Frozen window

&;#65279;Through a Frozen Window.

Emily sits. A moment frozen in time finds her by a window, looking out.
She gazes
dreamily into the distance, a faint smile plays at the corners of her
mouth and her hands rest limply on the blanket covering her
knees.
She sees children playing on the pond,slipping and sliding. The air is
filled with sounds of childish glee, laughter rings out like church
bells on Sunday, all is well with the world. A small girl stands to one
side, looking down at her own feet. From beneath a precise fringe she
watches the other children play but they do not see her.

Emily calls out to the girl and the child looks up in recognition.
Emily waves and calls for the child to come to her. The pond is frozen
but the girl steps tentatively onto the ice. It is slippery underfoot
and she teeters for a moment before gaining her balance. Very slowly
she makes her way across the glassy surface, testing the ice with a toe
before sliding one foot in front of the other. She is almost at the
edge and she smiles a confident smile, takes her eyes off the ice for
just a second.

The crack can be heard for miles. It cuts through the chill air like
gunfire. The birds
hang in mid air. The children's joyous cries fall silent. Time stands
still. There is nothing but the echo of the crack as the jaws of the
pond open wide and swallow the girl whole, the jagged icy teeth closing
over her watery grave like a curtain. One brief second and she is
gone.

Emily shivers and turns her gaze from the window. A tear sparkles on
her lower lashes and freezes on her cheek as she shakes her head in a
vain attempt to clear the vision of the child from her mind. Through a
frozen window she sees it as clear today as it was fifty years ago...
The water is so cold and she can't catch her breath.