The Devastating Impact

It was the dead of winter and snow was lightly falling from the sky. The scenery was covered in a clear white. The sight of the clear snow was interrupted by the sight of footprints. Further ahead, a girl appears to be walking absentmindedly in the frozen tundra. She stopped to look up at the sky with a blank expression. As the snow falls her expression changes into a dazed. However, she was soon snapped out of her daze.

“Sis! Hey Sis, wait up!” A little girl shouts as she tries to chase after her older sibling. The older girl turned around just in time to see her little sister trip and fall onto the ground.

“Jeez, you’re such a klutz.” The older girl that looked to be in her late teens kneeled down to help her younger sister up. She was patting her down getting the snow off as her little sister looked as if she was trying to fight back the tears.

“This is why you need to be more careful when you run, you klutz.”

“I-i’m not a klutz! And Sis always leaves me behind.”

“Well no one told you to follow me, you klutz”

“I'm not a -ow!” the little girl was cut off as her older sister just flicked her forehead while grinning at her little sister.

“Well, there is no use moping about it now.” The older girl stuck her hand out to her younger sister. The little girl smiles happily as she takes her sister's hand while they walk together happily. After a brief walk, the two sisters come across a frozen lake.

However, the little girl began to look around at the barren area in slight confusion.

“Um, Sis?”

“Yes?”

“What is this place?”

“This is one of my favorite places. It's always so quiet and peaceful here and during the springtime, it is one of the most beautiful places ever. Such a nice place to clear all your troubling thoughts.” The older girl seemed to have a broad smile as she explained the significance of the frozen lake. The little girl also smiled at her sister’s explanation and looked around trying to take in the surroundings of the area.

“But why did you come here while it’s frozen?” the little girl asked sheepishly.

The older girl just looked up at the sky, the snow was no longer falling, just silence between the siblings.

“I was suffocating.”

“Huh?”

“I just felt like getting some air. So I left for a bit, no biggie.” The older girl said, trying to laugh it off. Her little sister merely gave her a blank stare at her response.

“What about Mom and Dad?”

“What about them?” The older girl’s expression turned cold and she continued.

“They should be happy. I’m the perfect daughter that can’t possibly get into any trouble. I get top grades in my class. So who cares about them?”

“Sis, are you ok?”

“Ok? Why wouldn’t I be? I mean, even though mother is never satisfied I still get top grades. I’m always forced to dress conservatively but who cares? It’s supposed to make me a ‘respectable woman’, right? It’s not like this bubble gum image of me is at risk of being ruined at all.” The older girl became angry. “It’s not like I can’t ask for one thing without being ridiculed. DAMN IT! I continue to play as everyone’s favorite puppet on a string but yet I still can’t have anything to myself. Sometimes I start to feel hopeless with these high expectations bearing down on me.” The older girl returned to gaze at the sky, she looked exhausted. Her little sister stood by her motionless trying to understand all of what her older sister was ranting about.

“Maybe I should just run away and leave. Not like I’m really nee-”

“Please. . .”

“Huh?” The older girl looked towards her little sister and saw her face flushed.

“Please don’t go, Sis! If you go, who is going to help me with my homework? Big Sis always knows the answer and explains the work even better than my teachers. Big Sis always helps me do my hair and-and-and-” The older girl stared motionless at her little sister frantically listed reasons for her to stay.

After a while, the older girl couldn’t shake the feeling that her little sister following her wasn’t just a coincidence. After a brief moment, she turned towards her little sister with a puzzled expression, “Why were you following me?” The little girl’s expression changed as if she suddenly remembered something. She began to look at the ground timidly as if she was struggling to say it.

“U-m I was worried about Sis.”

“About me? What do you mean?”

“I kept hearing loud noises that woke me up. I went to go see what was happening but I just saw mom and dad talking. They seemed angry, then I looked out the window and I saw you were walking off at night. I thought you got into a fight with Mom again and-” little girl began to sniffle on the verge of tears. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come back this time.” Seeing her little sister filled with genuine concern, the older girl immediately brings her little sister in for a hug.

“Sis?”

“I’m sorry I worried you,” the older girl said as she was trying to hide her own tears behind her little sister. The two siblings held onto each other for a few minutes in a warm embrace. After a while, the siblings managed to calm down. They both took a look at each other's faces and saw both of their faces looking messy after they were both crying. First silence, then the siblings began to laugh after seeing how ridiculous they looked.

“Hey, Sis?”

“Yeah?”

“What was the one thing you wanted?”

After a brief moment, the older girl explained, “I’m going to leave and go to college soon. So the topic of which college I should go to came up. Naturally, parents were telling me to go to a prestigious University and try to get a medical degree.”

“You don’t want to?”

“Heck no, between the amount of stress to get the best grades and the number of years of schooling you’ll need in that field it just doesn’t seem like something I’d enjoy.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

The older girl heard the question and gave a slight blush. She appeared to be too embarrassed to answer, but when faced with her younger sister’s doting eyes she just turned away and answered.

“I want to go to a visual and performing arts school.” She was slightly afraid to look at her little sister’s reaction. However, when she turned to look she saw her younger sister give a look of admiration.

“That sounds so cool Sis! What is it you wanna be? An actor? Or maybe a musician?”

