dressed. She grabbed a joint, put on her winter coat, and headed out into the cold.

She found that taking a walk helped to quiet her mind. So did the pot. She’d get down to the pond, pick a dock, sit, and let the weed do the work. Usually, by the time she got back to the house, she’d be ready for another “nap”.

She missed the days of routine. The days full of chores and family activities. Waking up to take her daughter to school. Seeing her husband off to work. Loads of laundry, and grocery shopping.

Now she had become a recluse.

After her husband and daughter vanished, Kelsey’s life lost it’s meaning. For a while, she was kept going by the hope that they would be found. She spent all her time running down leads, putting up posters, doing everything and anything she could to reunite her family.

As the months went by and the case got cold, the police gave it less and less attention. After a while, her friends and family stopped calling. She had used every resource at her disposal. Kelsey decided to close their California home and move back east.

Before getting married, Kelsey had been a very successful businesswoman. She had bought the family farm over 15 years ago, after her grandfather passed away. 70 acres of privacy. This was the first time she had been there in over 25 years.

In her heart, she knew her family was still alive. She didn’t know how to explain it, she just knew. But no one believed her. It had been 5 years.

Most of her waking hours were spent online, searching. Verifying leads or excluding them. Making contacts around the world. Getting their pictures out.

Kelsey followed the white split rail fence down the gravel drive until she came to the opening on the left leading to the pond. Her grandfather bought this property back in the 1970’s. She spent her summers here. They would spend hours waiting for a bite. Bass. Perch. Catfish. When she bought this place, she had ideas of bringing her daughter here and making the same memories.

After the heavy snowfall, you couldn’t see where the bank ended, and the frozen water began. The docks looked like big puffy white pillows along the shoreline. Her favorite was the one that jutted out into the patch of dead trees. It was a horrible dock to fish from, but it was a great dock for an escape. She made her way to the end and took a seat, her legs dangling over the side.

It was completely silent now. Just a black sky full of stars. Even the moon was asleep tonight. She took the joint out of her pocket, along with her lighter, and lit up. She inhaled deeply and then closed her eyes as she exhaled coughing lightly.

She sat there, leisurely puffing. Remembering the last time, she saw her family.

It was a Saturday morning in July. She and her husband shared parenting duties during the week, but on the weekends, Saturday was her day to recharge, and Sundays were his. Caleb was taking Drea to the Los Angeles Zoo. Kelsey wanted to go as a family, but she had been feeling under the weather for the last couple of days and knew she needed a full day of rest.

She felt her daughters’ little hand on the side of her face and opened her eyes to the cutest smile she had ever seen. Caleb had brushed her long blonde hair and put it in a ponytail. The freckles across her nose were perfection. Kelsey sat up and pulled the 6-year-old next to her. As she held her she couldn’t get over how big her daughter was getting. Drea gave her a huge hug and kiss, saying, “I love you mom” before walking out of the room. “Have the best time honey, I love you so much!” Kelsey called after her. “I love you more than you do”, was her reply from the hallway. She loved her special phrases.

Caleb came to the side of the bed and gave her a warm kiss goodbye. “You guys have a great time, I love you.”

“We will. I love you too baby.” Caleb said, before giving her one more kiss and following their daughter down the hall.

Her eyes shot open looking around in the blackness. Her joint had been done for a while. How long had it been? Had she fallen asleep? She went to pull out her phone and realized she had left it next to the bed.

She decided to head back up to the house. As she went to get up, she heard something, almost like a knock. She slowly pulled her feet onto the dock. A couple of minutes passed and there it was again, a little louder this time.

Kelsey looked out into the darkness across the large pond, but with the blanket of white, everything blended. She stayed there, staring out into the dark. She heard it again, louder. It sounded like someone knocking on the frozen layer of ice that topped the pond.

She became stiff. She was out here with nothing other than the clothes on her back, a roach, and a lighter. The sound was more frequent, and she felt her heart race when she realized it was indeed coming from under the ice.

Moving away from the edge she tried to think of a rational explanation. The aerator was off so there was no current. It wouldn’t be the fish. Maybe a turtle? But is sounded almost like someone knocking.

Whatever it was, she had to find out and she didn’t believe in monsters. She took her lighter out of her pocket and started scraping away the snow on the pond’s surface revealing the slick ice and black water below it.

