Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
At last, my hands brush something solid. My head hits it next.
The frozen surface.
I’m trapped.
Trapped in the dark beneath a layer of ice.
I bang my fists and kick my legs, my lungs burning for air. My eyes, my ears, my chest, everything burns.
Terror spikes through my heart.
I think of Kody, just moments before, the look of absolute horror on his face.
He’s still up there. Safe. He didn’t fall in. But the guilt and fear that must be surging through him…I can’t bear the thought. It pierces through the cold, driving me to fight harder, clawing and kicking. But I can’t find the break in the ice.
My lungs are failing. I’m out of air.
Out of time.
This is the end. I won’t make it out of this frozen tomb alive.
A moment of distraction, a split second where my attention fixates on the moose, and a frozen lake that I mentally marked as safe—the cumulation of my oversights shatters in a heart-stopping instant.
Her feet breaking through the crust, her startled cry as she plunges, her body engulfed by the dark water beneath, and the terrible silence that follows.
It breaks me. Slays me. Cuts my legs out from under me as I scream, “Frannnnnnkie!”
Everything freezes—the wind, the shadows, my blood, my breath.
Everything but the cracks of ice splintering beneath my knees.
Fear chokes me, its icy claws holding me immobile. I need to reach her, but one wrong move will drag me down. If I join her, I can’t save her.
My mind races, thoughts fragmented by terror and desperation. Every instinct bellows to rush to her, but the ice above her sloshes and creaks, so dangerously thin, a trap waiting to claim another victim.
I drop to my stomach, spreading my weight as I inch forward, eyes glued to the dark hole. The cracking sounds continue, sinister and threatening, punching my heart into overdrive.
“Frankie!” My voice is raw, shredded from shouting her name.
There’s no answer, only the cruel, hollow echo of my panic.
Pulse hammering, I reach the crumbling edge of the hole and peer into the cold, dark water.
I see nothing but my terror staring back at me.
Without hesitation, I stab an arm into the freezing abyss, my fingers instantly numb yet desperately reaching, searching for her. The cold shocks my entire system, crawling up to my shoulder and slamming into my chest.
The temperature of the water is lethal, and she’s completely submerged in it.
Time is a predator. Every second matters. Every breath I take is one she loses.
How many seconds does she have left?
Fuck this. I’m going in after her.
Then, I feel it. A piece of clothing, slick and elusive between my fingers. I grab hold, refusing to let go, and pull with all the strength that despair lends me.
She emerges from the water, limp and terrifyingly still. I haul her onto the firmer surface behind me, my movements fueled by adrenaline and sheer terror.
The ice beneath us groans, a cracking, taunting threat, and she’s not breathing.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Quickly, I drag her away from the hole to a patch of snow-covered ground. There, I set her down, her skin pale and lips tinged blue, the sight ripping out my heart.
No pulse.
No breath.
“C’mon, Frankie.” My voice breaks as I start CPR, pressing down on her chest, rhythmic and forceful, in sync with my pounding blood.
I tilt her head back and breathe for her, trying to push life back into her lungs, into her soul.
My beard rubs her beautiful face raw, turning it red. My hands have lost all feeling, hanging like ice blocks, utterly useless, but I don’t stop, can’t stop.
“Please, Frankie. Don’t you dare fucking leave me.” I sob between compressions, unraveling, prepared to die with her. “Fight, goddammit. Come back to me!”
Nothing.
“Fuuuuuck!” My head drops back, and I roar, screaming with helpless agony, my face frozen with tears.
Then I set my shoulders, refocus my efforts, and begin anew.
Nothing else exists—no ice, no cold, no pain. Just a fierce, endless drive to see her smile again.
I lose track of time between counting compressions and checking for signs of life. Each time I put my ear to her chest, I hear nothing.
Until there’s something.
A cough.
I jerk back, frozen, not trusting the sound.
She splutters. Chokes. Then a gasp of air so sweet it shakes my foundation and reshapes my entire being.
Her eyes flutter open, confusion glistening in their depths.
“Oh, thank fuck.” I haul her into my arms, ripping open my coat and wrapping her in my warmth. “Thank fucking Christ. Stay with me.”
She’s alive. She’s breathing. But she’s not safe. Not with the threat of hypothermia hanging over her.
Instinct takes over, primitive and urgent, propelling me to my feet. With her limp body, soaked and heavy with ice water, against my chest, I sprint toward the cabin, each step a battle against time.
The arctic air lashes against us as I push my legs faster, desperate to bridge the distance that separates us from warmth and salvation.