Water by Terra Harmony Page B

through a spacious living room, and I ran out of a large sliding glass door conveniently left open.
    Once outside, I took a moment to consider my escape route.  This would probably be my last chance.  I was determined to make it work.  Quickly discounting the deceiving gardens, I eyed an expansive forested part of the grounds.
    "Out for a run?"  My train of thought was interrupted by a man I had failed to notice taking in the morning sun until now.  "Need some company?"
    I looked him over.  He was a few years younger, but a full two heads taller, with much longer legs.  I tried to talk my way into a plan.  "Maybe.  How fast are you?"
    "Fast enough."
    "Good.  Shall we?"
    "After you."  He extended his arm to the green landscape.
    Since that seemed to be the end of the pleasantries, I took off like a bat out of hell.  His heavy footsteps let me know he wasn't far behind, keeping a steady distance.  I considered trying to call for more energy, but he was pacing me, and I didn't want to spare the concentration.  He hadn't closed the distance but just as if my thoughts gave him the idea, he bellowed, "We’ve got a runner!"
    I lengthened my stride.
    "Twenty bucks I catch you before the lake," my pursuer shouted.
    What lake is he talking about?   I saw nothing but trees ahead of me.
    "Save your breath.  You’ll need it," I called, trying to keep my own breathing under control.  My lungs were burning as I willed my legs to keep moving.  They felt like rubber.  I prayed that my previously injured ankle would hold out.
    The composition of the ground beneath me changed abruptly.  It was now smooth and slick.  I was making forward momentum without having to move my legs.  The allusive lake had appeared in a most undesirable way.  It was completely frozen over.  This was the large body of water I encountered in my wildly miscalculated attempt to freeze the handcuffs.  I slid, holding my arms out to either side, trying to stay upright.  I soon lost control and fell, hard, on my butt.  My running mate had fallen a second sooner, veering off in another direction.  He was no more prepared for it than I. 
    After skidding to a halt, I stood, gingerly, and heard cracking ice.  I froze.  There was cracking again, only this time not underneath me, but my pursuer.  All too aware of his precarious position, he was similarly frozen on his feet.  We faced each other, perhaps twenty feet apart.
    "Didn’t have any trouble finding the lake, eh?"  He forced a smile onto his face, but his voice cracked.  Was that a dimple in his right cheek?  He was cute, with light brown hair trimmed into a buzz cut and ears that stuck out just a tad too far.  Thick eyebrows made up for the shortage of hair on top.
    "Well, at least we are not in the lake," I pointed out.
    "Not yet anyway," he said, and as if on cue, more ice cracked around him.  He laughed nervously.
    "What’s your name?"  I asked.
    "Alex."
    "Alex."  I tried to make my voice as soothing as possible.  "I want you to stay very, very still.  I’m going to come and help you."
    "Are you sure?  You might be safer risking the posse."
    I looked toward the shore.  Several men lay in wait at the edge of the ice, unsure how to proceed.  Micah stood among them, sporting disheveled, wet hair.  A final crack of ice, a brief moment of silence, and the splash of a body hitting the water filled me with dread.  Damned if one more life would be pinned on me.
    Without hesitation, I ran toward the watery hole and jumped in feet first.  I wasn't thinking, at least not until I was completely submerged in icy cold water.  Even then my only thought was , I hate swimming .  But, then again, there was no swimming about it – I was just drowning.  The initial shock from the icy water caused me to open my mouth and I fought my first instinct to inhale.  I scrambled to the surface, coughing and sputtering, coming up through the same hole.  Alex had not been so lucky; there was