Humans logo

Cold Pusling Ice

Finding the Warmth in a Frozen Pond

By Hector.M. HuitzilopochtliPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 9 min read
1

“… it was then that

I discovered

My waning heart

Had become

As grey

And cold

And unmovable

As the frozen pond in front of me”

Enrique finished saying his last word with a passionate fist striking his heart. He bowed and heard the scattered applause of his classmates in his freshman year creative writing class. “I’m goddamn Allen Poe,” he thought. He looked over at his teacher, Professor Ansley whose legs were kicked up on the desk while he bit a pen, his deep blue eyes deep in thought.

“What did you think, Professor Ansley?” asked Enrique.

“That…was…very interesting Enrique” responded Ansley, slowly, pensively.

Then abruptly he sat up in his chair, clapped his hands together, stood up, and said, “Well guys, why don’t you enjoy your weekend, and we’ll see each other on Monday.” His right hand went to push up the rolled-up sleeve of his wrinkled white shirt, while his left anxiously ran through his sandy brown hair.

Seemingly in one smooth motion, the students quickly grabbed their materials, stuffed them in their bags, and got up to leave the classroom. Enrique walked briskly to his desk to do the same, it was Friday and he had to meet his girlfriend, Adelaide, very soon.

“Enrique, why don’t you hang back for a second?” Asked Ansley.

“Yeah sure,” said Enrique, as he watched all the other students leave, they turned around with inquisitive eyes towards Ansley leaning against the whiteboard, looking down while Enrique stood next to him.

After the last student left and their footsteps could be heard far away down the hall Ansley stood up straight. He fixed his gaze on Enrique and said, “Have you ever tried to have fun with your writing?”

Enrique was taken aback and said, “What do you mean?”

“Yeah, have you ever realized that every piece of writing you make is some melodramatic piece of convoluted shit?” Ansley responded, with a slight tone of frustration.

“Wha- what-do you mean, I’m sorry, I’m a bit taken aback” Enrique responded.

“I’ve seen you in class, I’ve seen you on campus, you’re always smiling or laughing, why is all your writing so depressing?” Ansley inquired.

“I want to be taken seriously!” Enrique said with a small hint of pride.

“You don’t have to depress everyone in the room to be taken seriously,” Ansley responded quickly.

“I don’t want to come off as some sappy happy-go-lucky loser or a desperate comedian” responded Enrique.

“That’s fine, but honestly, I’m talking to you about this because I know you are happy” Ansley paused, “Even if the subject is hard, push yourself to find the happiness or the joke in the material,” he said.

Enrique stood there his gaze turned towards the window, lost into the middle space, his breathing slow and steady, “I guess I could try but it seems fucking dumb.”

“I dare you,” said Ansley. And at this Enrique's eyes shot back to meet Ansley’s, with a furious pride, a smile crept up Enrique’s lips. “You’re on,” Enrique said, stretching out his hand.

Ansley grabbed Enrique’s hand, shook it firmly, and said, “I expect something from you on Monday.”

With this Enrique broke off the handshake, nodded his head towards Ansley, and rushed out of the classroom and down the hall. He could hear his boots squeak against as he rushed down the polished floors in the halls of the early 20th-century building. He leapt down the stairs, and as he caught sight of the snow through the top half of the door, he emotionally embraced himself by taking a deep breath and physically embraced himself by wrapping his scarf around his face before he pushed through to the winter landscape.

Enrique shivered as the cold winter air hit his exposed cheeks and as he quickly shuffled down the cobblestone hill whose decline led down to the grassy knoll where he and Adelaide would regularly meet before walking to her place for coffee and TV. He walked past the mid-20th-century brick buildings on his left, barely paying attention to the people gathered outside one of the university’s coffee shops. He walked briskly past the contemporary all-glass building to his left that housed the new gymnasium and swimming pool. He noticed the fog on the frame-to-frame glass windows from the humidity of people exercising and from the warmth of the pool. He continued to walk quickly until he saw, a single speck of red hair peeking above an all-black jacket, amongst the snow, and the frost-tipped grass.

“Where were you?” Adelaide coyly asked. Her excited smile betrayed her tone, her bright blue eyes meeting his brown eyes as she leaned in for a brief warming kiss.

“I got held up talking to my English professor” responded Enrique.

“Ooohhhh, did he say anything interesting?” she playfully asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure” responded Enrique with a chuckle, extending his arms to embrace Adelaide at the waist. He pulled her close and stared deep into her sparkling blue eyes, framed by the curls of her thick red hair, and leaned in for another longer, warming kiss.

“Every embrace with you is like a warm fire being lit-“

“Don’t even start right now! Save it for later I’m freezing” responded Adelaide.

He grabbed her hand firmly, feeling the warmth of her soft fingers envelop his frigid hands.

“How was your day?” Enrique inquired as they walked down off the grassy knoll and through the contemporary park that was designed with geometric patches of now-white-grass and concrete.

“It was great! I made some more new friends in one of my nursing classes! I’m really enjoying this semester” Adelaide responded enthusiastically.

