It was all but common this time of year for Ellis to be stirred from sleep by fire in her heart. Her eyes never flickered to the small clock on the bedside table, she never lifted the face of her phone from the charging disk to check the date. She hadn't needed to for three years now.
One thousand four hundred and fifty-nine days had passed since the day on the river, and each winter it felt like the time started over.
The alarm clock clicked, the room slowly filling with a Saturday morning talk show as she shifted under the thick blankets in the large cold bed. A soft knock on the door, "Come on, I am not letting you lay in bed all day." Her mother told her as she came in and promptly pulled the covers off her form by the ends. "You are getting up. You are doing something."
A quick glance at the alarm clock to shut it off, ten hours, sixteen minutes.
"We are going ice skating with the cousins-"
"No!" Her head whipped around to face her mother. "No, we are not."
"You have got to get on that ice sometime. You grew up on it, you know that better than anyone else. I've given you chances to do it on your own and you just sit on the banks. Today you are going out there." Her mother left no room for argument, leaving the room, "Get dressed."
Ellis huffed, the pain as a slow-burning fire in her chest as she forced herself from the bed to dress. She was never going back onto that river, it fully frozen or not. She had taken Harry onto the ice, and he'd fallen through. The current had grabbed his legs and he was gone underneath before she had even a chance to truly react.
The small river town had scrambled like an air-raid siren had gone off. Some held a vigil, some grouped together to check in case he'd gotten stuck anywhere on anything. The ice hadn't been but just thick enough to skate and plenty of spots were still weak or unfrozen.
Harry was, had been, a strong swimmer, and the river swallowed him like he was nothing. He had grabbed her hands when he'd slid into the broken pool, but the frigid water had her let go in recoil before she knew what was happening. She had tried to feel under the ice for him, tried to keep up with the current skating ontop but the ice had been too fragile, she'd nearly fallen under herself.
The scream that had torn from her chest stopped everyone in earshot, adults rushing to her to try and help while others rushed kids off the river. Two young adults from the town had helped her skate on wet numb legs back to the bank where she shucked off her skates in favor of snow boots. Dozens of cellphones were out before then, the townspeople calling one another and emergency services who jumped in the water only five miles downstream to begin the search.
The afternoon turned dark, the sky filled with stars and Ellis had sat inside on the couch, her body numb. She didn't eat the chili her grandmother had offered her, or anything really. She sat staring off the back porch praying her husband would walk up the steep embankment hill. She hoped to see his bright orange hunters hat, the goofy smile he wore when he tried to walk in skates, and the dark blue scarf covered in small white turtles he never left home in the winter without.
Instead, she'd fallen into an exhausted sleep while her family mulled about. People from the town coming and going with snacks and prayers. The rescue worked in teams, only an hour after the teams had switched did someone call from a bridge downstream about a body shape stuck below. The team changed gears and went down to the river, and it was about seven-thirty that next morning when the phone had rung for her to come down to the small city park where they had fished him out.
She hadn't said anything, hadn't needed to, everyone knew by the scarf tucked inside the waterlogged jacket that Harry's lifeless body graced them. Ellis had just collapsed then, only lucky she didn't get hurt when a fireman caught her upper body against his and helped her to the frozen ground.
They had tried to console her, tell her that he had probably gotten cold and fallen asleep, but Ellis knew better. Harry had fought against the river and lost.
It took an hour of begging, pleading and crocodile tears to put Ellis even in a pair of ice skates again. The young girl who spun around on the ice waiting looked much different than the kindergartner just learning to skate she remembered. "Please aunty," the girl had pleaded, holding the pair of powder blue skates up to her. "You used to skate with me all the time. My mommy has shown me videos. Mommy said you even taught me." A hard sigh and some chilled toes later and Ellis held the young preteens hand as they slowly glided out to the center where everyone else was moving about.
Things had changed on the river, bright orange spray paint warned of holes, red stripped warnings covered weak spots in the ice. Rochester had changed too since the accident. No one had ever died on their river before then, and the city had taken it personally. More people were out on the river, the town had put together a small watch that had a boat anchored downstream should anyone ever fall in again. The thickness of the ice had changed, more of an all or none limit now.
The young girl pulled on her hand, pulling her from her nervous thoughts before letting go. "Come on," the girl's pink tasseled hat swung as she began to skate away.
Ellis began to move after her, her legs picking up a once familiar rhythm. Soon, a smile turned up her lips as she spun a landing on the ice. "That's my girl!" She could hear her father shout from the banks, sitting on one of the benches with his cane propped against his knee.
Her father sat on a bench with a small wood burned sign beside it, Harry Dover River Watch. It was in her husband's memory that someone sat and watched everything...
Her memory flashed back to a few days after the accident, "You will know when the time is right," her father had told. She had refused to even go down the bank to the river that day. "People are going to want you to get back out there. Harry will always be with you, trust your gut and you will know when the ice is calling you home." After all, her father had grown up on that river, had taught his children how to swim and skate within its waters.
