![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Written for the ninth day of the 2017 "Holigay" prompt challenge.
The prompt was: "You are out with your S.O. ice skating on a local lake but due to unfortunate events, the ice cracks and you fall through. However, you quickly realize it’s not water underneath the ice."
Summary: Tabitha is determined to find out who has placed signs warning people away from her favorite ice skating pond, and why they'd be trying to keep people away.
Fantasy/sci-fi.
The air was crisp and clear. Tabitha glanced around nervously, despite knowing she had to be the only one out here. No one else would brave both the cold and the no trespassing signs. Except for one person, apparently, judging by the broken-in trail through the snow.
“This was a terrible idea,” she muttered to herself, the words creating clouds in the frigid air in front of her.
As if mocking her, another no trespassing sign appeared ahead, painted wood, letters in bright red and yellow.
No one knew who had put the signs up. The mountain and the lake tucked away in the valley along one side had always been open. Until this year, when it was mysteriously all closed off. Tabitha tried to come up with rational answers for that, from the property having changed hands, to issues with vandalism, to it being closed off due to being the breeding grounds of some rare species, but none of them seemed quite right. Any of those should have garnered some local interest and news coverage.
Tabitha had been seized with a need to find out why no one was being allowed near.
She wished she’d brought Elizabeth, her girlfriend. But if she got into trouble, she didn’t want Liz to be wrapped up in it. Elizabeth’s attention could be very intense when she had a goal in mind, and Tabitha didn’t want to encourage her in something like this.
Within sight of the lake, the signs changed. Plenty still said “no trespassing”, but several more now read “danger: thin ice.”
The tracks she’d been vaguely following led to the shore and then onto the ice itself. Tabitha sighed and sat down to change into her heavy skates.
It would be nice to get out on the ice. She loved to skate, and for most of her life coming here had been one of the quintessential activities to usher in the season. It had been heartbreaking to see the signs warning people away.
She knew it was foolish to ignore the signs, but they couldn’t be true. This was one of the coldest winters on record, and it had been that cold with almost no break. There was no way that the ice could be dangerously thin.
She wished Elizabeth was with her again, for two reasons now. First, for safety’s sake, in case the ice was dangerous after all, and second because it was the site of their first date two years before.
The thin ice warning certainly seemed unfounded as she got really going. She skated the perimeter several times, at times aiming just for fast, sometimes throwing in tricks as well. The ice wasn’t perfectly even, though it was close to it for a natural lake. The one upside to it having been basically undisturbed for the season was that the ice was all but unmarked.
She’d reached the far end of the lake. She was going to start trying to solve her self-appointed mystery, but she’d wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. She heard a sound, someone calling her name.
“Tabitha!”
Looking back to shore, she saw Elizabeth, her wild-colored hair blowing sideways in the wind.
“Liz?” she called, confused as to why and how Elizabeth had gotten here. Tabitha started off toward the shore.
“Stop!” Liz shouted, but Tabby shook her head.
Elizabeth was struggling to get her own skates on. She’d just gotten onto the ice when Tabitha reached the center of the lake.
“Go back! It isn’t safe!” Liz was yelling.
Tabitha paused, dumping her momentum by doing a quick spin and then stopping entirely, waiting for Liz to reach her
“What do you mean?” she called, but her voice was interrupted by a loud crack. It was a sound she was terribly afraid she understood before the surface beneath her shifted, growing uneven, and then falling out from under her.
In one moment, Tabitha had to face the fact that she was about to die. She saw Elizabeth’s wide, frightened eyes, and that was what Tabitha felt the worst about.
But instead of plunging into icy water that would trap her and pull her down, she met nothing.
Just… nothing. The ice, and then free-fall. Even the fall was slowed down, until she was essentially hovering in the pitch black.
A glowing eye appeared in front of her. Then several more.
The massive creature then leaned toward her, coming into the light from the hole in the ice far above. The thing was like a ball of spaghetti, all looping bits wrapped into a ball where the eyes peered out. Somehow it was clear that the eyes belonged to the creature itself, not something else hiding within or against it.
It ‘reached’ toward her—if reach was the right term—and lifted her higher, back up toward the hole in the ice.
And as she got closer, she heard Elizabeth’s voice. “Tabby! Tabby! I’m coming, okay?”
The creature pushed her back up through the broken ice, and she watched Elizabeth collapse to her knees in relief when Tabby came into view. “You’re okay, thank god.”
That seemed like a mild and possibly incorrect statement, considering the thing that was still holding her. But then Liz was back to her feet, skating forward, though slowly, stopping far from the hole in the ice.
The monster moved forward, and set Tabitha down gently next to Elizabeth. Liz reached out and ran her fingers across the still outstretched appendage. “Thank you. Good boy.”
The tentacle retreated, and this time Tabitha noticed the bizarre shifting shadow through the unbroken ice.
Elizabeth grabbed Tabitha and pulled her close. “I was so scared,” her girlfriend was saying. “I thought the signs were working, but now you see why I can’t have people coming here and bothering him. Oh, I thought you were done for, I’m so glad that he was in there to help you.”
Tabitha hugged her back for a few long moments, letting her heart rate return to normal and for her to catch her breath. But finally she had to speak. “What the hell was that, Elizabeth?”
“Well… you remember how I said I was doing some petsitting?”
