Short story: Cracks on the Ice




She stood out there for more than an hour as the snow fell round her. Her pleas would go unanswered of the skies. His ship would not gain the harbor again. It would never make a wharf or follow the lighthouse either.

“Samuel, she's been out there long enough. Bring her in. This foolishness will end.” My father commanded, his hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, thinking I should have fetched her a time ago. Fathers hand released and I was on my way. Snow crunched ‘neath my feet with each step top the silent shore. I brushed a small collection of snowflakes from the blanket over my arm, a fruitless attempt to warm the material I would wrap round her shoulders. I wanted to curse him for this. That jackal had filled her head with such fantasies that she actually believed he might return.

Even as I thought it, I reproved myself. Even I had seen with eyes clear of guile how dearly he loved her. How desperate he was to prove himself worthy of her and to make as name for himself that he might give her. No. I could not in good conscience curse him.

The wind off the ice bit my frozen cheeks and nose as I neared the borderline. The edge of the ice crackled and shattered neath my boots, yet I strode undeterred. ‘How does she endure the cold and wind so?’ I pondered. She was always the first to don her shawl in a breeze.
‘Perhaps the news has changed her more than we thought it might. The news of Williams ship being sunk by pirates off the skies of Singapore. They said they could find no survivors .

A crack sounded, pausing my advance. Lifting my right foot, I could see the lines of a crack spanning outward from a small hole neath my boot. Everything below creaked and groaned, a fissure reaching out to Anna. My sweet little Anna. ‘NO' I would advance no more, nor would I retreat.

“Father! Get the horse! Ready him with the longest rope you can find!” I bellowed above the wind. He started to say something I couldn't hear and I bellowed back. “Just do it for the love of your children, man!” I would have one chance to do this. The sea may have claimed her beloved, but I would not permit it to claim my sister with him.

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