The Year After

TYA chapter 3

Tya chapter 3

I froze, listening to the direction of the sound. Another crack, and scream. "The lake!" I finally realized where the sound was coming from. The ice was cracking and - wait.. That can't be right. It's snowing. The ice should be freezing, not cracking. Another scream sounded. It sounded almost like....

"MOM!" I screamed as I tore across the frozen ground. She fell in the water!!!! I reached the edge of the lake, desperately searching for a crack. A blue object flew up from the water, scrabbling at the ice. "Mom!" I shouted once again. The object began to move more violently as a head submerged from the ice. I ran over, careful not to fall in myself. As i got near to her, i slowed. She was wild, and in a frenzy to get out she found my ankle.

I slipped, being pulled down into the water by her. I grabbed a nook in the ice, and began pulling in the opposite direction. My muscles were screaming as inch by inch I pulled her higher and higher, until her upper torso was above the ice. I unraveled her hands from my ankle, and pulled her farther out of the ice.

I yelled for help, for anybody. I must have woken everyone, because soon at least 7 pairs of hands were carrying her to our makeshift hospital. My mom was shell shocked, to scared to even blink. A few times the only thing reassuring me she was alive was the faint sound of her breathing.

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Our doctor came out of her room with a stricken face. He stopped next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. He looked deep in to my eyes, and in his I saw he was concerned. He spoke quietly but fairly quickly, as if he didn't want to tell me this. Which he didn't.

"Ari," he said. "Your mother, she may not be able to leave very soon. She has a case of bad hypothermia, and she will need a vast variety of treatments. I'm sorry, but we don't even know if she'll get better."

I looked away, panic stricken. I saw my sister standing in a corner. She looked up at me, her eyes welling with tears. One look and we both knew. We were on our own now.

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I cried as I left my mothers hospital room. Eline had her arms wrapped around me, trying to console me. I took one look back at mom, and froze. My body instantly went rigid, and the tears stopped falling. My moms skin was now as white as snow, and her eyes were no longer blue. They were a dull grey.