The Freeze

The Freeze

“Oh my God, whose idea was this anyway?” Roman groaned miserably as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Yours,” Bonnie said rolling her eyes at his dramatics. “Let's go on a hike in the creepy woods behind your house Bonnie.”

“Why didn't you warn me it was a bad idea?”

“It's ninety degrees Roman, not the best time for a hike,” Bonnie repeated her part of their earlier conversation.

“I'm an idiot”

“Yes, you are” Bonnie agreed “We can rest and have some lunch in the shade up ahead.

They walked in silence until they reached the shade. “Is it just me or is it a lot cooler in here than out there?”

Bonnie took off her backpack and sat in front of a large tree. She took a bottle of water out of the pocket of her backpack and took a long drink. “Well we aren't in the direct sunlight so it's bound to be cooler” she finally replied but she did agree it felt cooler than she had expected it to.

“Wheres the food!” Roman asked letting himself fall back into the grass.

Bonnie dug through her backpack and pulled out Roman’s cold grilled cheese sandwich. The grease from the butter had cooled and was starting to congeal on the clear bag that held it. “That is so gross.”

“You are crazy,” he said and took the bag.

Bonnie leaned back against the tree and took a bite of her sandwich.

Roman took a deep breath of cool air “See I told you we’d be fine.”

Bonnie smiled and shook her head “We will see if you still feel that way on the way home.”

Roman was Bonnies best friend. He was fun to hang out with, no matter what they did. He wasn't an outdoorsman though. He wanted to be but he hated extreme weather, hot and cold, He hated bugs and small creatures and he was a bit clumsy. Computers, video games, and horror films were more his thing. The creep factor was the reason for today’s hike. He wanted to explore the creepy forest.

“Is that a house over there?”

Bonnie looked where Roman pointed, squinting her eyes as she tried to see past the trees. “I don't know.”

“How can you not know what's in your own forest?”

“I've never hiked this far before.” She told him glancing around “This isn't our property. Our land stopped at the fence a couple of miles back”

“Who owns it?”

“Some weird old guy, Allen Postrum.” she told him “I have only met him a few times. He is kind of a recluse. His house is on the other side of the property, that must be some kind of shed.”

Roman jumped to his feet and walked towards the old shed.

Bonnie leaned back again and finished her lunch. She was picking up their garbage when her eyes fell on something strange. One of the trees across from where she had been sitting had frost around the base of the trunk. She slid her finger through it... It was cold, it didn't seem to have a smell at all. The insects that lived around the trunk seemed frozen in place… “How…” she asked out loud.

Bonnie! Come here quick!” Roman called urgently.

Pushing aside thoughts of frost, Bonnie went in search of Roman. “You didn't trip and break a leg did you?” She called back “I'm not carrying you home.” She stepped through some thin bushes and stopped cold. There was in fact an old shed there, except it wasn't really old.. It actually looked somewhat new. It wasn't huge, one room, maybe… storage shed? It had a chimney and a window.

The shed isn't what had Bonnie’s attention though. It was the pond next to it. “What on Ear…”

“It's almost a hundred degrees Bonnie, how is this pond frozen?” Roman asked excited by the mystery.

Bonnie got a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature of the pond. An overwhelming feeling of impending doom settled over her. She cautiously stepped forward and tapped the ice with her toe.

“It's solid,” Roman told her and did a running slid from one end of the pond to the other.

“Maybe we should go?” Bonnie said fearfully

“Go! Why?” He asked still excited over his new find. “I want to look inside the shed. Maybe we can find some answers in there”

“I don't think we should,” Bonnie said but Roman already had the door open.

“Great, find a creepy frozen pond in the wood on a day that is almost a hundred degrees of course we have to explore the creepy shed someone built right next to it..” Bonnie mumbled to herself as she walked around the pond to the open shed door. “Roman, what would happen to people in one of your horror movies if they did what we are about to do?” and of course it wasn't actually a storage shed.

“They would die,” Roman said with a chuckle

“Then why are we doing it?”

“This is real-life Bonnie, not a movie.” He said and flicked a light switch. Bright light filled the room revealing some kind of lab.

“Great” Bonnie groaned. There were shelves filled with beakers, test tubes, and some chemicals Bonnie didn't recognize. Boxes and bags filled with other supplies were stacked randomly around the small room.

The wall with the window faced the pond. In front of the window was a computer. A handful of colorful wires ran from the computer through the window to a place outside that Bonnie couldn't see. She turned on the monitor and took a few minutes to read some of what was on the screen. Someone was collecting information… on the pond?

The middle of the room was the most interesting. It was a workstation. It looked exactly how you would expect a mad scientist’s workstation to look. Beakers of every size sat at different levels on the table. Some held colored liquid, some held nothing. All were connected by clear rubber tubes. You could follow the liquid as it dripped from one beaker through the tube to the next beaker… all the way down to the last beaker. The blue flame from a Bunson burner embraced the last beaker, The flame left black soot on the bottom of the glass. In spite of the heat from the flame, most of the beaker was covered in a thin layer of frost concealing the liquid inside.

Roman squatted next to the table “How is that possible Bonnie?” He plucked the cold beaker from the flames...

“Maybe you shouldn't…”

“Whose in there!” A strange voice called from outside.

Bonnie and Roman stepped through the door. Roman still held the beaker, even though it was making his hand cold.

It was Mr. Postrum looking like he just stepped out of a mad scientist comic book. His uncut grey hair was uncombed and literally stuck out in every direction. The shadow of a beard covered his chin. Under his dirty white lab coat, his tie was twisted, his shirt was half untucked. The bottom of his dress pants were all mud as if he had been walking through a swamp or something.

“You shouldn’t be here!” Mr. Postrum yelled making Bonnie and Roman take a step away from him. “Why are you here!”

“We were just out taking a hike,” Bonnie said near tears now.

Roman held his hand out in front of himself “Relax Mister, Just relax. We are leaving.”

“What's that in your hand! Oh my God! Be careful with that!” Mr postrum warned more fearful now than angry. “Hand me that bottle… very carefully… please”

“What is it?” Roman asked pulling his hand away so quick the liquid in the bottle sloshed from side to side. The beaker nearly slipped from his greasy cheese fingers Making Mr. Postrum gasp and hold his chest.

Roman placed his free hand under the beaker for extra support. “ Does it have something to do with the frozen pond?”

Mr. Postrum grumbled knowing the only way he was going to get the beaker was to answer their questions. “Yes. It's a compound I have been working on… Liquid ice…”

“Do you mean liquid nitrogen?” Bonnie asked

“No! Don't be daft girl!” Mr. Postrum yelled and crossed his arms over his chest. “ It can be used to freeze anything instantly…”

“Like liquid nitrogen?” Roman repeated thinking the man was more than just a recluse... He may be nuts.

“No you fools, this is so much better, there are so many applications for it… or there will be once I work out all the bugs. It's really unstable right now. As you can see it freezes but I can't get it to unfreeze. One drop of that compound has frozen this pond for six months now. I just can't get it to thaw … Give me the beaker son before something bad happens”

Roman wasn't sure he should actually give it back but found that all he wanted right now was to get away from the crazy guy. He held the bottle out to him but his fingers were still greasy from his grilled cheese and the beaker slipped out of his fingers. It landed on the ground with a loud pop.

Bonnie looked at the ground between them. Frost began to spread out from the glass debris… “Jesus Roman… Move!” she ordered

Mr postrum glanced at the growing ice at their feet…. “RUN!!!!!!”