Frozen on Exam Day Chapter 06
The freezer door swung all the way open. My body was locked upright where I had died, hunched forward at the waist.
One side of my face was caked in frozen blood, the ice crystals locking it in place. The other side was covered in a fine layer of frost. Only my right hand was still raised, frozen in the act of knocking.
Mom collapsed to the floor. She tried to stand several times and could not, so she crawled. Her knees dragged through the ice water that had seeped out, and she pulled herself, inch by inch, to where my body was at.
She reached out to take my hand, but what her fingers touched was skin frozen solid.
“Wes… how did this happen…” Her voice shook so badly the words barely held together.
I didn’t turn the freezer on… Wes, my Wes…”
Her gaze drifted to the thermostat panel on the wall, and it was negative 22 degrees. The number glowed red like blood.
Her throat closed up as though something had been stuffed inside it, and she could not make another sound. She just knelt there, her whole body shaking uncontrollably.
Dad rushed at me like he had lost his mind. He threw his arms around me and tried to lift me, tried to save me, but I did not budge.
My body was like a piece of meat that had been frozen too long. My skin had fused to the floor, and when he pulled, there was a faint tearing sound. He jerked his hands back.
He turned to Mom, completely broken. “You said you didn’t turn it on. You said you went home to check on him.
“You said you saw him from the camera.”
Each sentence came louder than the last. “Then why is Wes like this?”
Mom knelt on the floor, her lips trembling. All she could do was shake her head.
It all came back to her then.
She remembered the cold leaking through the crack when she came home to grab the thermos, the corner of my uniform when she cracked the door open, and the security feed showing me curled in the corner without moving.
She also remembered Darren telling her the door was freezing right before she pulled him away.
She remembered every single detail now. Every single time, she had been just one step away from the truth.
“I didn’t know…” Her voice splintered apart. “I thought he was throwing a tantrum. I thought he was faking it…”
She raised her hand and slapped herself across the face. “I called him selfish… I told him to grow up… I told him to be more considerate…”
She hit herself again. “What have I done? My child froze to death in there and I had no idea!”
Nora walked in just then. She saw the freezer door standing open and a look of relief crossed her face.
“Wes, you finally decided to come out?”
She was already walking toward the freezer as she spoke. “I was starting to think you’d never come aro
She never finished the sentence. She saw what was inside the freezer, the frost-covered uniform, the trozen blood, and me, still upright, rigid, my hand raised to knock.
The color drained from her face and she dropped to the floor, unconscious.
My hand was frozen solid, like a block of ice. Darren kttelt in front of me and took it in both of his, squeezing as hard as he could, as though trying to pour every bit of warmth in his body into tnine.
“I’m sorry…” He said it over and over, rocking my body back and forth, trying to shake me awake.
“I’m sorry, Wes. I’m so sorry.
“Open your eyes. Wes, please, open your eyes and look at me!”
My body swayed stiffly with each shake. There was no response.
Then something slipped out of my uniform pocket and landed on the icy floor. Darren picked it up. It was a small prayer card, sealed in a laminate sleeve.
A thin layer of frost had formed over the plastic. He wiped it clean with his sleeve and saw a sticky note pressed inside, written in my handwriting.
“I hope Darren aces his exam.”
The prayer card had been for him. I had gone to get it for him in secret before the test. I was going to give it to him right before he walked into the exam hall, but I never got the chance.
Darren stared at the prayer card. Then he closed his fist around it and let out a scream that sounded like something inside him had been torn apart.
