Prologue
It was eight o’ clock at night. The preparations for the Ice Songs in the Track and Field area was put on hold for the night. The tent lightly whipped in the cold night wind, there was going to be light snow that night, according to the weather forecast. Tomorrow the greatest event in this small town would see the whole town gathering under this tent. Tomorrow till midnight the event would go on and then the whole town would celebrate Christmas together. There would be feasts laid out, there would be dancing and singing, there would be laughter and joy. But what the little town of Westfield didn’t know was probably that the night’s events would turn whatever they wished the Ice Songs to be to just dreams and mere memories of what is was in the past.
As usual, after the basketball season was over, school was to be closed just after the classes ended. But, of course, with the Ice Songs event looming over them, there was no question of going home early. The dancers and singers were still rehearsing till seven o’clock. However, by eight o’ clock all of them had returned back home. Rose thought that would actually help her concentrate on practicing her song. But what she thought commotion was in fact nothing compared to the hell she was getting.
‘What are you saying?’ Rose snapped. ‘Can you just get to the freaking point?’
Jacob sighed. ‘Fine,’ he muttered. ‘I can’t sing this duet with you in the Ice Songs.’
‘And why not? The Ice Songs are the biggest event in town. We’ve been participating in it for three years now. And now you’re telling me you won’t sing the duet with me?’
‘Yes, Rose, I can’t sing it with you because I’m singing the duet with Darlene.’
Rose felt her temper rising. ‘Darlene? Logan’s ex-girlfriend? Seriously, Jacob.’
‘Look she’s nervous as it is. And she really wants me beside her. I know she needs me up there.’
‘I need you up there, with me, singing this song, dammit!’
‘Rose, you can do this alone. But think about Darlene. She’s new at this and she’s just scared about this.’
Rose pursed her lips, trying to hold back the screams. ‘Jacob, this is our last Ice song together.’
‘I know. And I promise I’ll make it up to you. But please understand that I need to help Darlene. Besides, you always said that Ice Songs should be sung with the person you love, right? And I love Darlene.’
‘You love me too!’ she insisted, feeling like the world’s most pathetic person.
‘Not in the same way! You can sing the song with Logan, can’t you?’
‘He’s my little brother. It’ll be like going to prom with my brother. And besides he’s singing the ending solo.’
Jacob sighed. In a weary and yet adamant manner that Rose hated most. It made her feel bad inside, like she was something akin to an annoying pest that wouldn’t leave. His lips were a thin adamant line now. ‘I really can’t help you, Rose,’ he said slowly. ‘I’m sorry. But at this point Darlene matters to me more.’
Suddenly all she felt inside was empty. Empty, and void….so angry. And the anger brought those treacherous tears to her eyes so that she had to ball her fists and turn away from Jacob. The very sight of him made her want to punch his head off.
‘Just leave, Jacob,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘Just get out!’
‘Rose…’ he said, shocked at her sudden outburst.
‘Just leave, right now, before I kill you. And I mean it!’
He shook his head but backed away anyway.
Rose slammed the guitar on the carpet and fell on the piano stool. She put her head down on the closed piano and wept. Everything was ruined, everything she ever worked for. Tomorrow in the Ice Songs she wouldn’t be there. Her last Ice Songs event and she had no song to sing in it, not even a solo. All these years of dreaming of this glorious day. The day when she would sing the song she wrote and she composed. Everyone was supposed to be clapping and going mad as she would be up there, looking like a real ice princess singing the greatest song ever. And there would be Jacob beside her, smiling at her and holding her hand. He would be there sharing her glory. She could see her parents looking on, smiling and clapping their hearts out. They would’ve been so proud of her.
But like the story of the Ice Princess, she too, felt the tragedy descend upon her. She was crushed, she was a nobody. The new Ice Princess was crushed before even she had the chance to be publicly crowned as one. And as she wept on, she could picture her parent’s disappointment. They wouldn’t show it, she knew that. They never showed it. They would smile, say it was alright, that it wasn’t her fault. But they would whisper at night. Whisper their disappointment. How could both their children have lost their partners in the Ice Songs in the course of a couple of months? It was unbelievable. Were they so incompetent? Were they such bad partners? Their parents didn’t know, of course, that it wasn’t their children’s faults.
As Rose looked up, wiping her eyes, she could distinctly now smell something burning. Not only that she could see the flames whipping away at the doorway. She screamed as she scrambled to her feet. It was all burning in front of her now. Quickly she made her way through the burning room to the corridors only to see them blazing away as well. She was crying again, dry sobs of desperation. Anywhere she tried to go, flames erupted blocking her path. There was no way for her to go. Smoke made it hard to see and soon made it hard to breathe. In her ears the sound of wood crackling away as the flames ate them away.
‘Rose!’ she heard Logan scream. At first she thought she was only just imaging it. But it didn’t stop.
‘Logan?’ she yelled with all the air in her lungs.
‘I’m here, Rose,’ he replied back. ‘I’m gonna get you out of here. Just hold on there, okay?’
‘Logan? I can’t see you,’ she screamed in frustration. ‘I can’t….I can’t breathe! Where are you?’
She saw him then, with a fire extinguisher, blowing away trying to make his way to her. She wondered if it would work. The fire extinguisher would be out soon. Then what?
‘Rose, just hang on, girl!’ he insisted.
‘I’m trying,’ she half whispered. She couldn’t breathe now. Breathing was impossible. It was all smoke everywhere. Smoke and fire. Fire and smoke. She coughed as she fell to her knees. She felt the smoke in her lungs. Coughing now wouldn’t help. She was weak. The world was a blur now. She tried to get to her feet but her knees buckled under her. The world was spinning giddily.
Just as her knees gave up under her, Logan caught her in mid-fall. With dread she felt herself slipping. The orange flames were a blur. Logan was a blur. He was talking to her but all she could hear was the fire eating away at the school.
‘Rose, hang on,’ he kept repeating.
‘I can’t,’ she thought, clutching at his hand.
‘You’re gonna be safe now,’ he whispered so softly. ‘I got you, now. You’re gonna be safe,’ was all she heard before the world blacked out.
