50| The reflection

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I fell for a good five seconds before plummeting into icy water. The cold was like needles, instantly stabbing into my bare skin.

It was still pitch black as I thrashed underwater, trying desperately to figure out which way was up and down.

Frantically kicking my legs, I struggled against my gown as it dragged me downwards, deeper and deeper into the indeterminable depths of the water.

The more I panicked, the more my lungs burnt, the lack of oxygen clouding my thoughts.

Was this how I would die?

Perhaps I was already dead. Maybe this was the afterlife.

Pushing through the urge to just give in, I channelled the strength in my body, kicking hard towards a surface that I could not even see.

Maybe there wasn't one.

I was losing hope, until finally, my head broke the surface of the water. I gulped the air desperately, coughing up water from my lungs, as the sound of my splashing reverberated endlessly off unseen walls.

However, above the surface looked no different than below. My vision was completely swallowed up by the dark as I tried desperately to keep myself afloat.

Any body heat left was stolen by the icy water, draining the little energy I had left. I fought against my own weight, but I could feel the water rise as I began to sink again. As I gasped my last breath of air, I could feel the cold of the water enveloping my entire body as I found myself sinking beneath the surface again.

I was exhausted.

Then, for the first time in what felt like ages, I saw something. It was...light.

I felt something beneath my foot. Something solid.

Kicking off what must have been the bottom with the last ounce of strength left, I swam towards the light as it grew brighter and brighter.

Finally, I surfaced for the second time. As I gasped for air, my eyes finally adjusted to the light as I took in my new surroundings.

Around me was a forest of trees, a blanket of white snow over their lifeless, colourless branches, covering the earth for as far as the eye could see. In the clearing, beneath the icy grey sky, was a lake, and in it was me.

But when I glanced back down at the surface of the water, I couldn't make out my reflection, the water unnaturally dark, like a void. But I couldn't ponder too long about that.

It was utterly freezing.

With immense effort, I managed to drag myself onto the shore of the lake, grateful for something solid beneath my hands and feet.

However, I soon came to find that above water was just as cold, if not colder, the icy winds biting into my skin, intensified by the frozen water that soaked my hair and my dress. I wrapped my arms around myself, frantically rubbing my forearms in an attempt to generate some warmth, my shallow breaths like a puff of smoke from my lips.

All I could hear was the sound of my own breathing and the blowing of the wind.

"Glaurielle..."

I whipped around, only to see nothing.

All I could make out was an endless expanse of dark shadows against an endless white background. I squinted, struggling to make out whether the dark silhouettes I saw were from the gnarled trees that surrounded me or...something else.

There was a flicker of movement in the corner of my eye, but when I turned to look, there was nothing.

I stumbled to a nearby tree. With trembling hands, I reached up and grabbed a low branch. Harnessing any strength I had left, I broke it off, the snap echoing into the distance for miles.

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 ➵︎ [ 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘧 ]Where stories live. Discover now