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The Ballad to Skate

Dreams Beneath Cracked Ice

By Cara Jean AndersenPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
2

A once cozy, quiet cottage has its doors open abruptly to the frigid cold. Two women, both in their thirties, burst into the cottage, causing quite a stir.

“Close that damn door! I’m freezing my black ass off!” Simone, one of the women, complains profusely.

“Oh calm down you big baby!” Emma says, rolling her eyes at her wife. She slams the door shut hard behind her, and finishes bringing in the rest of their luggage.

“Why, why, why here?”

“Come on babe, give it a chance. It’s beautiful out here,” Emma says optimistically while peering out the front window overlooking a breathtaking frozen pond surrounded by evergreens, and a mountain range looming the distant horizon.

“But why come to Russia in the middle of winter? We could have been in Cuba, or Trinidad,” Simone continues to sulk. Emma gives Simone a warm smile before walking back towards her and encompassing her in her arms.

“You can pick our anniversary destination next year, I promise,” she says, kissing Simone softly on her forehead.

Simone sighs, “Okay, but we are definitely going somewhere with a beach!”

“Deal,” Emma agrees, chuckling slightly before embracing Simone in an animated kiss, causing a smile to finally surface to the stubborn woman’s lips.

“I’ll get started on a fire and you take your cute, freezing ass upstairs to start unpacking.”

Simone cannot help but chuckle slightly as she shakes her head at Emma, “Okay, but I expect this place to be a furnace by the time I get back.”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” Emma says with a playful salute before Simone disappears upstairs with their luggage.

Simone approaches the master bedroom, none too gracefully heaves the luggage in. She dumps the bags on the hardwood floors and takes a moment to look at the room they will be calling home for the next two weeks. It’s nice, all in all, she thinks begrudgingly. The walls are painted a warm yellow reminding Simone of sunflowers and spring. The bed is a grand size king, with a big, fluffy, white comforter neatly spread out, showing off the blue flowers embroidered into the fabric. The bed has two identical dark wood side tables and two simple matching basic white lamps. The hardwood floor provides an alluring scent of pine to her nose. It is blanketed by a stunning turquoise rug, with exquisite flower patterning. The master bedroom comes with an en-suite bathroom.

To Simone’s delight, the bathroom is large enough to include a waterfall shower and jacuzzi bathtub. She sighs with pleasure before beginning to unpack their clothes. Grabbing a stack of assorted clothing, Simone opens the small walk-in closet, stepping into the dark space cautiously as she searches for a light. She notices a chain hanging above her head, and pulls it, illuminating the closet. Simone begins hanging blouses on empty hangers, when, to her shock, wearing a thin pair of socks, she slips, almost falling ass over teakettle. Gasping in confusion, she stares at the puddle that almost made her fall. She inspects the strange area of water curiously. It seemed to originate from an old, dingy pair of white figure skates as if they had been recently used.

Why are these here? Simone thinks to herself. She feels the strange impulse to reach out for the skates. The light bulb in the closet begins to flicker faintly. As Simone’s fingertips get closer to touching the blade of the skate, she hears a faint sound. She recognizes it as the ballad from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake playing softly as all other noises seem to fade. Simone picks up the figure skates and holds them up to the flickering light. The ballad becomes louder. She stares ahead with vacant eyes, as if in a trance.

“Babe…” A soft voice breaks through the ballad, as Simone spins, figure skates raised in her hands.

“Babe?” The voice repeats more loudly, this time more distinguishable as the ballad becomes softer.

“Babe?!?” Emma asks once more, her voice now completely overpowering the ballad. She stares at Simone who is looking completely dumbfounded, while still lifting the figure skates to the sky, like a scene from the “Lion King”.

“What are you doing?”

Simone drops the figure skates on the puddle, “I have no idea…”

“Okay weirdo, I’ve got the fireplace going. You should come down and warm up with me.”

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” Simone says, smiling faintly.

“Where did you get the skates?”

“I don’t know. People before must have just left them here. The water must be from them too,” Simone gestures to the puddle.

“Huh! I would have thought the cleaning people would have taken care of that before our arrival,” Emma shrugs.

“You’d think,” Simone says, pecking Emma on the cheek before whisking her away from the closet and starting to head downstairs. Regardless of moving away from the skates, Simone cannot help but feel an odd sensation wash over her. Something feels very off. What is up with those skates?

Later into the evening, Simone’s attention span is waning. She is too distracted to focus on her partner or to enjoy their anniversary. She decides to take a walk around the frozen pond to clear her head. Twenty minutes after leaving, she continues to tread through the snow, deep in thought.

Something’s not right with my brain. That song keeps playing like a broken record! Why won’t it stop? Simone curses in her mind. This is beyond having a song’s lyrics stuck in one’s head. The incessant music plays from start to finish, continuously in Simone’s head, growing louder and louder ever since she picked up those damned figure skates. The worst part is that she hates, no, she loathes Swan Lake.

