A Cold Fire in the Winter

Moving through the Ice

Today marks the 16th year. The island is covered with metal frozen by the harsh, neverending winter. All the islanders have retreated underground, as it is the only place that still holds the island's warmth. The surface is a frozen dessert, except for the youth who call it their home.

"Blackie! A wah y'ah do?". Leoni seems to appear out of nowhere, rushing over to Blackie. "Nu'n much.". He is playing around with pieces of scrap, as he had for years, and he seemed to have been getting better at it since he's recently started making simple toys for the other kids to play with. "Yuh sayin' the same thing for how long, yuh cyaa find sup'n better?". Blackie looks at her, then gets back to messing around with the metal.

Blackie had been like this for as long as everyone could remember. Every single day he had been playing with the metal. Nobody really questioned it, since it is one of the only times when he looks truly focused. The Elders had tried to stop him since no matter what was made with the metal it would never work, but it seemed as if he was too determined for his own good.

Every day he had come out right beside a pool of black, thick water. Since he usually wasust called 'likkle ute', 'da ute deh', or just 'you', everyone just called him Blackie. Just as the other children on the surface, he has no proper name and had been named by his peers.

A loud slam can be heard all across the island. This signals that the Greenhouse had been opened. The Greenhouse is the only warm place that can be found on the surface. It appears to be the remnant of a large building, half-sunken into the ice and snow. A boy named Jordan had found it and had decided to build a farm there along with his brother Kimani. Hearing the loud slam, Blackie and Leoni knew to go to the Greenhouse for a meeting and to receive their rations. 

The Surface-dwellers had started sledding as a way to quickly move across the snow and ice. Both Blackie and Leoni picked up a piece of flat metal and made their way to a clear road of ice made by Blackie. "How much y'ah bet seh mi ah reach b'fore yuh?" Leoni is the best sledder among the Surface-dwellers and gets even better in a competition. "2 yam". Blackie had been avoiding entering any bets with Leoni as he always had lost, however, he seemed awfully confident today.

Trying to get a head start on Leoni, Blackie placed his board down and started the descent and Leoni started a single second after. Leoni instantly took the lead, skillfully maneuvering along the road. The gap was about 30 metres until the road started to take many sharp turns. Leoni naturally slowed down, but Blackie kept the same speed. He didn't bother to take the turn and instead had gone down his walking path which he uses to go up the hill. 

The path was filled with sharp pieces of metal, but he ignored them as he continuously crashed into them, seemingly being unafraid of injury. All of the islanders had been wearing garments made of metal tied together by pieces of ruined plastic and cloth. Blackie's clothes must have been extremely well made as he seemed to have not felt anything. As the descent ended, Blackie had been in the lead, but he still had to go into a full sprint as he knew that waiting for even a second would give Leoni time to catch up. 

It had been minutes, and Blackie didn't even hear a single footstep. For a moment he had thought that Leoni had given up, but he realised that she never gives up, especially when food is involved. For a split second, he turned around only to see Leoni right behind him. She tackled him and took back the lead. Even though she was bound to win, he still kept pace. Blackie did not plan to give up.

He continued to run until he eventually reached the Greenhouse. He had lost the bet. As he entered the Greenhouse, the warmth enveloped him, seemingly taking away all the fatigue that he had from the race. He sat beside Leoni who had an angry look on her face. She hit him over the back of the head, "Bredda a why yuh a move reckless? Imagine if you did get lick wrong?".

The Greenhouse stretches out extremely far, going to the extent of one's vision. Whenever the Elders rarely came out to the surface, they would often come to the Greenhouse and start talking about how it used to be full of people who came together to watch people run or watch them kick a ball. Nobody paid any attention since they passed it off as rambling of old people.

While being berated by Leoni, he noticed that everyone in the camp was here, counting 20 people. After around 3 minutes, Jordan walked into the Greenhouse and made his way to the front.  Kimani followed along and stood behind him

"Everybody, I hope you are all doing well. As some of you may have heard, my mother has been ill. During the next few months, I will be returning underground with Kimani to visit her. Due to this, I will allow you all to vote for the Greenhouse Manager."

Out of all the children, Jordan was especially well-spoken. He and Sasha-Gaye were rumored to have been taught by the Tunnel Chief.

Jordan and Kimani had managed the Greenhouse until now, and they had always been busy, regardless of the time of day. Knowing this, everyone unanimously voted Blackie for the position as he was the only one with that kind of time available. Blackie was fond of the warmth of the Greenhouse and had no issue with taking control of the Greenhouse as long as he could stay there.

After it was agreed that Blackie would be the Greenhouse manager, Jordan seemed satisfied with everyone's decision.

"Since you have all decided that Blackie will be Greenhouse manager, I trust that you will remain civil and assist him during our absence."

As Jordan and Kimani left the Greenhouse, Jordan discreetly slipped him a book. Books were extremely rare, as Blackie had only heard of them once before. He hid it under his shirt before anybody could notice it. Once Jordan and Kimani left the Greenhouse, everyone gathered around Blackie to receive their rations.

Luckily, before Jordan left he already sorted out the rations into sacks for each person. Pointing everyone towards the sacks, everyone took their rations and left leaving his and Leoni's. All the duties to be done had been completed by Jordan and Kimani. The only thing that was left for him to do is to get started on reading the book. There was only one issue though, he couldn't read.

There were only 4 people in the camp who knew how to read: Jordan, Kimani, Leoni, and Sasha-Gaye. Sasha was a secretive girl who was only present at meetings. This only left Leoni to read it for him. As it was almost nighttime, Blackie ran over to her house.

"Leoni, can help mi?"
"Wha'ap'n?"
"Jordan leave mi a book..."
"Him nuh know seh yuh cyaa read?"
"Mi nuh know, but yuh need fi read it fi mi"
"Alright, but mi need sup'n first"

Blackie couldn't bring his rations to her house, so there was only one other thing that he could do.

"Watch it, what if yuh can sleep innah di Greenhouse?"
"REALLY!? Mek mi pack up from now"
"So issah yes?"
"Yes, yes, now help me pack up!"

After all of her stuff was packed, they made their way back to the Greenhouse. Blackie closed the doors. The second slam announced to all of the Surface-dwellers that it is time to go to sleep. As they entered the cottage on the other side of the Greenhouse, they only saw one bed. Sharing the bed was out of the question, so somebody would need to sleep on the floor.

"Leoni yuh w'ah the bed?"
"Noooo, yuh can have it."
"Noooo, mi cyaa mek a gyal sleep pon di ground"
"Chivalrous e'eh? Since y'ah move so, mi might as well"

They were both too tired to start going through the book, so they both went to sleep. Though the wooden floor was a bit uncomfortable, it was much better than sleeping out in the cold.