_I just have to make it to the other side. _This is the thought I keep telling myself. My feet are rooted to the side of the lake. Getting to the other side is more than just finishing this race I’ve involuntarily started. I didn’t choose to be here. I would not have wanted to be part of this but my family needs me to finish.

There have been so many tests and challenges in this race its almost ridiculous. If I can just get to the other side then I will be able to find the Heart of the Worlds. This is the last piece I need to finish the race but I can’t seem to cross this lake.

Ever since I was a little girl the water has scared me. My older sister and I used to go out onto the lake in a canoe every summer. We would fish, and swim and waste the days away. Thinking back to that time it was some of the happiest times of my childhood right up until she drowned. Every time I even so much as look at a pool of water bigger than a puddle I see her lifeless eyes staring back at me.

With my feet rooted to the shoreline, feet purposefully not touching the frozen lake surface, I see her eyes. They’re pleading with me, to save her.

_Dammit _ I can’t even see a frozen lake without her plaguing my every thought.

It’s not like I dont want to finish the challenge and see my family fed for the next cycle. It’s not like I dont want to get over my older sister dying eleven years ago. I do. I want that almost more than anything but the second I see water, apparently in any form, I am thrust right back to that day. I am forced to live that day.

It seems that no matter how much time passes I’ll live with this guilt, these memories, until I die.

If I can’t cross this lake…well I dont really want to think about that. So I shove it down as best I can where it’s wedged right up next to the memories of my sister. She would want me to finish. My family is counting on me.

So I take one step out onto the ice. Testing it. It seems to hold me, so I shift my weight and it still holds. I can’t think about the ice cracking. I can’t think about my sister. I have to think about the family I have left. I have to think about my little brother who doesn’t even know what is going to happen if I fail.

With only one foot on the ice I raise my eyes to look at the distant horizon. It’s frozen like everything around us. Frozen like I have to make my heart so it will quit thudding in my chest. I very slowly take one more step onto the lake. Weight still holds, and I dont hear any cracking.

My mind wants to think that we will never cross this lake, that it will crack and we’ll drown just like my sister. But my body is rebelling against that Idea, It seems to be saying, “ we can do this” and now I am paralysed from more than fear.

My mind and my body are at war. Go forward, or go back. Those are my options and I can’t choose. Choosing one over the other will mean I am giving up on the sister I wish I still had, and choosing the other means I forfeit the rest of my family’s survival.

You’d think this an easy dicision, one foot in front of the other until I reach the other sidle and claim the relic as my own. But this frozen body of water means so much more to me than that.

Una hermosa niña caminando en las mañanas de frío. Queriéndose encontrar con su Creador , llena de sueños, risas va disfrutando de esa hermosa brisa , viento fresco que nuestro Creador nos regala.

Oh Dios que maravilla es poder aislarse , encontrarse contigo a cualquier edad. Lo único que tú buscas es un corazón sencillo, humilde y enseñable para poder esparcir tu hermosa gloria.

A girl walks across a frozen lake in hopes of finding something or someone. The icy winds keep her head tucked tight to her shoulders. Her hat is pulled low, almost over her eyes.

They’ve got to be out here, she thought, I can hear their hums at night from my bedroom.

She moved slowly and steadily but confidently, something had a tight hold of her. Under an intense moon, the ice crystals sprang to life dancing in the air around her. She stops for a brief moment to take it in, a single deep breath and she continues on.

Her eyes darted about in the darkness as a low hum rose in every direction. _There it is, she thought, they know that I’ve arrived. Her stomach fluttered. _The hum sharply crescendoed into a roar accompanied by a stillness. The air stood at attention and waited for an invitation to budge.

She continues to inch forward unable to identify the hums origins, though she fiercely tried. In her pursuit of ‘them’ she ignored something critical, something a girl from this area should know well. One small crackle, followed by two or three more.

The ice was crying for her to abandon this path, practically screaming for her to turn back. The hum was too great and drown out all warnings, including the ones in her stomach.

The ice suddenly gasped and they welcomed her to their kingdom with all encompassing arms. It was quiet and they were no longer hungry.

Their is a claimness to the air, as I do small steps across the frozen lake. I have no idea what is on the horizon. I hear a faint noise on the crisp air, I can’t place what it is. As I move closer on the lake, I see the faint outline of a tree. I can’t tell how far away I am from the only living thing I saw in the last few hours.

I slipped. Still I continued cause I had no choice. I felt my boots disappearing from the bottom. The ice was a living nightmare. But I continued. I’m all grown but I’m so young. A little girl in a dangerous world. I felt small and tears all crawled. I wanted to find that door. I will find that door. And no it’s not ego Or pride Or jealousy. It’s nothing of the human flesh. I’m guessing it’s something in… My spirit. The lake Its frozen. It might represent my now. My present. I’ve been young I’m q little girl. And I have not grown. I’m stuck with logic and imagination. I’m the smartest in the world. But I’m here stuck. I’m here wandering around a polar bears safeness. I’m here risking myself. Risking my future. Still I continue. Cause my family loves me and I love my family. They all depend on me. Me? I’m just a little girl. I’m lost. My knees seek help. But I’m grown and I can help. I will succeed.

