The howling wind chilled my bones, sending shivers straight down to my core. I walked both slowly and without hesitation across the icy lake.

The devil swirled the waters beneath me, and I could see it stirring like the wind below the thin layers of snow.

I tugged at my hat, keeping it firmly on my head. I could feel the blue shards of ice creeping up my fingers and into my hands. I tottered on the ice, careful not to make too heavy a step and crack the ice. It was already creecking and bending below me.

The deep blue heart of the lake felt an eternity away as the cold ripped through me furiously. At times, I found myself taking large, strained steps forwards and ending up having only moved further back.

Mama was almost out of time. I could feel it.

My cheeks burned a hot pink against the white winters screams. And I felt a tear fall onto my cheek and freeze instantly.

Dangerously dazzling flakes of snow surrounded me as I finally reach Mama. She was treading slowly, catching the fever of the storm. I called out in a hoarse voice, but my cries were drowned out by the thickness of falling snow.

I tried to get up to the edge of the icy hole where the water splashed up from, creating spearheaded waves of fright, but the fragile ice broke with only a toe’s pressure.

“Mama!” I cried. But there was no use in crying. I could see her exhaustion in the way her frozen joints scraped against each other with each dying movement.

I looked around frantically for anything that might be of help. But all I could see was wild white turning dark.

“Mama! Hold on!” I screeched. My eyes darted up and down, what to do, what to do?

Suddenly, in fit of panic, I did the only thing I could possibly think of doing— I broke the ice.

With one desperate stomp of my foot, I broke away the ice at the edge of the hole. I continued doing this, slowly backing my way towards the edge of the lake. Mama followed me, ice dripping from her hair and eyelashes.

About 30 meters away, I hit a wet patch and fell. And I would have been fine had I not been purposefully trying to break the ice before. A large crack I had made split out from under me. The water envolped my whole body in one large gulp.

Instantly, I saw shocked by the pang of the cold. I opened my mouth to gasp for air, but all that came in was the half frozen water.

I thrashed to the surface, coughing and crying as I desperately tried to stay above the waves.

I hooked my arm around the slick edge and used all my might to break it off. I continued, dragging Mama’s hardened, limp body along with me. It took all of my strength and a great deal of blood to break away the sharp edged ice. But we made it.

Mama and I did make it.

I hauled her frozen body up out of the lake and dragged her along through the snow and back to our cabin.

My whole body was blue and half my fingers and toes had been frozen off, but it was nothing compared to Mama.

Pops hopelessly tried to breathe life back into her lungs. We set her down by the fire and wrapped her up in all our blankets. And as I dumped hot water on her purple skin, she sizzled and steamed but didn’t wake.

We worked effortlessly through the night until Dr Mayfield could arrive in the morning only to pronounce Mama dead.

I hadn’t any tears left to cry for her then. I’d used them all up in the lake. So I just sat besides Mama and Pops, staring blankly into the fire.

It took the next thirty years for me to be able to remember that frightful night. And for those thirty years of darkness I am greatful. But I’ll always wonder now, why did Mama jump on the ice? Pops had warned us to be careful. That lake hadn’t frozen over fully yet. And Mama had even reminded me not to step on the ice that night. She’d said it was going to be a Hell of a storm. And look just how right she was.