Playing With Fire

-5:Ice-

The next morning I wake up at dawn. I am feeling clumsy and almost fall down the ladder. When I reach the bottom I sit down on the couch. Charm jumps up and sits next to me. Soon I stand back up and climb back up the ladder, unplug my iPad mini, then rejoin Charm on the couch. As soon as I sit down she lays her head on my lap.
I open my iPad mini and stand it up on the table. I tap in my password then click lightly on Spotify, the music app. I tap on my playlist, plug in my earphones and rest my head next to my device.
I doze off to the sound of my music, then wake up again as mum enters the room an hour later.
She gazes at me in wonder. I have never been this tired before.
'Long night, hey?' she says, 'yeh. Happy birthday, sweetheart...' She trails off and cracks open an egg onto a frying pan. I open my eyes slightly, then close them contently.
'Sweetie,' mum's voice interrupts my thoughts. I lower my headphones and open my eyes. 'Did you feed Charm?' I shake my head. 'Please do.'
I pause the song Downtown, right through Macklemore's rap, then grab out Charm's aqua and purple polkadot food bowl.
Charm jumps off the couch as I lower her food bowl, and hastily gobbles it all up.
'Mum,' I say. Mum looks up from the omelette. 'After breakfast, can I walk Charm to the lake by the alps?' I am hoping to get some scenery pictures on my new phone.
'Sure. Ask Sam,' mum says, half paying attention, 'see if she wants to go.'
I shake my head. 'No mum, I want to go alone, please,' mum hesitates.
'I suppose you can,' she says, 'but be careful and make sure nothing happens to you!' I nod my head slowly.
When breakfast is served I wolf it down. Then I throw on my clothes, put on my shoes, and clip Charm onto the leash before dashing out of the door, phone in hand.
I run in the dewy sunshine before tripping over and landing face-first on the grass. When I stand up my face is damp and my hair is all messy. I sigh before heading up the hill to the lake. The grass gradually turns to pebbles as I near the lake.
When I am finally there the lake is iced. It is hard and thick from last night's blizzard.
I tie Charm onto a nearby tree, then step forward onto the ice. It holds my weight. I take a few more steps, slipping my way towards the centre.
I grab my phone, and start taking pictures. The mountains, the lake, the grass with the frosted caravan perched below. I capture shots of them all. The sky, the forest, the birds. I even manage to take a zoomed-in picture just at the right time when an eagle took off forcefully from a tree.
Crack, crack, crack... I stop, my joy replaced with anxiety.
Crack, crack, crack... I begin to run for the bank.
It is too late. After a final, loud CRACK! my phone slips out of my hand and safely onto the pebbles, yet I am not so lucky. The ice breaks from my weight and I am plunged into an icy darkness. The last thing I hear is Charm barking.