“To be honest, I am not exactly sure. I was leaning towards becoming a visual artist. Mainly because whenever I get bored in class I tend to start drawing just to kill time.”

“You have drawings? Oh, I wanna see!”

Still surprised by her sister’s eagerness, the older girl somewhat reluctantly brings out a small pocket-sized sketchbook. The younger sister’s eyes kept growing bright as she saw through the sketchbook. The older sister kept feeling a little embarrassed as if she exposed her bare self to the elements. When the younger sister finished she looked up and told her older sister how cool the drawing looked.

“So Sis wants to be an Artist?”

“Well, not just an artist really.” The older sister stood up having her arms wide open as she explained. “I just like the arts in general from drawing to even acting. I think it would be such a surreal experience. Like, finally after all these years I can really express myself and choose to be who I want to be.” The older sister now had a broad smile on her face. “It’s so exciting just to think about the possibility of being my own person and leaving this place behind. Sadly, it seems to be becoming a pipe dream now.”

“So Sis really wants to leave after all.”

The older sister turns to see her little sister looking sad again. In response, she walks over and starts patting her sister’s head. “Stop, we already got past the waterworks.”

“But Sis is planning to leave me behind again.”

“You do realize no matter which University I go to I will have to leave home, right?”

The little sister just kept looking down seemingly struggling with the new information.

“Hey look up,” said the older sister as she kneeled in front of her sister. The younger sister looks up and sees the older one has her pinky finger out in front of her face.

“Let’s make a promise.”

“Promise?”

“Yep, no matter how far I may go your big sister will always be there for you.”

“. . . You promise?”

“Yeah, if I lie I’ll have to swallow a bunch of needles.”

“Ok!” The little sister joined fingers with her older sister as they both smiled with glee.

After the heartwarming moment, the older sister begins to stretch her arms in relief.

“Now this was refreshing, now I feel a lot better.”

“Now what Sis?”

“Heh, well now is the hard part, convincing mom and dad to let me do what I want.”

“Maybe I can help convince them?”

The older sister merely pats her sister’s head.

“Don’t worry you have already done more than enough. Besides, I’m already getting exhausted just thinking about how to deal with mom and dad.” The older sister continued to stretch her body around. “Hey, you wanna see something cool?” The little sister just tilted her head in response to her sister. The older sister effortlessly went onto the frozen lake and began to glide around the surface of the frozen lake with ease. It was nothing too extravagant, the girl was just doing a simple routine of skating around the lake. Naturally, her little sister was looking at the display with pure amazement in her eyes. Seeing this reaction, the older sister flashed a smile and felt the need to show off a little bit. After another lap, she returned to her sister and did a single axel jump before finishing. When she landed she almost had a bit of a slip-up but managed to quickly regain her balance. While the display was still far from a professional level it was still more than enough to impress her sister still clapping and cheering on the sidelines.

“Woah Sis, how did you do that?”

“Usually when I am supposed to be studying I tend to goof off and watch a lot of random videos on my phone. Recently, I saw some about ice skating and thought it might be fun to try at least once.”

“This was your first time trying this?”

The older sister’s face looked slightly flushed from embarrassment, “Uh, no I tried practicing a few other times during the weekends but I finally got comfortable enough to reach this level.”

“Sis made it look so easy, teach me, teach me!” The little sister without much warning ran toward her sister in the frozen lake.

“Wait, STOP!” The older sister tried to yell but it was too late as she was already on the ice. At first, it was fine, but due to her little sister’s clumsy nature, she slipped on the ice about to fall headfirst into the ice.

“You KLUTZ!” Not wasting much time the older sister dashes towards her sister just seconds before she lands. Fearing she wasn’t going to make it, she lounges her body in order to catch her sister.

“Ow, don’t just run out here you clutz”

“Sorry sis, I just got too excited.”

With the younger sister lying on top of her older sister, there was a brief moment of calm. Lying on her back, the older sister gave a brief sigh of relief. Although, that moment was cut short as soon as she heard a cracking sound. Immediately, the icy terrain felt uneasy and ready to give way at any moment. The cracks in the ice could be seen coming towards the two sisters.

“Wait Sis, what are you-!? SIS!!” Before the little sister had time to process what was going on her older sister tossed her back into the snow of the mainland.

After being tossed away the little sister quickly got up and was about to complain, but her sister interjected with a shout. “STAY THERE!” The little girl paralyzed with fear still, not understanding. “CALL FOR HELP!” Still confused, she was about to ask ‘how’ but she noticed in her pocket was Sister’s cellphone. The older sister stares at her sister on the verge of panic, she then looks on the ground to see all the cracks forming underneath her feet. Quickly assessing the situation, she looks up at her little sister for the last time and tries to smile at her sister to keep her at ease. Then the ice gave way. The scene that played in front of the little girl went as if it was in slow motion. Both the girls stretched their hands out trying to reach for each other. Unfortunately, neither were close enough to the other for it to matter. Afterward, her older sister was gone down under into the freezing water. There was a brief pause as the little girl was slowly processing what happened. As she started to realize, she began to let out a horrific scream yelling out her sister’s name. Before long, help was called. It didn’t take long for the authorities to find the body, but it was already far too late.