frozen

By Amirah Datwani

If a girl my age ever stooped to such lows, all to do a dragon’s bidding, she would never be able to bear the consequences. Being a boy, I would be showered with pride, riches, and glory. But I don’t want that. I want to save my sister, unfairly kidnapped by the Night Dragon all those years ago.

I remember her solemn eyes, nightshade black. Her golden curls in a little bob. How she left the country at sixteen, the second she was allowed to. Now, I am sixteen, and I am ready to do the same.

All I know about her whereabouts is that the Night Dragon keeps young men in a lonely cage until they do his bidding. Usually, they agree, for when they return, they will practically be worshipped. My sister wanted to prove that the Night Dragon would allow a girl to help it, even when she knew of the exceedingly creative punishments she would receive. My last memory of her is the conversation we had before she set out to prove the government wrong.

“Alma,” I had said. “Don’t you know what will happen?”

“I do. I know that they’ll shove me, chain me to a large oven.”

She didn’t add the other part of the punishment, the truly ridiculous part. They would keep a small, frozen lasagna inside, to remind her of her insignificance in this world, being imprisoned in the same place as an inanimate, unimpressive object. Her last breath of fresh air would be after hearing the ding of the oven, and the lasagna would be retrieved as she slowly burnt to death. Truly a painful form of execution. An easy escape, but thwarted by those ghastly chains. Mother would have never let me save her. But sneaking out is an easy thing to do if you’re anything like me.

There are three people who have accomplished the quest and earned the dragon’s respect. And one of them is my best friend, Garett. I ask him where it is located, and I was surprised by his answer. It’s so simple.

“In the Glass Kingdom’s main courtyard,” he says. “Just a few hours away by boat.”

And so I venture. I rent out a boat from Sail and Wail. It’s the dead of night, but I’m ready. I row recklessly, but I have an impeccable sense of direction. I think of my friends, and how they are always so kind to me. Just like they were to Alma. Until that one night, the night she did what I was doing right now.

Lightning cracks against the wily, dark blue skyline. A second later, thunder booms and crashes, sending ripples and waves all throughout the ocean.

It’s a storm.

I should have been more prepared for this. Haunting grey clouds have been peppered across the sky for hours now. They were there before I went on the quest. My boat is unstable too. It’s like I’ve set myself up for tragedy.

These crashing waves will soon upend me, I know it. The long planks of wood making up my little boat are detaching from each other. My rowing is getting increasingly erratic, unable to bear the ferocious jump of the water, and its combination with the wind. I’m tempted to scream for help, but I know there’s no one around to hear me. I’m in the middle of the ocean, and thunder is rumbling throughout the thick, conductive waters. All I will do is waste what little energy I have left, depriving myself of oxygen.

I muster up enough courage to lift my hand up and check my watch. Only an hour left before I reach the Glass Kingdom before I can rescue Alma. Does she even remember my name? She’s been gone so long. At least I can find bittersweet solace if she doesn’t yell Cayden! when she sees me. She might’ve just forgotten my name. Anything but death. Anything but death.

Perhaps this storm will calm soon. Perhaps my body will not be found, cold as ice, practically frozen in these deadly depths. I tell myself that the clouds are clearing, transitioning into a pale white, even though nothing is happening at all. I need to have some sort of optimism throughout this. It might be the only reason I’m alive.

I’m cold. I can’t help imagining myself freezing to death. Imagine that. Surviving a brutal storm, only to have the natural temperature take you out. How humiliating.

Thirty minutes.

At this point, the storm is at its worst, crashing, bouncing, killing. And yet, I’m at my best. I’m managing to eat, and my boat is moving reasonably now. My rowing is already better and-

The lightning strikes, directly to my heart, burning my boat with me. I’m flipped into the ocean, struggling to breathe. My vision is fading. No. No, this can’t be it. I’ve come so far.

I wake in a white room, with no one standing over me. No family, no friends. Just a nurse, who looks intensely worried. I still can’t breathe. Little black dots are everywhere. They continue to cloud my vision, to the point where only a little sliver of light is pushing through, trying to keep me alive. It’s failing. I feel a burning sensation in my lungs, and the last thing I hear is the long, fateful beep of the heart monitor.

And time freezes forever.