ICE

ICE

By Randy Romero

She walked carelessly across the frozen pond, uncertain if the ice would crack.

What did she care? She had nothing to live for. Her heart was strained from its many aches. She meant nothing to no one. She was convinced she had been put on this earth just to have her heart perpetually broken

The cold air danced around, taking her breath away. She didn’t mind one bit.

She ambled across the ice as she had ambled through life for so many years, idling in neutral.

But this, marching her way across the ice, made her feel alive. She felt like she finally had control.

She didn’t look around her. Just stared straight ahead.

Before she knew it, she was at the center of the pond, where the ice was at its thinnest.

“Hey!” a voice, a man’s voice, shouted. “What are you doing out there? Are you crazy? You’re going to fall through!”

“I don’t care,” she whispered back.

“Whatever you’re going through just think it over. Just come back over here. I know it’s dark but follow the sound of my voice.”

Just as she started to inch her way towards the direction of his voice, the ice began to splinter and crack.

She marveled at the fragility of life, as frail and treacherous as the ice beneath her feet.