Chapter 4: Talents and Dystopia

About a minute and a half was how long I stood there for. Two for two on narrowly missing the sprinting figures, I was contemplating on whether to leave when I heard a blood-curdling screech come from the alleyway they ran into. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end from the pitch, as it didn't sound like something that could be artificially made, acting or otherwise. A part of me wanted to see what happened, but the instinctive fear that clawed its way into my chest and throat bade me not to.

Unfortunately, my curiosity won out, and the next moment I found myself peeking into the alleyway.

It was dim, as it was an overcast day. The buildings blocked out most of the already weak light, leaving me no choice but to lean in further. Images of crime scenes with body outlines, murder weapons, and police filled my imaginative mind with a sense of dread. What happened here? Who were those two?

Before I knew it, I was in the alleyway. I took out my phone and shined its light into the shadows. My steps were swift and quiet, but my breath snagged against the growing lump in my throat, making it hard to control the sound of my breathing.

The scream from earlier stopped shortly after it started, leaving nothing to be heard except the dull drone of traffic noise I left behind.

The alleyway was fairly long, the end so far away it was imperceptible. It would be unfortunate for the escapee if it did.

The temperature seemed to drop the further I made my way in, which was odd as it wasn't cold outside; it was after all a summer day, despite how overcast it was. Goosebumps started to form on my arms, and a few minutes later I was clutching my sides for warmth.

The end came into view. There was no one and nothing in sight, save for what appeared to be a large chunk of ice embedded in the ground.

It was twice the height of a fully grown man, just as big around and a little more. It was shaped like an irregular cone, with thick tendrils of ice shooting upward from the sides and inward. It was an opaque blue, like an uncut sapphire, with a white mottling in some areas. Thin wisps of vapor rose from its surface. I held my hand over it, not daring to touch it directly as the extreme cold I felt might instantly freeze it.

I cast about for any signs of a struggle, or blood, or anything at all that could lend some clues. The search, however, proved fruitless. The only thing in the vicinity was the chunk of ice. Confused, I circled it, probing it with here and there with a pen. It wouldn't scratch with the writing utensil's metal tip, and it didn't seem to be melting, but rather sublimating to gas, rising into the air as the thin wisps of vapor I saw earlier.

About an hour had passed, and I had done about as much as I could think of. I kicked it once, but it was as unforgiving as it was immobile and tough; it left me in a fit of hopping on one foot from the painful impact.

Of course, I took photographic evidence, to what end I couldn't tell you. My fear from earlier had melted into curiosity, and my inner detective started to emerge.

At this point, I called it a day. I guessed that it would probably have lost a good deal of mass by the same time tomorrow. So, I resolved to return after school the next day, before the hospital appointment. Taking one last look at the looming chunk of ice, I turned and made my way back to the path home.

-

I decided not to mention anything about the incident from earlier to my sister. She would probably tell me not to go there again, which of course would run contrary to my investigative spirit. So I waited through classes, anxiously watching the second-hand tick slowly along the face of the clocks in each classroom. The voices of my teachers dissolved into incomprehensible murmurs. All I could think of was the ice, the scream before it, and the two figures that disappeared into that alleyway.

When classes were over, I decided to ask Connor to join me in my investigation.

"I can't, you know I can't miss the bus home, or else my mom and dad are going to kill me."

"Breaking the rules isn't that bad you know! Come on, it's really weird, a big block of ice that could freeze your fingers off! Here, let me show you..."

I pulled out my phone to show him the photos I took of the ice.

"See? And it was there after I saw those two guys I was telling you about."

"They screamed?"

"Yeah, I thought it was a murder, but maybe not."

He seemed torn between skepticism and interest. I didn't let up the pressure.

"We might still be able to see it there if it hasn't melted away, what do you say?"

Finally, Connor relented with a reluctant sigh.

"My parents are definitely going to slit my throat. When they do, it's your fault, okay?"

"It's all on me then."

When school let out, we hastily made our way to the alley. We passed Mr. Candors, who was absentmindedly sipping a cup of coffee at the diner. He waved as we went by. Connor nodded cordially, as he wasn't too familiar with him.

We arrived at the alleyway entrance. The cold from the day before had dissipated, meaning the chunk of ice had probably lost a good deal of its mass by now. I pressed a finger to my lips to silence Connor.

"This is where it happened. Keep quiet, we don't want to let anyone know we're here."

With a nod from Connor, we entered the alley.

-

The chunk of ice was about half the size it was before. Like I thought, it wasn't melting, as there wasn't any water on the ground. It had all sublimated. I held my hand to the surface again. It wasn't as cold as before, I could touch it with my bare hands now.

"It's not as big as you said it was."

I sighed. Connor, your petulance confounds me to this day.

"Of course it isn't, it's melted since yesterday. It's ice, Connor, ice."

"Yeah, I know. But isn't ice supposed to be clear?"

"It's weird ice."

I felt up and down the chunk's rough exterior. Vapor rose from the spots my hand touched as the ice instantly evaporated from my body heat. Connor kicked it from the side. I felt a sense of deja vu watching him bounce around from the pain.

"How hard is this thing!"

"Very hard. It was harder when I first saw it. It's a lot weaker now."

I had thought of the possibility of it weakening already and had brought along the heavy hammer my sister kept in one of the kitchen drawers for small apartment repairs.