[This got a minor SPAG and word choice edit in 2023 when it was posted.]
The prompt was: "You are out with your S.O. ice skating on a local lake but due to unfortunate events, the ice cracks and you fall through. However, you quickly realize it’s not water underneath the ice."
Summary: Tabitha is determined to find out who has placed signs warning people away from her favorite ice skating pond, and why they'd be trying to keep people away.
Fantasy/sci-fi.
The air was crisp and clear. Tabitha glanced around nervously, despite knowing she had to be the only one out here. No one else would brave both the cold and the no trespassing signs. Except for one person, apparently, judging by the broken-in trail through the snow.
“This was a terrible idea,” she muttered to herself, the words creating clouds in the frigid air in front of her.
As if mocking her, another no trespassing sign appeared ahead, painted wood, letters in bright red and yellow.
No one knew who had put the signs up. The mountain and the lake tucked away in the valley along one side had always been open. Until this year, when it was mysteriously all closed off. Tabitha tried to come up with rational answers for that, from the property having changed hands, to issues with vandalism, to it being closed off due to being the breeding grounds of some rare species, but none of them seemed quite right. Any of those should have garnered some local interest and news coverage.
Tabitha had been seized with a need to find out why no one was being allowed near.
She wished she’d brought Elizabeth, her girlfriend. But if she got into trouble, she didn’t want Liz to be wrapped up in it. Elizabeth’s attention could be very intense when she had a goal in mind, and Tabitha didn’t want to encourage her in something like this.
Within sight of the lake, the signs changed. Plenty still said “no trespassing”, but several more now read “danger: thin ice.”
The tracks she’d been vaguely following led to the shore and then onto the ice itself. Tabitha sighed and sat down to change into her heavy skates.
It would be nice to get out on the ice. She loved to skate, and for most of her life coming here had been one of the quintessential activities to usher in the season. It had been heartbreaking to see the signs warning people away.
She knew it was foolish to ignore the signs, but they couldn’t be true. This was one of the coldest winters on record, and it had been that cold with almost no break. There was no way that the ice could be dangerously thin.
She wished Elizabeth was with her again, for two reasons now. First, for safety’s sake, in case the ice was dangerous after all, and second because it was the site of their first date two years before.
The thin ice warning certainly seemed unfounded as she got really going. She skated the perimeter several times, at times aiming just for fast, sometimes throwing in tricks as well. The ice wasn’t perfectly even, though it was close to it for a natural lake. The one upside to it having been basically undisturbed for the season was that the ice was all but unmarked.
She’d reached the far end of the lake. She was going to start trying to solve her self-appointed mystery, but she’d wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. She heard a sound, someone calling her name.
“Tabitha!”
Looking back to shore, she saw Elizabeth, her wild-colored hair blowing sideways in the wind.
“Liz?” she called, confused as to why and how Elizabeth had gotten here. Tabitha started off toward the shore.
“Stop!” Liz shouted, but Tabby shook her head.
Elizabeth was struggling to get her own skates on. She’d just gotten onto the ice when Tabitha reached the center of the lake.
“Go back! It isn’t safe!” Liz was yelling.
Tabitha paused, dumping her momentum by doing a quick spin and then stopping entirely, waiting for Liz to reach her
“What do you mean?” she called, but her voice was interrupted by a loud crack. It was a sound she was terribly afraid she understood before the surface beneath her shifted, growing uneven, and then falling out from under her.
In one moment, Tabitha had to face the fact that she was about to die. She saw Elizabeth’s wide, frightened eyes, and that was what Tabitha felt the worst about.
But instead of plunging into icy water that would trap her and pull her down, she met nothing.
Just… nothing. The ice, and then free-fall. Even the fall was slowed down, until she was essentially hovering in the pitch black.
A glowing eye appeared in front of her. Then several more.
The massive creature then leaned toward her, coming into the light from the hole in the ice far above. The thing was like a ball of spaghetti, all looping bits wrapped into a ball where the eyes peered out. Somehow it was clear that the eyes belonged to the creature itself, not something else hiding within or against it.
It ‘reached’ toward her—if reach was the right term—and lifted her higher, back up toward the hole in the ice.
And as she got closer, she heard Elizabeth’s voice. “Tabby! Tabby! I’m coming, okay?”
The creature pushed her back up through the broken ice, and she watched Elizabeth collapse to her knees in relief when Tabby came into view. “You’re okay, thank god.”
That seemed like a mild and possibly incorrect statement, considering the thing that was still holding her. But then Liz was back to her feet, skating forward, though slowly, stopping far from the hole in the ice.
The monster moved forward, and set Tabitha down gently next to Elizabeth. Liz reached out and ran her fingers across the still outstretched appendage. “Thank you. Good boy.”
The tentacle retreated, and this time Tabitha noticed the bizarre shifting shadow through the unbroken ice.
Elizabeth grabbed Tabitha and pulled her close. “I was so scared,” her girlfriend was saying. “I thought the signs were working, but now you see why I can’t have people coming here and bothering him. Oh, I thought you were done for, I’m so glad that he was in there to help you.”
Tabitha hugged her back for a few long moments, letting her heart rate return to normal and for her to catch her breath. But finally she had to speak. “What the hell was that, Elizabeth?”
“Well… you remember how I said I was doing some petsitting?”
[This got a minor SPAG and word choice edit in 2023 when it was posted.]