The cold, frigid wind had started to settle deep into Melania’s bones. She was only 9 when her mother had left her behind in their little cabin deep into the cerulean forest of Habaken.

“I’ll be back in a few days before the snow storm hits. Stay here and don’t go outside. I promise baby mommy will return home. I love you so much.” It was the last thing her mother had said to her with her voice sounding alomst fearful. As if saying it was more to convince herself than her daughter. That was 6 days ago before she had turned 10 and ate the last of what was left of their food. Which was not much considering all that was left was little bits of dried deer meat and ashten seeds. Little black seeds the size of finger nail with the taste of salty bark. It was never filling but her mother had taught her that the seeds provided the body with enough nutrients to keep you alive another day. It was when she had finished the seeds and couldn’t stand the only sound being her whining stomach that Melania decided to go outside and check for her mother.

Maybe she wasn’t far and was coming back with fresh supplies and meat. But that was hours ago. Hours of walking the stars knew where with the cold wind slamming against her face. The snow storm was here and she knew it was going to devour her whole. But she kept holding on to hope that eventually she would walk into her mother and that she would know how to get back to the cabin.

Loud thunder sounds echoed all around. Fear was clawing its way through Melania’s mind causing her tears to to freeze on her face despite trying desperately not to cry. Not that she could. The cold had started to cause her throat to feel scratched and raw.

It was very sudden a strong gust of wind had pushed her so hard she fell onto her knees and skid across what she now realized was the frozen river. It was also then when she had noticed a figure floating beneath the ice. Melania’s heart stopped and her mind could not take in what she was seeing.

It wasn’t possible. It was not real. Shaking her head and trying to clear the snow more from the ice to prove that her mind was making it up because this was not …. Not real!

But it was and she stared into the unblinking frozen cold eyes of her mother the other side of the ice where she knelt. Her mother had drowned and Melania was alone, completely and utterly helpless to what was going to happen to her now that her last family member was dead.

The very cold nights, Hoping to find something I have been always Wanting to find. Searching everywhere I go, Even reached up to the lakes snow. It’s December, the waters gone cold. I feel this weird feeling, Hoping I find something. Time past, still no hope. It’s gotten late, I think I need to go home. But out of the blues, I see something, Until I heard my alarm ringing.

The picture had shown up to Barry Pritchett's office on a Tuesday morning. It was in a manila envelope and written on the front was his name and the office's address. Barry didn't recognize the handwriting. When he asked Susan who'd dropped it off, she said that it was there when she'd opened up the building. Then she said that his appointment for two-thirty would be about five minutes late.

To be fair, Barry didn't know if there was a picture inside the manila envelope, he only suspected that it was. The contents didn't feel like paper, there wasn't much sway when he held the envelope. It also felt somewhat sturdy, much like a photograph. Barry turned it over in his hands, and for whatever reason, he ran his fingers along the print, as though doing so would link it to whoever sent it. He flipped it over, bent the metal brackets upward, moved the flap, and removed the photograph.

He recognizes everything in the photograph because his brain has refused to forget the image. He remembers every single little detail. How on that afternoon twenty years ago, the entire world seemed to be engulfed in an icy shade of blue. How the trees across the frozen lake had been leafless for what felt like an eternity. How just enough of the snow had melted to show some of the rocks and ground underneath. How the tall grass looked like a strange field of wheat. How the frozen lake cracked when little Jill Parker stepped onto it. There are nights when Barry Pritchett would wake in the middle of the night, and his aging joints would crack, and for whatever reason it sounded like the ice from that afternoon.

"It's a dare Jill, you have to do it," said Aaron Stevens.

There was a certain chill to Aaron's voice that Barry had found funny at the time. Looking back he remembered laughing at a lot of what Aaron Stevens had said, but he couldn't remember why, because Aaron never said anything funny. Jill Parker cautiously turned to look at them, her cheeks a rose red, and stained with what looked like tears.

"But," her voice was so soft, like that of a cartoon mouse. "But what if the ice cracks and I fall in?"

Aaron scoffed. "That only happens in the cartoons and the movies. Don't be a chicken. You have to do the dare." He lets the silence settle into her bones. "You have to do the dare."

A whimper escaped Jill's lips, and it seemed to hang over their heads as she walked over the frozen lake. It cracked, and it cracked, as she whimpered and whimpered. Barry remembered the lump that built in his throat, the words that beckoned for Jill to turn around that burned at the tip of his tongue. But he didn't say anything, not a single word. Then the ice gave way, and Jill Parker vanished in the blink of an eye. She didn't even have time to scream.

They swore not to say a word. Their story was that they hadn't seen Jill Parker at all and that she probably wandered onto the frozen lake by herself. Paula Parker, Jill's mother, had insisted that her daughter would never go onto the frozen lake by herself, and Barry thought that she was probably right. Search parties looked for Jill, for what felt like an eternity. Barry remembered seeing Paula walking through the snow, day in and day out looking for Jill.

"She's going to freeze to death," his dad would say, in a tone that was all too sad. "Poor woman is going to freeze to death."