“What’s going on?” She curses, the words seem to freeze in the cold winter air. Then she sees her, standing in those dingy figure skates clear across the frozen pond. Everything is silent. Even the ballad has receded from her mind, for the time being. The girl standing out on the pond is a sight to behold. Her silhouette is almost aglow, like that of an angel. She looks to be only fifteen, with dark brown, narrow eyes which complement her long, dark brown hair that is brought up into a perfect bun. She is wearing a sheer, lavender coloured figure skating dress, that sparkles in the moonlight. But something is strange about the girl. She has an almost translucent quality to her. Simone stares, wide eyed, as the figure skater bows towards her. The ballad begins to softly play once more.

The young girl gracefully moves across the ice, as she performs a beautifully constructed figure skating routine to Swan Lake. Simone stares in awe, unconsciously taking a few steps towards the frozen pond. She shakes her head out of the trance as the lovely skater finishes her routine, bowing at the end of her grand performance. Simone, still staring wide eyed, applauds the young girl. A sudden cracking noise pierces the air. Simone finds herself screaming in terror, as the young girl abruptly disappears beneath the ice

“Oh my God!” Simone screams, as she searches around for rope or something she can use to rescue the girl from beneath the cracked ice.

“Help! Help!” She screams in a panic, before suddenly feeling an icy grip grab her shoulders from behind. Simone rapidly turns, coming face to face with Emma. She sighs in relief.

“Oh, it’s just you. You have to help me! There was this girl, she was skating in those old skates I found. She did this dance and it was beautiful, but then the ice cracked! And she fell! And we have to save her! Come on!”

“Woah! Slow down. What are you talking about? There’s no one out here but us.”

“Yes, there is! There is a young girl and she is drowning beneath the cracked ice!”

“What cracked ice? The pond is completely solid!”

“Wait what?” Simone gasps, looking back out at the perfectly iced pond, without a single crack in it.

“Are you feeling alright?” Emma asks, looking very concerned.

“She was here...I swear she was! I saw her,” Simone whispers in confusion.

“Let’s turn in for the night Babe. Sounds like the stress of traveling has been getting to you.”

Simone nods, still a little shaken. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” With that, the pair walk back through the snow and into the cottage.

Emma reaches out for Simone in the middle of the night but wakes when she does not find her wife beside her in their bed. Her ears perk up to the sound of clanking metal on hardwood floors downstairs.

“Simone?” Emma hollers out for her but receives no reply. She runs downstairs in her slipper socks and robe when she hears the soft music of the Swan Lake playing, but where the music is coming from, she isn’t quite sure.

“Simone?” She hollers once more, in a panic, as she pulls on her boots and winter jacket. She notices the front door, wide open to the cold night air. She sprints through the snow until, finally, she sees Simone on the frozen pond, the dingy skates laced to her feet. Simone is skating to Swan Lake, her braided hair twists wrapped up into a perfect bun. She is wearing a stunning long sleeved, deep blue figure skating dress.

“Simone! What are you doing? Get off the ice! It’s not safe!” Emma screams in fear. However, Simone, deep in a trance, does not listen. She finishes the skating routine with the utmost grace, bowing at the end.

“Simone!” Emma screams at the top of her lungs once more as she sees the ice start to crack. Without hesitation, Emma begins sprinting onto the pond, but she is too late. Simone drops beneath the cracked ice, sliding into the depths of the freezing cold water, a chilling smile still visible on her lips. Emma sprints, sliding down to her knees on the hard ice, barely catching Simone’s hand in her own as her wife slowly sinks further into the depths.

“Simone, baby! Please! I love you! Please don’t leave me!” Emma screams, tears streaming down her face as she struggles with all her might to pull Simone back up to the surface, but she feels like a ton of dead weight.

When only Simone’s head is left above the surface of the water, she whispers, “Then come with me, my love.” Simone’s smile twists into an unrecognizable expression.

“Wha… What?” Emma stutters before her body is yanked into the freezing water, dragged down, down, down. She sees Simone, looking gorgeous, dancing like a water sprite. Simone swims up to her and kisses her softly on the lips, lovingly sealing her fate as the cold sets in and Emma’s mind goes dark.

One month later, a once cozy, quiet cottage has its doors opened abruptly to the frigid cold. A man and a woman burst through, out of the cold, looking rather pleased with themselves, and closing the door behind them.

“Isn’t this place incredible, Jeremy?”

“Yeah, it is Lily. Why don’t you check things out upstairs?”

“Okay!” Lily takes off excitedly for the bedroom, while Jeremy continues bringing in the rest of their luggage from outside. She gazes in and gasps upon stepping into the master bedroom, completely taken aback by it.

“Awe! So cute!” She squeals with delight.

She makes her way to the walk-in closet, pulling the hanging chain as she goes to turn on the light. It flickers on, revealing a large puddle, and a pair of old, dingy, white figure skates. A soft song begins to play. Swan Lake, she thinks as her eyes glaze over.

psychological
2

About the Creator

Cara Jean Andersen

I am an aspiring author, looking towards dissolving the white, straight, christian, as the default from our current literature, instead showcasing the reality of the world's true diversity. Currently writing my first scifi fantasy novel.

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