Died by Slipping on the Ice
It was a cold night out, but then again, that was to be expected. It was fucking January in the midwest. It is made of cold out here. The air always hurts your face and you don’t find your car after a good snowstorm till the next spring. Part of the reason I didn’t drive, still don’t. Never saw the appeal of driving something that just made the air smell bad and considering I lived in a small town, no point in driving when everything is either right there or a billion light-years away, relatively speaking. Cars sliding on the ice in January didn’t encourage me either, especially when I could often get to work sooner than my coworkers who had to surprise shovel out their car.
Anyways, so it was cold and I was walking up the street, heading toward home after a late shift at work. Things had been crazy at the office with so many people calling in because of the flu, so I had to cover the work of three people plus my own. It was a pretty boring walk, had my cell in hand with the headphones plugged into it, listening to some sweet Dr. Dre beats on my Beats by Dre. My eyes were scanning, mostly because of the deer I saw a few days back, I wanted to spot another one in the nearby wood. I was keeping my focus on the tree line when I felt the ice.
Normally, I can keep my balance pretty well. However, that requires me to be paying attention. I fell forward, my hand letting go of my phone to brace myself and I watched as it slipped off the headphone jack and shot out into the snow. I felt my knee hitting the ground hard as I tried to keep calm. I winced as pain ran down my legs, but just a little ice. Ice was manageable, after all, I lived in a tundra for half a year. Ice I could deal with. By the time I had got onto my feet and tried to take a step toward my phone, I slid backward like a cartoon character on a Saturday morning show. I hit the ice floor, my back screaming in pain and then, my ankle. I got a glance down and sure fucking enough, it was twisted inward like a club foot. I stared in awe of it, but dared not move it.
I realized at that point two obvious and important things. First, the whole area near me was a glass sheet, full of ice for miles. Two, it was approaching midnight and no one would be on the road this late on a cold night like tonight. I needed help, immediately, and I started to feel around for my cell phone. I tried to use my headphones to fish it in, but as I pulled it in I remembered it plopped into the snow a bit ahead of me. How was I gonna even begin to get to it? I breathed, steadying myself for what would probably hurt a lot.
Thinking as quick as I could, I first tried to put weight on the ankle. The searing and throbbing pain overwhelmed me, making me feel a bit nauseous as I put it back in its original curled position. I stared up at the cloudy night sky, watching my breath leave my lips as I struggled for an answer. My thoughts were swimming in an ocean of pain and anxiety and it was only when I thought about the ice did I get an answer. Bracing myself again, I carefully used my now sore hands to push the rest of me forward. It was difficult, excruciatingly slow, and I couldn’t avoid not using my heel so I still suffered, screaming into the night as I moved along in hopes that someone would hear me. I looked around after a few minutes of this, realizing I had barely moved further than a foot ahead of me and I couldn’t see the hole the cellphone made when it fell in.
It was at this point that I started to cry. It was supposed to hit -1 tonight as a low, and God only knows how cold the wind chill would be. I was going to die literally the dumbest death I had ever heard of. I could see my death certificate now: died by slipping on the ice, like some frail old woman. I’ve fallen and I can’t get up was once hilarious to me, but now, it was reality.
“SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!” I screamed into the night, but only the sounds of the wind whispered to me. I shouted the same words over and over again into the night and nothing came back. I was shaking, and there was little I could do. I tried to stand up again but that only lead to worse pain than before. What wasn’t in pain was starting to feel numb at a certain point and while I was losing track of time, I was also pretty sure I was experiencing hypothermia. Hypothermia, that was a better thing to put on the death certificate, I remember vaguely thinking and hoping that the coroner would take pity on me and put that on the certificate. I do remember looking up though, and seeing a face. I think it was a face, it had eyes and a mouth, and a nose, but not in the way a person’s was arranged. Kind of reminded me of a Picasso. I think I heard a voice or voices, they told me something. I don’t remember what. I think I passed out by that point.
Next thing I remember I was in the hospital. Travers, down the road, he was driving back from a party and spotted my dumb ass on the side of the road. God only knows what would have happened otherwise. Still wonder who that face was, but it was more likely a hallucination. Still the freakiest thing I’ve ever experienced.
