The wind swept across the open fields of northern Colorado as Dana Flores stepped out of the pickup truck her mother had rented. Snow drifted across the parking lot of Clearwater Lake, a place she had only seen in photos. She had hoped her first winter trip with her husband’s family would be memorable for good reasons. Instead, tension had built from the moment they arrived.
Curtis Landon, her husband, insisted his relatives were simply energetic. Yet the way they teased each other nonstop made Dana uneasy. She tried to laugh along during the morning, hoping her discomfort would fade.
By early afternoon, the sky turned pale silver and the lake glittered beneath a fresh layer of ice. Curtis’s cousins shouted across the frozen surface.
“Dana, come on,” Reed Carson called out. “You gotta try walking out here. It’s tradition.”
“I’m fine here,” Dana said, rubbing her gloved hands. “The ice near the dock looks thin.”
“Thin?” Reed scoffed. “It’s January in Colorado. It’s basically concrete.”
Talia Shore, another cousin, grinned and nudged Reed. “She’s scared. That’s it.”
“I’m not scared,” Dana replied quietly. “I just want to stay close to the shore.”
Curtis walked up beside her, smiling weakly. “Maybe just a few steps, babe. They just want you to have fun.”
Dana shook her head. “I don’t like it out there.”
Reed tossed his arms up. “Alright then. We’ll help you.”
Before Dana understood what he meant, Reed and Talia stepped behind her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, backing away.
Talia laughed. “Relax. It’s just the lake.”
They shoved her.
The crack of ice echoed through the cold air. Dana plunged downward. The water hit her like a blow to the chest. She screamed, but the sound broke off as the icy lake forced itself around her ribs. She tried to reach upward, clawing at the shattered rim of ice, but every piece she touched snapped again.
“I can’t. I can’t get up,” she gasped.
Above her, laughter rang out.
“Oh come on,” Reed shouted. “She’s freaking out like it’s the Arctic.”
Dana kicked desperately, her legs numb within seconds. She managed to grab a solid edge and pull herself halfway out, shaking so hard she could barely breathe. Snowflakes landed on her soaked jacket, dissolving instantly.
“Curtis,” she choked. “Help me. Please.”
Curtis stood several feet away with his phone raised. His expression looked oddly blank.
“Curtis,” she repeated. “Put the phone down.”
He did not move.
Dana dragged herself fully onto the ice. Her body trembled from head to toe as she staggered toward the shore. When she collapsed near a tree stump, the cousins circled around her with uneasy amusement.
“It was just a joke,” Talia said. “She took it too seriously.”
“It wasn’t even that cold,” Reed added.
Dana tried to speak but her teeth chattered uncontrollably. Her vision blurred.
A sharp voice cut through the air.
“Dana. Sweetheart. Can you hear me?”
Her mother, Robyn Flores, sprinted toward her and immediately wrapped her coat over Dana’s shoulders. Robyn looked at the group with an expression that made them shrink back.