"Give me a lift on your shoulders, I'm going to try hitting the top of it to break it in two."

Connor groaned and reluctantly bent down so I could get on his shoulders.

"I can't hold you long, hit it already!"

"I'm trying, just hold still, you're going to make me fall!"

I brought the hammer down with as much force as I could. A thin crack appeared along the top. I hit it again, the cracks widened. A third smack and the entire conical top crumbled into pieces.

"Are you even doing anything up there?"

"I just broke the top off. Let me down, we're going to need a break."

Connor fell to his knees from the effort. He looked at the small chips I had managed to break off.

"That's all you did?"

"Yup."

"And you're wanting me to lift you up again?"

"Yup."

"But it's going to take hours to break it all!"

"Yup."

Connor's crestfallen face didn't sway my determination in the least. I tried bringing the hammer down as hard as I could on the ice from ground level, but it didn't leave so much as dent the surface. It needs to be done from the top.

"Can't we just wait until the whole thing melts?"

"Yeah, but once it does someone will find whatever was inside. If it's a body, we wouldn't know about it."

"Why do you even want to see a body!"

"Well..."

Good point. Though the suspense from yesterday was driving me forward, so I ignored Connor's entreaties and pointed my thumb upwards.

"Lift."

-

A half an hour later, we managed to create a thin fracture from the top of the chunk of ice all the way to the bottom. My hands were numb from the constant hammering, and my arms felt as though they were lead weights dangling at my sides. The perspiration on our faces and bodies had completely soaked our clothes.

"Are we...huff....done yet?"

Connor barely had the energy to even speak.

"I don't know. I thought I could've broken it in two by now, but it's tougher than I thought."

"Can we just go home, I'm already late as it is..."

"We've already done so much, let's finish it. Please?"

As we were standing up to continue our work, a loud cracking sound emanated from the ice. The small fracture we managed to make started to widen.

"Ohooo, looks like I don't have to hold you up!"

It continued to widen, the motion fueled by the heat of friction, causing the ice to melt in between the crack. The left half started to peel away from the main chunk. It fell to the ground and shattered like into innumerable pieces on the ground, as though it was a pane of stained glass.

"Alright, let's take a look inside.....ugghkk!"

My words were cut off by the vomit that rose to my throat. I struggled to keep from throwing up, while I pushed Connor away from the scene. When the ice fell away, it left a nearly perfect cleavage on both halves of the ice chunk. But that wasn't what had caught my attention.

The tendons were still hanging loosely from what was left embedded in the standing half. Blood didn't flow out of the severed neck, probably because it was frozen solid in its veins, but the gore wasn't lessened any by that fact. I hesitantly turned my eyes down to what had fallen to the ground where the fractured half went.

In a large piece of the shattered ice, I could barely see the head for the opacity of the ice. It was that of a middle-aged man, who was partially balding. The right side of the face was nearly indistinguishable from bruises and a half masking of tattoos.

It was like a photo in the ice; his expression was frozen eternally into a contorted mass of fear.

"What did you do that for, what's wrong with you Marcus...aghhhh."

It was too late for me to keep him away. He fell backward in shock.

"Wh...wh....what it that....you didn't tell me there would be an actual body....!"

"We need to get out of here before anyone sees us..."

The gruesome scene shrank in the distance as we both ran. It was as if we were running from Death itself instead of a body; our visceral fear of whoever or whatever could've done that to a person drove us to speeds quite unlike any I've known before. We didn't utter a word, letting our legs, hoarse breathing, and pale white faces communicate everything we needed to say to one another.

The entrance of the alleyway was coming up. I could see the dim light filtering through the film of clouds. We were almost out. Then... blue?

Sheets of blue ice erupted from the walls, forming a barrier in front of us. Connor slipped in his haste to slow himself down, tumbling directly into it.

"CONNOR!!"

His arm made contact with the barrier. The memory of how cold the ice block was when I first found it filled me with dread.

"AGHHAHHHAAAAH!!!!"

The ice started to claw its way upward, coiling around his arm, growing rapidly as though it were a living thing.

"Hold on, I'll break you out!"

I brought the hammer down on the ice attached to his arm.

"...huh?"

It withstood the blow. I struck it again. Again. Again.

"Please break, just break...PLEASE!"

"What's happening...I don't wanna die, Mark... It feels so cold....!!"

The blood drained away from my face, and a cold sweat broke out all over my body. I watched in horror as Connor's tear-stained face gradually disappeared under the ice.

Why. What happened. I couldn't think coherently, it was all too sudden. Connor, you're... I'm.....

"Oh? One of you survived, huh?"

My heart jumped to my throat at the sudden shout from above my head. I looked up hesitantly.

"Hey, kid. I've got a favor to ask ya..."

What appeared to be a man in a gray trench coat, scarf, and fedora leaped from the roof of one of the nearby buildings. It was the man who was chasing the victim of this murder! He was going to fall right on top of me. My legs... they aren't moving... no, my feet wouldn't move, they were frozen to the ground. The ice had grown all the way from Connor's body to me!

"Die for me, would ya?"

The shadow of his body grew larger around me. There's nothing I can do. I'm going to be crushed to death by someone I know nothing about, without the chance to know the reason why. In a way, it's laughable, how simple the situation is, despite the mystery and emotion swirling around the scene. It could all be summed up in two words:

I'm dead.