Shreds of an Archive

World of Ice

There's a lot of things that go through your mind when you're on the brink of death. All of the regrets weigh you down, like boulders in your stomach, constantly trying to bring you to your knees to give up. Then you think of all the happy times, the joyful moments spent with those you love.

But when you freeze to death, you have too much time to think, time to despair, time to give up, and time to accept. And on top of that you have enough time to repeat the cycle dozens of times. In the end, it really leaves you wondering. How did I end up like this?

Julian lay covered by a mound of blankets and tucked in a winter sleeping bag, it was never enough though. The dull ache of cold always reached him, digging into his bones. Weighing him down.

Will I give up today?

In the past 100 years the world had gone to shit- starting with snowflakes and freezing temperatures in the middle of summer, every day it got colder and people were often suffocated by the immense amounts of snow.

Then, enormous icebergs emerged, breaking off of an massive ice sheet, the Icebergs devoured any house that was near the ocean, trampling it under its mass.

To survive in these conditions was to scavenge, and to scavenge meant going outside in the frozen hell every day.

Julian was comfortable in the routine of it, he was used to the cold- it was all he had known. He threw on multiple layers of coats, socks, and stuffed his limited-supply of ever depleting heat warmers in different crevices.

Snow trickled down on the brilliantly white landscape. It would've been beautiful if it wasn't always like this.

Julian began tunneling, digging into the well-packed snow. He knew that there had been a convenience store here and had even visited it a couple times, grabbing what he could. Today should've been the same way.

Time lost meaning as he was lost in the rhythm of shoveling endless amounts of snow, then firmly packing in the edges of his tunnel to make sure no cave-in happened.

Eventually, he could comfortably slip inside the window of the store.

He went about his usual business of packing things into a plastic bin, then dumping them onto the snow outside, then going to get another load.

Snow was coming down heavier now, he had only managed to pack and bring out three loads of items, not enough to last a drawn-out blizzard.

Damn it all, I'll do one more load of just food and water. Julian cursed silently.

Mild panic edged its way into his mind, digging its fingers into the deepest recesses of what little confidence and hope he had. After grabbing a final box of twinkies, he hurried, trudging back up the snowy tunnel he had made.

The falling snow had already piled up high enough for him to need to dig a bit before he could squirm his way out.

He dug frantically, without caution. Then his worst fear came true.

A misplaced hand dug into the snow, then, out of nowhere, all he could see was white.

I can't breathe!

His legs were still free, further down the tunnel where it was still intact.

He pushed, flailing with an enormous effort. He didn't budge.

Being trapped combined with suffocation sent his panic out of control. Taking over his body.

He violently shook, legs flailing, twisting like a crocodile- and then, he was free.

Free from the tunnel, but now he was trapped in the store.

I wanted to do more but I don't have the energy to write more words today.