Frozen

Just before I get to the short story, I just like to point out that my blog got an extreme makeover and I hope every one likes it. It took a while, so you better. And without further a due, I present, a Jessica's original production,

Frozen:

“Race you down?” Madi asked at the top of the ski slope, angling down close to 90 degrees rather than 45. But she wasn’t scared, not with Jace beside her.

“Sure,” his face was shaped into an enormous smile, he loved this, this was his terrain. He dug his heel, attached to the board, into the snow and felt a light breeze pass him as Madi raced down the slope. He followed, not too far behind. How can he be too far behind when he was the more experienced one? But Madi was ruthless, he knew, she was scared of nothing, would stop at nothing, and definitely would cower to nothing.

Down they went, faster than light itself. Madi felt the comfort of the soft snow under her, and the hand on her shoulder, indicating that Jace was close. A playful smirk appeared on her face and she angled her feet so that she shot down faster.

“Stop, this is dangerous,” a small voice at the back of her head told her. Throughout the years, she’s learned to ignore the voice, but this time, it sounded urgent. “Don’t do this, slow down.” Adrenaline pumped through her veins, how can she slow down? This is too fun, too crazy! This is AWESOME! But the voice just wouldn’t shut up! Madi closed her eyes and shook her head to clear it. As she did so, she felt the buckles on her hard-shelled boots clicking and coming undone and her snowboard tipping forward.

A scream tickled up to her throat, and she opened her mouth to let it out. Madi would’ve hit the ground hard if it weren’t for the soft snow. It had cushioned her fall, but could not stop her from her decent. She felt like she was tumbling into nothingness.

Just then, Madi felt hands grabbing at her, and her body slowly halting to a stop. Her breath was heavy as she looked up. Jace, with his board dug into the snow, was upside down and had her by the arm. He gave her a nervous smile. But it wasn’t him she was looking at, and he realised and turned around to see what it was. White dust flew into their faces as they were swallowed, holding onto each other, into the snow-made beast that was an avalanche.

3 hours later

Jace’s breath came in shallow hales. He saw the uneven puffs of carbon dioxide escaping his mouth and set his jaw to breathe evenly, though it didn’t help.

“I’m sorry,” Madi managed, her voice muffled in his chest. Jace put his arms closer around her, feeling the trembling of her body. They sat huddled under a dome of snow, Madi curled on Jace’s lap, her head on his chest. What scared Jace was that Madi had gotten quiet in the last hour or so, and her trembling came down to a minimum. Jace gritted his teeth, pushing the worries of her not making it out of his head.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.” He said, and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

They sat in silence, surrounded by nothing but snow and the sounds of their slowly dying breaths. It took all their energy just to stay awake. Jace knew they weren’t tired, but the cold gave you the ecstasy of a drunken sleep, it was its way of killing you. If you closed your eyes, you’ll never be able to open them again.

“I love you,” Madi murmured. Jace smiled at this, she never said it unless she was in deep trouble. He retreated one of his arms and lifted up her face, their icy, purple lips meeting. “Dummy, we’re not in trouble, we’ll be fine,” he replaced his arm to its original place, then hastily adding, “I love you too.”
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It was three days after their disappearance before the team of search dogs finally located the frozen bodies. The search team issued a public apology today for the length of time it took to find the two. They say they are sorry for what happened and that people should be more aware of safety when it comes to skiing. They also advice that harder laws be put to areas that are restricted to skiers. “It’s news like this that makes you wonder just how big of a price we pay to have fun.”

Copyright 2010