The lake was impassable when winter pushed south and spring brought us warmer weather. During the harsh months it was our trade route out of town. We trekked back and forth across the ice, pelts slung upon our backs.
Spring came early this year, sudden. It dropped in overnight, threatening to cut us off. The lake groaned underfoot as we made our way home, the cloudy whiteness now a fragile window to the depths below. We saw them then, all those we’d lost, clawing at the frozen glass. Dead eyes searching out fractures in the ice, a winter’s hunger welcoming the thaw.
