Cold, Thin Air by C. K. Walker

Author:C. K. Walker [Walker, C. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Anthologies, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Short Stories
ISBN: 9781502780126
Published: 2014-10-07T07:00:00+00:00

The Creek

My brother Teddy died on December 11th, 1999 during our annual family Christmas party. He was 12 and I was 9. I wish I could say it wasn’t my fault, but at the end of the day, the whole thing had been my idea.

I'm from Woodbury, Minnesota as is my entire extended family. Every Christmas my parents would host a holiday party to eat, drink and gossip. It was always a boring event but I loved seeing all my cousins. The adults usually stuck us kids in the basement or the loft but that year my brother convinced them to let us go sledding at the park instead.

We bundled up in our purple Vikings parkas and loaded up the sleds with blankets and our pockets with hand-warmer packets. Then me, my brother, and our cousins Mike and Jeff set off for the sledding hill which was about a half mile down the road.

As soon as we were out of view of the house, Teddy stopped.

“You guys wanna do something fun?” He asked.

“Hell yeah!”

“Of course!”

“I want to go sledding." I muttered.

"Yeah, well, sledding is for babies,” said Jeff.

"That's what I was thinking too!" His brother added.

Teddy smiled. “Good. Because I want to take you guys somewhere way more awesome.”

"Where are we going?” I asked nervously. “Mom and dad will get mad if they look for us in the park and we're not there."

"They wont look, they’re too drunk,” Teddy laughed.

"But-"

“I think we should go to Rocking Horse Creek." He added coolly.

Rocking Horse Creek was actually more of a small river than creek but it had been called that for as long as I can remember. The creek had been named by neighborhood kids who’d found an almost life-sized rocking horse sitting abandoned and half submerged in the water. No one knew where it had come from just as no one knew the actual name of the river. Because no one had ever been stupid enough to tell their parents that they went there.

"But Rocking Horse Creek is almost an hour walk from here!" I whined. I was already cold and didn't feel like walking that far.

Mike snorted. "Pfft, don’t be a baby. There're extra blankets if you're cold plus hand-warmer packets in your pockets.”

“Yeah,” Jeff added, “and if you want we can pull you along in the sled just like the baby you are!”

Mike and Jeff laughed. But Teddy didn’t and he punched Jeff in the arm.

“Stop it, you guys! I’m not a baby! And why go to the creek anyway? It's probably ice."

"Because it will look hella cool!” Teddy said.

"Yeah, I want to go!" said Mike. "We could tie our jacket strings to some sticks and go ice fishing!"

"Yeah!"

"Well, I‘m really good at ice fishing,” I lied, “So I have to go so I can help you.”

“Sure you are.” Jeff rolled his eyes.

The walk didn't take an hour; it was more like 35 minutes, though it did feel longer due to the cold. When we approached we saw that the river was indeed frozen over.

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