"You did good, kid," Her father told her as she took a seat on the bench beside him. "I'm proud of you." Her hand felt the fleece scarf that was tied around her neck. The scarf kept his memory alive, even when she forgot every so often.
One thousand four hundred and fifty-nine days had passed since the day on the river, and each winter it felt like the time started over.
The alarm clock clicked, the room slowly filling with a Saturday morning talk show as she shifted under the thick blankets in the large cold bed. A soft knock on the door, "Come on, I am not letting you lay in bed all day." Her mother told her as she came in and promptly pulled the covers off her form by the ends. "You are getting up. You are doing something."
A quick glance at the alarm clock to shut it off, ten hours, sixteen minutes.
"We are going ice skating with the cousins-"
"No!" Her head whipped around to face her mother. "No, we are not."
"You have got to get on that ice sometime. You grew up on it, you know that better than anyone else. I've given you chances to do it on your own and you just sit on the banks. Today you are going out there." Her mother left no room for argument, leaving the room, "Get dressed."
Ellis huffed, the pain as a slow-burning fire in her chest as she forced herself from the bed to dress. She was never going back onto that river, it fully frozen or not. She had taken Harry onto the ice, and he'd fallen through. The current had grabbed his legs and he was gone underneath before she had even a chance to truly react.
The small river town had scrambled like an air-raid siren had gone off. Some held a vigil, some grouped together to check in case he'd gotten stuck anywhere on anything. The ice hadn't been but just thick enough to skate and plenty of spots were still weak or unfrozen.
Harry was, had been, a strong swimmer, and the river swallowed him like he was nothing. He had grabbed her hands when he'd slid into the broken pool, but the frigid water had her let go in recoil before she knew what was happening. She had tried to feel under the ice for him, tried to keep up with the current skating ontop but the ice had been too fragile, she'd nearly fallen under herself.
The scream that had torn from her chest stopped everyone in earshot, adults rushing to her to try and help while others rushed kids off the river. Two young adults from the town had helped her skate on wet numb legs back to the bank where she shucked off her skates in favor of snow boots. Dozens of cellphones were out before then, the townspeople calling one another and emergency services who jumped in the water only five miles downstream to begin the search.
The afternoon turned dark, the sky filled with stars and Ellis had sat inside on the couch, her body numb. She didn't eat the chili her grandmother had offered her, or anything really. She sat staring off the back porch praying her husband would walk up the steep embankment hill. She hoped to see his bright orange hunters hat, the goofy smile he wore when he tried to walk in skates, and the dark blue scarf covered in small white turtles he never left home in the winter without.
Instead, she'd fallen into an exhausted sleep while her family mulled about. People from the town coming and going with snacks and prayers. The rescue worked in teams, only an hour after the teams had switched did someone call from a bridge downstream about a body shape stuck below. The team changed gears and went down to the river, and it was about seven-thirty that next morning when the phone had rung for her to come down to the small city park where they had fished him out.
She hadn't said anything, hadn't needed to, everyone knew by the scarf tucked inside the waterlogged jacket that Harry's lifeless body graced them. Ellis had just collapsed then, only lucky she didn't get hurt when a fireman caught her upper body against his and helped her to the frozen ground.
They had tried to console her, tell her that he had probably gotten cold and fallen asleep, but Ellis knew better. Harry had fought against the river and lost.
It took an hour of begging, pleading and crocodile tears to put Ellis even in a pair of ice skates again. The young girl who spun around on the ice waiting looked much different than the kindergartner just learning to skate she remembered. "Please aunty," the girl had pleaded, holding the pair of powder blue skates up to her. "You used to skate with me all the time. My mommy has shown me videos. Mommy said you even taught me." A hard sigh and some chilled toes later and Ellis held the young preteens hand as they slowly glided out to the center where everyone else was moving about.
Things had changed on the river, bright orange spray paint warned of holes, red stripped warnings covered weak spots in the ice. Rochester had changed too since the accident. No one had ever died on their river before then, and the city had taken it personally. More people were out on the river, the town had put together a small watch that had a boat anchored downstream should anyone ever fall in again. The thickness of the ice had changed, more of an all or none limit now.
The young girl pulled on her hand, pulling her from her nervous thoughts before letting go. "Come on," the girl's pink tasseled hat swung as she began to skate away.
Ellis began to move after her, her legs picking up a once familiar rhythm. Soon, a smile turned up her lips as she spun a landing on the ice. "That's my girl!" She could hear her father shout from the banks, sitting on one of the benches with his cane propped against his knee.
Her father sat on a bench with a small wood burned sign beside it, Harry Dover River Watch. It was in her husband's memory that someone sat and watched everything...
Her memory flashed back to a few days after the accident, "You will know when the time is right," her father had told. She had refused to even go down the bank to the river that day. "People are going to want you to get back out there. Harry will always be with you, trust your gut and you will know when the ice is calling you home." After all, her father had grown up on that river, had taught his children how to swim and skate within its waters.
"You did good, kid," Her father told her as she took a seat on the bench beside him. "I'm proud of you." Her hand felt the fleece scarf that was tied around her neck. The scarf kept his memory alive, even when she forgot every so often.