“Aww I’m happy for you,” said Enrique as he stopped and turned towards her, his hand brushed her hair to one side and rested on her soft face as he gave her a peck on the forehead. She smiled and leaned her head into his lips before they released.

They again turned and continued walking towards the park where they took a shortcut to her apartment.

They stopped at the intersection across from the entrance to the park, which was surrounded by green pine trees topped with pristine white snow. A cold winter breeze made the trees sway smoothly and as it moved across the landscape it made Adelaide shiver, “It’s so cute how she shivers” thought Enrique as he began to smile and extend his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder to warm her up. At this, she began to lean her head into his chest, until the beeping of the crosswalk signal made her jolt up.

They crossed the street together in a half-run, half-walk to try to keep themselves warm. Maintaining this momentum, they continued to move through the park until something caught Enrique’s eye; a frozen pond hidden behind some shriveled bushes and pines. He abruptly stopped and said, “Wait, look at that.”

“Look at what?” said Adelaide as she shook from the shivers.

“Look at that pond, ” Enrique said slowly, mesmerized by the stillness in what looked like a painting in front of him.

“What about it? You’ve never noticed it before?”Adelaide asked.

“I… don’t know… let's go look at it,” said Enrique.

“What!” Responded Adelaide, bewildered and cold.

“Yeah, let’s go, it has something to do with my English homework,” he said while grabbing her hand and looking for a path towards the pond. She begrudgingly followed him as he pulled her towards an opening he saw. They walked slowly, half crutched, down through the overgrown path.

With each step, they heard the crunch of broken twigs and shattered leaves, under their feet, and with each step, the pond got closer and closer. After getting to a clearing in front of the pond Adelaide asked, “What does this have to do with your English homework?”

“My professor gave us the assignment to write about a frozen pond and he wasn’t happy with what I wrote,” responded Enrique, pensively.

“What did he say?” Inquired Adelaide as she squeezed his hand.

“He said I write too many depressing things,” said Enrique while staring at the frozen pond. “He said I need to learn to write about the happiness in things.”

“Well, do you feel depressed about a frozen pond?” Adelaide asked sweetly inquisitively.

“I don’t really feel much about a frozen pond, to be honest, but I thought it would be cool to be depressed about it” responded Enrique, giving out a huge shaky sigh.

As she playfully poked his chest she said “You should write about what you actually feel right? Be honest with yourself.” She moved her hand and leaned in for a brief kiss. Enrique welcomed her affection and smiled.

“That’s what I’m trying to understand. I generally think I’m happy, I just think it’s cool to be a broody, depressed writer” he said, laughing at his own words. Adelaide smiled, rolled her eyes, and hugged him.

“Well anyway, he dared me to try and find the happiness in what I write, so now I absolutely have to,” said Enrique. He gently squeezed Adelaide as they hugged and said “Hey let’s look for a place to sit, just for a few minutes while I think this through. Is that okay?”

“Ugh fine, but you have to share your thoughts with me Enrique” responded Adelaide, a smile again betraying her attempt at a frustrated tone.

“We’ll see about that,” chuckled Enrique.

Briefly, he found a concrete ledge on which they could sit. They walked towards the ledge, Enrique leading Adelaide by the hand. Step-by-step they felt the crunch of compacted snow under their boots as they stepped closer to where they would sit. Enrique cleared the snow off the ledge with the sleeve of his jacket. He helped Adelaide to get her seat and then he sat next to her. She grabbed both his hands with hers and placed them between her crossed legs as she shivered.

“You better have a genius breakthrough right now” Adelaide quipped.

“I’m trying,” chuckled Enrique.

“‘Find the happiness’” he whispered to himself as he stared intensely at the pond.

Minutes went by and Enrique didn’t say anything, his gaze fixed on the frozen pond.

“‘Find the happiness’” he whispered again to himself, this time with a tone of frustration.

“Don’t get frustrated,” she caringly responded.

“I just don’t know what he meant or how it’s possible,” he said to Adelaide as he leaned his head into her shoulder.

“Maybe he was just fucking with you,” said Adelaide.

“Maybe, ” Enrique said between chuckles, adjusting himself closer to her.

More time passed and light snowflakes started slowly drifting towards the ground.

“Well, did you figure it out?” Adelaide asked between shivers.

Enrique unclasped his hands from hers, sat upright, and said “no I haven’t figured it out” he said, defeated.

“Come on now, be patient with yourself,” she said, grabbing his left hand and rubbing her thumb gingerly along his hand.

He turned towards her and noticed a snowflake on her cheek and as he went to wipe it away with his right hand, she turned to face him. Her crystal blue eyes met his, her pupils dilated, her pale cheeks now painted red by the cold, her full lips formed in the shape of a coy smile, he grabbed her chin and pulled her towards him. As her soft lips met his, he took in a deep breath to inhale her warm lavender fragrance, at this his heart swelled and skipped a beat, “this is it” he thought to himself. As their lips separated, he put his forehead against hers. He looked intensely into her eyes, allowing himself to get lost in the depth of the blue in them, and with a sly smile Enrique said, “I found the happiness of the frozen pond.”

dating
1

About the Creator

Hector.M. Huitzilopochtli

Combating the negativity of today by making silly or heartwarming stories.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.