She hadn’t heard the sound since she started clearing. Her mind started to question if maybe she was going crazy when she heard it about 2 feet to the left of her. She quickly moved over and frantically pushed snow out of the way. She didn’t see anything.

Kelsey grabbed her lighter and held it close to the surface of the frozen pond. Maybe whatever animal was making that sound will be attracted to the light. She knocked on the ice.

Nothing.

The lighter went out. Kelsey tried to relight it, but it was wet. She was drying it on her jacket when she thought she saw movement under the ice but looking at the black patch didn’t see anything. She tried lighting her lighter again and when the flame returned, she was looking through the ice at Caleb.

She was frozen with fear and disbelief. Was she hallucinating? Dreaming? Maybe she was still asleep on the dock? Maybe she was still asleep in bed? Her husband could not be under the ice.

He looked the same. He was wearing the same Johnny Cash shirt he had been wearing when he kissed her goodbye. It didn’t even look wet. He didn’t look wet. He pressed his hand against the ice, and she could see his black wedding band. She put her hand onto his and followed it along the surface of the ice not realizing how far she was stretching until it was too late.

Kelsey felt her weight shift from her right hand to her left, suddenly losing grip and slipping further out taking her right off the dock. She didn’t go far on the thick ice, but when she rolled over onto her stomach, she heard a crack. Frozen, she listened. She couldn’t see Caleb. As she slowly went to push up, she heard another crack, followed quickly by a large fracture below her in the ice.

Staying perfectly still she figured out her next move. There was no one around for miles. Her phone, even if it wasn’t plugged in next to the bed, would be useless right now. Her one chance might be to roll toward the dock as fast and hard as possible and try to grab it. That way, even if she fell in, she wouldn’t risk getting sucked under and trapped.

She looked down below the water getting ready to thrust herself to the dock when she saw Caleb. She looked into his hazel eyes. She had never forgotten what they looked like.

Loud cracks and pops filled the night as the ice gave way under Kelsey, and she was pulled under. For a second, she considered swimming toward where she thought the hole was, but instead, she reached out and took Caleb’s hand. Kelsey knew there was no way he was real, but it didn’t matter. He was real enough to her.

If this was it, so be it. She hadn’t really lived since they disappeared anyway. Caleb, holding her hand firmly, pulled himself closer to her. Kelsey couldn’t help but think that maybe he was dead, and this was him bringing her in to the next life.

It was pitch black other than Caleb as she floated there in the stillness of the water. As he got closer, he brought his right hand up slowly toward her cheek. As he placed it on her face the hand felt different. Warm and small.

She was just looking at Caleb but somehow her eyes were now closed.

She opened them to the cutest smile she had ever seen. Drea stood there with a long blond ponytail. A perfect ribbon of freckles kissed her nose and cheeks. Kelsey sat up and pulled her daughter into her arms. Tears started flowing down her face as she sobbed into her daughter’s neck. Caleb came running in, “What’s wrong?” he asked with concern.

As soon as he was in her reach, she grabbed his arm and pulled him in too. She held on to them so tight, her daughter couldn’t breathe. “Easy baby,” Caleb said as he eased her grip. “Drea, honey, go and watch TV in the other room for a minute while I talk to Mommy.”

Drea kissed her mom and tried to slide down her lap, but Kelsey didn’t want to let go. “Mom, I’ll just be in the family room”. Drea said, annoyed. After a few seconds, Kelsey helped her daughter slide to the floor.

Once she was out of the room, Caleb looked at his wife. “What is going on?” he asked sounding truly worried.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I need you to not go out today. I just need you two here with me today. Please.” Kelsey pleaded.

Caleb shook his head, “I can’t do that to her, she is so excited to go…”

“I know!” Kelsey cut him off. “I would never ask you to do anything to let her down or disappoint her, but this…” she trailed off. “I can’t explain it, but if you have ever trusted me, please, trust me now. Don’t go today.” She didn’t lose eye contact and he could see something in her eyes he had never seen before. Desperation and fear.

He put his hand on her face and kissed her. She kissed him back deeply and wrapped her arms around him as he enveloped her in his. “I’ll go break the news to Drea. You get dressed and meet us out by the pool. I love you.” Caleb said. “I love you too, thank you.” Kelsey said.

Sci Fi
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About the Creator

Babu

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