Gretath Yunberg

I stepped outside and took a long, deep breath of the cool refreshing air. Everything was caked with a thick layer of glistening and shining white snow. The majestic pine trees with their skinny branches struggled to push against the snow that weighed them down. I stepped out and my heavy boots were airtight sealed to shield any cold from seeping through the layers and freezing me to death. I checked every single nook and cranny of my hefty snow jacket, brushing off any ice chunks that had already formed from the moisture left on the jacket. It was normal at this point, a part of my everyday routine, just like every other July I had lived through.

I really never understood why everything became like this. It had been a tale passed down from my great-great grandfather, so many details were muddled around as it was passed down, but apparently everything was normal one day, and the next day became a wasteland. Like a deity wreckingp their revenge upon us, causing a calamity that would wipe humanity out, or put us on the brink of extinction. Everything became frozen to the core; the bitter cold seeped into houses, immediately wiping out those who weren’t quick enough to react, wrapping them around a thick layer of ice, like a mummy. Those who survived the first wave of glacial wrath quickly started working on ways to survive the below-zero temperatures, eventually designing the strange contraptions that are used today, and passing the flame on to the next generation to live. I myself didn’t have the slightest idea of how it worked, but it kept the entire body isolated from the entire outside world, shielding us from the piercing cold. 

Scanning around, I saw no one else coming out of their small igloos to start gathering food. It was only me out here, trudging forward to the central fishing hole, our only source of food. I had woken up early to get a headstart on the fishing today, to both finish early, and lighten the load on my father, and many others did too, but I couldn’t figure out why no one was out today…

The sun just barely breached the horizon, and I slowly crept forward, stomping through the ice with my spike-tipped boots, eager to get to fishing. The vibrant blue ice was something that I could always gaze at and let my mind wander, thinking about what the world was like,  and what other colors there could be in nature besides white, blue, and green. Or what other food there was in the world that wasn’t the same fish we had every day? In the midst of my roaming thoughts, I stopped paying attention to what was in front of me, and just marveled at the beautiful sun reflecting the ice, creating brilliant flashes of blue light, but then, I stepped in a divot and lost my balance. 

I swung my arms around, in a feeble attempt to catch myself, but it was inevitable. I slipped and fell forward, straight onto my visor, shattering the thing into a million pieces. I gasped for any air that could rejuvenate me, but I was met with a bitter cold. My lungs were being impaled by glacial spikes, and I was slowly fading away. I tried to cry out for help, but I couldn’t produce any sound, and all that came out was a dry gasp. The polar air forced itself onto my cheeks, immediately freezing my entire face, up my nostrils, consuming any moisture along its path for destruction,  reaching to completely freeze my brain. I tried to move my arms, and my legs, and even blink to shield my eyes from the blast of air, but they were all already frozen down to the bone. No one was coming to save me. I was immobilized, and silenced by the cold. There was nothing I could do against nature’s undying wrath. Yet, through the painful sensation that nature was bringing me, I couldn’t help but peer into the rich blue ice that I was lying upon, how could something be so beautiful yet so deadly? I couldn’t feel anything anymore, I couldn’t feel the sharp stinging of the cold all over my body anymore, how merciful nature could be! In the soothing relief I had, my mind truly escaped me, and I slipped away from this cruel, desolate world.