Cold Blooded

Cold Blooded.
(816 words.)

We three stood on the tall bank of the now frozen over river, peering over the ledge. There was me, Jasmine and Alice. My name is June. We stood there with the freezing wind whipping around us as the temperature stayed at a solid 34 degrees. Above freezing, but not much.
We stood in silence for a while longer, until finally I couldn't take it anymore. "I'm going down." Without waiting to see how they reacted I crouched down and pushed my legs out in front of me, sliding down a small hill of dirt until my boots made contact with a large rock jutting from the bank. I glanced to my right and found another stone producing from the frozen river bank, and dozens more below it. Encouraged, I swung from my perch on the stone to the one at my side. After several hops and swings, I reached the edge of the river. Before going any further I looked up to the tops of the bank to see my fellow 'adventurers'.  Jasmine looked as though she wanted to look away but couldn't, and Alice had a huge grin on her face. She called down "Find it then come back up, you crazy idiot!" I saluted and started searching around for the thing that I was actually here for, my dad's hunting knife, which he had lent me on the condition that I wouldn't lose it or get it dirty. Guess who accidentally dropped it down the steepest river bank in town? Yeah.. I continued looking around, coming up with things like broken wine bottles, because you know, classy. Also some lighters and too many tires to count. I tried to hug the shoreline but quickly ran out of room to walk. I heard my friends clamber down the stones. "You know the knife is over there, right?" Alice said in a tone that could only be described as commanding. I looked to where she pointed and saw the knife, all the way across the ten foot river. On the ice. I straightened my back and took a cautious step onto the ice, one foot on the bank. I heard a shutter click, Alice's Polaroid, documenting one small step for me, one small step for our little trio. I waited for the ice to crack beneath me, more worried about ruining  my boots than being dragged under the ice and drowning. But as long as I rested my foot there on the ice, I didn't hear any cracking. I gingerly placed my right foot along side my left. Nothing. "Go already!" I whispered to myself and quickly walked across the river, and leaned over plucked the knife off the ice and slid it back in it's holster. I was about to walk back across to the bank, when I watched in laughter as Jasmine came skidding across the ice, her arms flailing madly to keep her balance. "Wha- What are you doing? I got the knife. We can go."  I explained, having to raise my voice against the howling winds. "We're going on an adventure." Jasmine said, huffing between words. Alice walked across the ice with much less effort and slapped me on the shoulder "Why wouldn't we? I mean this isn't exactly climbing Mount Everest, but it isn't exactly up there on the good idea list. And besides" she held up the camera "Nature is a natural model."

We walked up stream, listening for sounds that sounded either like ice breaking or gun shots. "Why are you worried about gun shots?" Alice  asked when I told them to listen out. "Because the man who owns this town lives just over there and I don't think he'll be too pleased with three teenagers wandering around in his river." I stepped around a large log, frozen and sticking straight up in the air. Jasmine, who by nature was usually very quiet, said "Where are we? Are we still in the park even?" I shrugged. "The river goes in a circle, so just make sure we don't go off on a fork in the road  and we'll end up where we started." For dramatic effect I added in a hushed whisper "If we make it that far." We all laughed, just a little uncertain.
So we kept walking, and walking, and walking. Suddenly I heard a crack in the ice, the same time Alice did. "SHIT." We both muttered,scrambling to the bank. I reached and pulled Jasmine up on the back while clinging to a root. We watched as the ice fractured until it looked like a spiderweb, the pieces of ice float on the surface of the water, confined by the larger pieces. "What, is, that?" Alice asked, pointing a shaking finger. All I remember was a gasp from Alice, a strangled cry from Jasmine. And me, stating the obvious. "That, Alice, is a skull."
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Hope you liked!

-Jessica Baker-