The body of Jill Parker was never found. Barry and Aaron stuck to their stories until Barry moved away. Far, far, away. From Maine to California far.

So, where did this picture come from? How was it even a thing? The picture was shot as though it had been taken from either himself or Aaron, the positioning was perfect. But, neither of them had a camera, that's something that Barry is sure of. He blinks his eyes for the first time since seeing the photograph, and his veins run cold with the same icy chill from that afternoon. His mouth becomes Styrofoam dry, his throat as coarse as sandpaper. His mind tries to deny what he's seeing, but it's impossible to do so. He knows that the girl in the picture is Jill Parker. He recognizes the pink beanie and the pink jacket that was a bit too big for her. He can hear the cracking from the frozen lake.

"Barry. You're two-thirty is here,"

He doesn't hear Susan through his phone, not the first time or the second time. The lights click off in his office, and he's plunged into what feels like an eternal darkness. He can't see a thing around him, all he can see is the photograph of Jill before she died. Somewhere in the distance, he can hear the opening and the closing of his office door. Then comes the cracking. The footsteps over the ice, and they get louder and louder, approaching his desk. Barry can feel the cold that swallows his office whole, can feel the gooseflesh as it consumes his skin. He can see the silhouette of Jill Parker standing on the other side of his desk. He can't make out a single feature, but he knows that it's her, he's sure of it. Hasn't been more sure of anything in his life.

He recognizes the beanie, and how it made the top of her head look like a cone. The stupid jacket that was too big for her. He tries to scream but he can't, it's so cold that he can't even move. He has no choice but to watch in frozen terror as the silhouette of Jill reaches out and grabs his forearm. Her touch is so cold, and it burns like fire more than anything else. It crawls up his body, slowly at first, and then it gains speed. It ripples throughout his body, and then there's nothing but darkness for Barry Pritchett.

His secretary, Susan, would find him fifteen minutes later. Frozen from head to toe, with a look of sheer terror etched across his face. He's still holding the photograph. Most of his friends and distant family would learn that he died of a heart attack at thirty-five, a bizarre death for someone his age with his health.

Because...how would one explain a man freezing to death in the middle of California during the summer?

A girl walks a cross a frozen lake in hopes of finding something or someone...

She knows of the sacred veil that covers the lake. Her shadow-mother has told her it’s story for all of her 16 winters.

Her name is Kaelin and her Shadow-Mother, Raelin was all she ever knew her first 7 winters of life. By the age of 7 she was told in depth of the mysterious veil of the lake and that someday when she was ready all the knowledge of the kingdom would come to her. She was special, she was told. She never felt special before. But maybe today is the day.

Something was off today. Was it her time? Or should she be extra careful like Raelin had warned?

End

The snow swept across the frozen lake as the girl stood and stared at the trees across on the other side. There was something about these winter days that mad her think about her younger days and the ball she had lost one winter day so many years ago. She knew she had to find that ball because it held magical properties, and these magical properties were needed today because her mother was dying. This ball was the only way to save her.

When she was younger a wizard had appeared to her and cast a magical spell upon the small rubber ball she was playing with. He had told her that it was going to serve her well some day, but just as soon as he cast the magic upon the ball he threw it across the lake and into the trees. She had asked him why he threw the ball and he had told her that it was necessary to earn those things that are important to her and then disappeared.

Now as she stared out across the frozen water she remembered her fear of walking on the ice. When she was younger she had fallen through a patch of ice on this lake and fallen in to the freezing water. She had barely survived that day, but on this day she knew she had to face her fears and took her first step and heard the creaking that reminded her of the day so long ago.

No crack appeared below her feat so she took another step. With every step she took her nerves began to settle, and every step became easier. Soon she began to skip across the ice without a care in the world. Her mind had moved from the ice to glowing light that shown in the distant trees. She knew her ball was in reach and she would be able to save her mother, and then it happened. The one thing she feared, the ice began to split and she was soon going to be fighting for her life.

Picking up the pace and not worrying about skipping or the light anymore she started to run at a full sprint. She began to slip and slide and the ice began to crack open in front of her. She began to dodge the cracks but they were taking her back in a circle to where she started. Before she knew it she was surrounded by cracks with no where to go. She dropped to her knees and began to cry, and then she heard a familiar voice. It was her mother, “don’t cry my dear. You have done the best you could”. The girl looked up from her hands she had cradled her face into and said “What about you mom? I came all this way and overcame my fears to save you, but I can’t it’s too hard.”

The wind calmed and then she heard it, the familiar sound from her childhood. The ball came bouncing across the ice and stopped at where she was kneeling. She picked it up and smiled as she looked up and said “I have it…I have it. Now I can save you.” She held the ball in the air and then she heard her father’s voice, “Wake up Marly. We have to go now.” she felt a slight nudge and then the world faded away to a hospital room.

“We have to go now.” He said to her. Her father had tears in his eyes as he knelt down and held her tight. “Your mother has passed.” Looking around Marly felt in her pocket and realized the rubber ball was there. She smiled and whispered to herself “I love you mom."