Under the ice

I wasn't supposed to die.

We were ice skating.

I fell.

Darkness...

Two days earlier...

"Ava, come down and empty the dishwasher!" Mum shouted from the bottom of the stairs. I

sighed and put down my phone. As I dutifully emptied the dishwasher, I thought about the

text I received from my archnemesis, Lexi. It said:

'Hi Ava, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but I think we should start over. Lexi xxx'

I don't think we should start over. She has ignored me ever since primary school, when she

became the popular girl and I was the quiet one. We used to be friends, many years ago.

But I think that's over now. I've found better friends.

The next day, Lexi came up to me at school today. She was all smiley smiley and said,

"Hey, there's gonna be a small party tonight by the lake up at Hertford. Do you want to

come? The lake has frozen over so we're going to ice skate and you can bring your friends.

Think of it as an early Christmas party." I don't trust her one bit. But I was all like,

"Sure. Why not?"

I hate myself.

In the end I did go to the party. My parents were having a date night at home so I didn't want

to intrude.

All of the rich people had put together a load of money to rent a bunch of ice

skates, so everyone could skate on the lake. I was hanging by myself by the food tables

when Lexi came up to me.

"Hiiii, do you wanna skate with me?"

"Um, no. It looks unsafe." I replied.

"Oh come on, loads of people are on it. It's solid!"

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'm a size 5."

"Yayy!" said Lexi, dragging me over to the gazebo.

10 minutes later, I was on the ice, whooping and screaming as I struggled to stay up. Lexi

was even worse than me at skating, she was barely moving! I was trying to skate towards

her when I fell again, but this time I fell harder than before, and I was in the middle of the

lake. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I heard the first crack. I saw Lexi's face go white as

she looked at me. I attempted to get up and move, but I kept slipping. Nobody else had

noticed. Lexi tried to get to me, but she was terrible at ice skating. Suddenly I fell. I didn't

even have enough time to scream.

I was plunged into complete darkness and freezing water. For a second, I was in shock, then

I realised I needed to get out. But when I looked up, the water burning my eyes, the ice had

already frozen over. I banged desperately, air escaping my lungs. I knew I couldn't hold my

breath much longer. I don't know how long I was under there for, but it felt like forever. By that time, I had accepted my fate. I was going to die. The only thing I regretted was that I was

going to miss Christmas. I held onto that thought as I closed my eyes and began to sink.

Christmas is a time to reunite with loved ones, family and friends. It's for the joy of eating

delicious food, opening gifts and having a good time. I don't think I really realised this until I

wasn't part of it. My family didn't have a good time during Christmas because they had lost

someone; me. I feel guilty, but I am happy to watch my family live their lives from above.

As for Lexi, she visits my grave every day. She is always sad, feeling guilty, but I know she

will eventually move on and be happy.And I just want everyone to be happy.