Chapter 1: The Icy Plunge

"Stop!" My voice broke the silence of the snow-blanketed park, yet the man did not stop.

His dark figure remained at the lake's edge, staunch against the howling wind. Snow adhered to the thick wool of his coat, his shoulders somewhat slouched as if bearing an unseen burden. The ice under him creaked in objection, a haunting, cracking noise that sent a shiver down my back.

He wasn’t merely standing there. He was anticipating.

One cautious step ahead, measured and intentional. The noise of breaking ice reverberated across the night.

“Hello! “Step away!” I called once more, my breath swirling in the icy atmosphere. My heart pounded in my chest, each instinct yelling that something was truly, genuinely amiss.

However, he did not pivot. Didn’t recognize me.

His stance—perfectly motionless, completely resolute—caused my stomach to churn.

I was not familiar with him. I had no cause to be concerned. However, a profound, instinctive fear gripped my heart.

"Please," I repeated, my voice strained. "Move away from the ice!"

For just a fleeting second, he paused. A brief movement, a hardly noticeable incline of his head. Optimism ignited within my heart.

Subsequently—

The ice cracked under his feet.

Time shattered. A heartbeat, a breath—then he vanished.

A sudden gasp escaped my throat as the lake engulfed him entirely, the dark water enveloping his head in a quiet, ruthless swallow. The wind screamed, as though testifying. The opening in the ice wavered, then quieted, wiping away any sign of him.

An awful, oppressive silence ensued.

I remained motionless, my heartbeat a wild rhythm echoing in my ears. My brain urged me to act, to flee, to seek assistance. Yet my feet would not comply.

Moments passed slowly. Every one extending into infinity.

He wasn't returning to the surface.

A chilling, nauseating fear twisted in my stomach. The water was excessively deep, excessively cold—he wouldn’t survive for long.

The rational side of me murmured that I was powerless, that I ought to dial 911, await experts, and remain secure.

However, the idea of a person passing away mere feet from me, isolated and unnoticed, caused my stomach to churn uncontrollably.

Before I had a chance to reflect, before I could persuade myself otherwise—

I relocated.

Boots pounding on the frozen terrain, I rushed to the lake's edge, heart racing within my chest. My breath burst in rugged, quick gasps, fogging in the cold ai

I pulled my coat off quickly, my fingers feeling numb as I struggled with the buttons. My shoes struck the pavement, pushed away carelessly. The chill pierced my skin, a signal I chose to overlook.

The sole thing that was important was getting to him.

The ice creaked under me as I moved ahead. My heartbeat roared.

"You'd better not make me wish I hadn't done this," I whispered, heart racing.

After that, I leaped.

Like a dagger, the cold sliced through my skin and reached deep into my bones, into the core of who I am. Breathless, I was seized by a strong, paralysing grip that wrapped around my chest like heavy chains as soon as I stepped into the water.

My lungs tightened. My heart suddenly races. Panic surged up my throat, dense and overwhelming.

No. Concentration. Locate him.

I commanded my body to shift, struggling against the paralyzing chill, as it seemed to pull me down like the lake had fingers, desperate to seize me. Obscurity engulfed all, a stifling void devoid of sound and illumination. I kicked downwards, my fingers extended, striving to see, to sense—anything.

Nothing.

Only the heavy weight of ice overhead, the abyssal darkness beneath. My ears rang with the thunder of my heartbeat.Did I arrive too late? Has the water already taken him away?

Then—over there. A figure, only faintly seen in the darkness. A silhouette within silhouettes.

I lunged at him, grasping aimlessly, my fingers grazing heavy, soaked material. My heartbeat raced. He remained present.

I clutched tightly, my hold sliding on the icy surface as I struggled to secure a solid grip. He was bulky, excessively bulky—a lifeless burden in my embrace. A surge of fear shot through my chest, but I pushed it away.

I wouldn't release it.

The ice above was once more thickening, slowly covering the gap I had fallen through. I was running out of time. The lake was attempting to ensnare us, to hold us.

It’s not occurring.

Summoning every fragment of strength left, I gripped his body firmly and pushed upward, the frigid water dragging me down like a burden. My arms hurt, my chest begged for breath, yet I continued, forcing myself to persevere and fight. The surface seemed like a distant, shimmering light—too far away, too slow—

No. I had to complete it.

I took a deep breath as soon as my fingertips penetrated the ice, the icy air biting like knives into my neck. Nevertheless, I lacked the time to recover.

He remained motionless in my embrace.

I threw him onto the ice with a frantic, primal noise, my body trembling from fatigue and chill. The ground fissured under our joint weight, the noise crisp and threatening, yet it remained intact.

His chest remained motionless.

“I put my trembling hands on his chest and pushed down firmly, gasping, "Come on." Single. Two. Three.

Nothing at all.

"Come on, don't even consider passing away on me." As I leaned his head back and awkwardly sealed my lips on his with my freezing fingers, forcing oxygen into his lungs, my voice broke.His skin resembled ice, his body rigid.

I attempted once more. More challenging this time.

Still nothing.

The world faded, my sight focusing solely on the still man below me. Snowflakes rested on his eyelashes, undisturbed, as if he were already a dead man.

“Kindly.” My voice hardly reached above the roar of the wind.

I placed my hands on his chest, exerting all my remaining strength, disregarding the pain in my own body. Each second elongated into infinity, every instant a struggle between existence and demise.