Trapped in Hardin Elementary

When I made it to the pond, I saw my shoes lying right where I had left them on the other side.  I looked around for Cody, hoping his parents had sent him for his shoes also.  They hadn’t.  It was just me, all by myself.

I didn’t want to waste any time walking around the pond, so I decided to walk across the pond straight to my shoes.  The ice was a little slippery without my skates on.  I walked on the ice as quiet as possible, so not to disturb the ghost.  I looked in every direction for even the slightest movement.  My own footsteps were even scaring me. 

Everything seemed quiet.  Then a noise broke the silence.  I spun around fully expecting to see that the ghost had once again returned for me.  I quickly realized, though, that the sound was coming from beneath me.  It was a cracking sound, and I could see the ice splitting below me.  I was too far out to go back and not far enough across to make it to the other side. 

I thought to myself aloud, “She must have done this.  She was too slow to catch me, so that ghost set this trap to make me drown in this icy pond.”

In an instant, I fell between two chunks of ice into the pond.  I couldn’t touch the bottom.  I began grasping desperately for a piece of ice to keep my head above water.  It was no use.  My hands kept slipping.  I was trying to scream for help, but I kept getting mouthfuls of water.   Thrashing my arms and kicking my legs made me very tired.  My wet clothes acted like lead weights pulling me under.  I couldn’t keep my head above water any longer.  Just as I slipped under for the last time, a figure appeared.  It was her, the ghost.  She was hovering over where I had fallen in the ice.  She once again reached out her arm.  She had come for me.  Her trap had worked.  Suddenly drowning or freezing to death didn’t seem so bad.