Casey

Three boys' adventurous outing on the ice nearly turns into a tragedy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I originally wrote this story in the late 2000s. I uploaded a PDF version of it in 2012 (you can find it in my portfolio under the same title). I've made a few small changes to the original. Its main home is now at https://www.quatscho.com/  

         The icy water stabbed at his lungs like a thousand needles as he sucked it in, his body's final futile attempt at finding the air it so desperately sought. His head rolled upward toward the surface of the lake and he saw the bright sunlight grow dim as it filtered through the ice. He wondered if clouds were passing in front of the sun as the world darkened around him, but dismissed the thought as inconsequential. He no longer felt cold, on the contrary he was feeling quite warm and sleepy. Succumbing, he allowed himself to slip into the twilight.

         Now motionless, Casey drifted upward until he bumped against the underside of the ice. His crimson jacket became starkly visible through the ice and he heard a faint voice shouting from an unimaginable distance as his consciousness ebbed away with each passing moment. His eyes stared blankly at the silhouette above him frantically clawing at the barrier which separated them. The frigid waters tugged at his body, beckoning it downward. Above, the shape was frantically pounding on the ice, the dull thud of each strike permeating his last moments of consciousness. The darkness finally closed over his eyes and mind, and he began to sink.

         On the surface of the frozen lake, screams pierced the wintry air. A thirteen year-old boy's face was flushed with exhaustion and determination as he hacked at the thick ice with his pocket knife, which was woefully inadequate for the task he was asking it to do. Sweat ran down Shawn's face in rivulets. He could see Casey right there. Casey was a mere three inches from him, and yet he may as well have been a mile away. The knife blade snapped in half and Shawn screamed in frustration and panic, a frenzied howl he prayed someone would hear.

         On the shore, Casey's younger brother raced toward the lake with a heavy rock. The small boy could barely lift the stone, let alone carry it; yet he was managing to run at a full sprint with it. He had run to find something to bash through the ice with the moment he and Shawn had spotted Casey's red jacket several yards from the spot the ice had given way. It was unusually cold this winter, so their mother had insisted that Casey and Leo wear their boots — the very boots which had doomed Casey. These boots were designed to protect against severe weather and were much heavier than the shoes he boys were accustomed to wearing. Casey's skill at swimming was no match for the weight of these boots and a waterlogged winter jacket. The twelve year-old had sunk very quickly, his attempts at swimming to the surface merely serving to propel him further from the hole in the ice.

         Leo ran across the ice, nearly slipping more than once on the slick surface. Reaching Shawn, he thrust the rock at his brother's best friend. Shawn took it and began bashing it against the ice, ice which had moments before been unyielding and surrendering only a few measly chips. The thud-thud of granite striking the frozen surface of the lake reverberated up the boy's arms as the hole he'd started with his knife rapidly grew. His plaintive sobs and Leo's screams for help echoed across the park as Casey began to sink out of view. Suddenly, the rock finally broke through the ice, the frigid water splashing over Shawn and he could only watch helplessly as Casey's lifeless face vanished into the murk.

         Shawn lunged for the jacket he could still see and his fingertips traced over the fabric as the lake claimed its prize. Casey sank out of sight. Shawn grabbed the rock and began enlarging the hole further. Within moments, he'd made it large enough to pull someone through... or for someone to go in. Making up his mind, he stripped off his shoes and jacked and jumped in. Leo screamed. A voice shouted.

         Shawn took a deep breath and shoved himself into the icy depths, shivering violently as the water closed over him. He knew this lake. He'd been swimming in it his entire life and knew that it was not very deep at this spot. He turned and looked upward to make sure he was still within reach of the hole before scanning the water for his friend. Casey had drifted a few feet closer toward shore, his limp fingers trailing through the weeds that grew from the lake bottom. A small fish nibbled curiously at Casey's hair as it floated around his head.

         Shawn swam toward his friend and grabbed hold of a lifeless hand. Struggling with all his might, he forced his way back to the hole in the ice and fought the increasingly desperate urge to inhale. He only needed to make it a couple of more feet, but the weight of Casey's body kept dragging him down. His lungs screamed for air and his diaphragm began to pump his chest to force him to take a breath. He knew he was about to share Casey's fate and silently said a prayer for forgiveness. Then he felt a strong hand grab his shirt and pull him from the water.

         He gasped as his head broke the surface and sucked in the sweet winter air. He wondered for a moment why he wasn't sinking, then realized that he was being held by a man. His second realization was that he still had a grip on Casey.

"Let me go!" Shawn shouted frantically. “Help him!" Shawn pulled Casey into view.

         The man tried to pull Shawn out of the water but he resisted, insisting that Casey be looked after first. Shawn held onto the edge of the ice while he watched the man drag Casey from the water and toward safety. Closing his eyes for a moment to rest, he felt the man's strong hands take hold of him again and pull him free of the water. Seeing that Shawn was alert, the man shouted something at a woman standing on the shore, then bent over Casey.

         Casey watched the scene from above with mild interest. He could see his friend Shawn and his brother on the lake. 'What were they doing there? Didn't they realize it was dangerous?' he thought. Shawn was shivering, and Casey noted the large hole nearby and realized that Shawn must have fallen through. It was a good thing that that guy was there to help. He tried to call to Shawn, but no sound came from his mouth. 'Why is that man not helping Shawn?’ Casey wondered. Then he noticed that the stranger was bent over another boy. 'Who is that?'Casey drifted closer, and with a shock realized that the man was giving mouth-to-mouth to him.

         David bent his ear over the boy's face, listening and feeling for a breath. He and Sharon had been talking a walk around the lake when they'd heard the screaming. Two boys were on the ice, trying to smash a hole through it with a rock. Another hole was visible nearby. From their obvious desperation, it was clear that something tragic was happening. "I'm going to go help," he told Sharon as he began running toward the boys.

         He pinched the boy's nose shut and breathed into his mouth, watching the boy's chest expand and contract, then gave another breath. He repositioned himself and started doing chest compressions. "One, two, three, four..." he counted. After thirty, he checked for breathing again. Nothing. Two more quick breaths, followed by thirty more chest compressions. Sharon's voice echoed across the ice as she cautiously made her way over, "Rescue services are on their way!"

         Leo was sobbing. Casey was dead, and Shawn had almost died too trying to rescue him. If he hadn't insisted on tagging along, they wouldn't be in this mess. Casey was dead because of him. 'IT'S ALL MY FAULT!' Leo shouted at himself in his head. Mom was going to kill him. He felt someone lift him from the frozen surface. It was the stranger's wife. She held him close and he sobbed into her shoulder. Then he heard a sputter and an explosion of coughing. He turned to look at the source of the sound, and saw Casey's blue face slowly regaining a pinkish shade as his brother greedily sucked in the air. "CASEY!" he shouted with immense relief.

         Air! He had air! He could finally breathe. He was cold as hell and his lungs burned, but he could actually breathe. A blanket was suddenly wrapped around him, and Casey shivered under it as he was lifted onto a rescue gurney and rushed back to the shoreline and into a waiting ambulance. Shawn was already in the ambulance, sobbing as Casey was being loaded. Casey reached across the gap and grabbed his friend's hand as the paramedics shut the door and the vehicle began to move.

Shawn looked up when Casey took his hand and saw his friend's mischievous crooked smile. It told him that everything was going to be alright.