The Quality of Sound

Chapter 2

My heart seems to pound in my chest as we continue down the road silently, our once cheerful aura now cut cold from me. I sigh slightly looking from the sky back to the ground as I hung my head almost shamefully.
I wanted to know what that buzzing sound was. My curiosity seemed to snare me in a trap as I think of ideas the source of that interesting sound could come from. Could it be from a person? A car, a plane, or a boat? I turn my head slightly to the right and the vast Ertrinken lake stretchs out in front of me for miles. No boat in sight. The sky looked clear to me and not a single car would want to even try and climb over the fast growing clumps of snow on the road, probably as thick as ice by now.
I turn my back and look at Raven who had her head down not wanting to make eye contact with me. I was fine with that.
Maybe a person made the sound I remind myself looking at all the places a person could hide, but I couldn't see a building for the next three blocks.
I continue to be stumped, a void of anger and disappointment shielding my regular thoughts from my brain. I growl slightly in frustration.
But then, I hear it. The ringing seems to echo in my head as I pause where I am again closing my eyes tightly to listen. As the ringing continues, I quickly open my eyes and look around, a distance of the sound seeming like miles away.
Raven, not noticing I had stopped with her head down, bumped into me giving me a disapproving looking before hissing, "Not aga-"
But I shush her and put a finger to my lips, my eyes concentrated on the ground trying to decipher or hear if the ringing had some purpose. A code or message.
"Really, this is getting us no where."
I shush her more angerily and look up at her, but the ringing still continued.
"Don't you hear it?" I ask excitedly.
"What?"
"The sound. You know, the weird ringing noise." My eyes were filled with wonder as I looked at her, waiting for her to say she was listening to it as well. She simply gives me a blank expression.
"Hear what now?"
My smile fades as I put my hands on her shoulder shaking her slightly as if this motion would make her hear.
"The ringing, Raven. Tell me you hear it."
She pushes me away looking at me as if I had gone crazy. "Are you feeling okay? Do you need to go to school or back home-"
"Raven you don't understand." I stare at her with wide eyes as she does the same. Taking a deep breath I close my eyes and let the ringing engulf me. It seemed to surround me, like the outside shell of an egg waiting to be cracked.
Without thinking, and continuing to keep my eyes closed, I start to walk, not toward the school, but toward the lake. Raven starts to protest at my movements but the ringing seems to overcome her voice and I let it. I hear the wind blow and the ice of the lake seems to crack slightly from the pressure of the wind. I stop and see myself at the edge of the lake, the edge of the thick ice frozen solid. I look up and stare at the lake, its ice sparkling in the little light from the sky.
"It wants me to go out there." I breathe not turning to Raven but knowing she had heard me.
"Are you even hearing yourself?" Raven scolds. "That is thin ice, you'll fall right through."
"The ice looks thick. I trust it." I counter back.
Raven stares at me blankly. "You're kidding."
"Raven, this ringing sound wants me to go on the ice." And with that, without her say or any comment from me, I start across the lake, my feet making the ice crack threatening to break.
I hear Raven gasp from the sounds, but I ignore her. The temptation was too overwelming.
I continue to walk keeping my feet firm on the ice not lifting my foot too much to make my whole body slip. Finally, as I become aware of my surroundings, I come close to the middle of the lake. Not the exact middle, for the lake stretched for miles, but somewhere close.
A small smile forms on my lips as I look up at Raven, who had a fixed stare on me.
"See? Nothing to be afraid of." I say defiantly. Boy was I wrong.
Before I could hear Raven speak or know what she said, the ice seemed to split from underneath me.
I heard Raven scream, but all my mind was focused on was the cold water that seemed to overcome me, the icy cold plunging my body into the depths of the lake. I tried to fight my way up, back onto the surface, but it was no use. My body seemed to go into a spasm as I kicked and flailed my arms. My mouth opened to scream for help, but that was a grave mistake as I inhale water from the lake. I choke and cough, the water seeming to swallow me up, the cold numbing my skin.
I look up through the ice and see a hand held out, waiting for me to take. Waiting for me to have the sense to live.
Raven, I think as I grasp the hand tightly, my vision spotty as I feel my last breath dawn on me. The hand was tough and larger than Raven's hands, maybe they were police helping me out, or a school boy.
I try to squeeze their hand to try and pull myself up to let them know I was there, they could pull me up, but the hand simply held on to me, kept me in the lake like I was meant to stay here forever. I let out a strangled cry as I felt the life seem to seep out of me.
Then the hand seemed to figure I was on the verge of death and pulled me up through the hole in which I had fallen in, the strength of the hand simply lifting my cold, wet body out of the water like a rag doll. I coughed and sputtered water out of my mouth as I shivered. Arms wrap around and hug me tightly as they try to warm me, my skin tingling with cold, the tips of my fingers blue.
"Hang in there," I heard a voice say, but it didn't sound like anyone I knew. A boy's voice, strong and worried was what I heard, but even then, their voice seemed far away as if I had to reach for them.
I kept my eyes closed trying to catch my breath, feeling the boy's breath warm my face.
He carries me, keeping my head near his chest, my arms limp and hanging down.
I try to say something that would tell them I was cold which they probably knew of course, but it only came out in a mutter and moan.
"Shhh," The boy said, his body seeming to go faster as if he were running. "Don't leave me yet."
Why did the boy seem so worried about me? I'd never even met him, yet he sounded like a brother to me, comforting me with words. My last memory was letting out a strangled cry as pain shot up my arm, and I went unconscious.