Title: Frozen
Author: L.A. Casey
Neala Clarke is a woman of her word, when
she gives you it, expect her to deliver. Neala gave her niece Charli her word
that she would get her a doll for Christmas. Never mind that there is only one
week until Christmas and everywhere that stocked toys is practically sold out.
Neala gave her word that she would get that doll for Charli, so she will move
mountains to make it happen.
Darcy Hart is a people pleaser, when he is
asked last minute for a doll by his adorable six year old nephew Dustin, he of
course, says yes. However, Darcy faces a dilemma, the particular doll he needs
is sold out everywhere. Darcy makes one last attempt to get the doll at a local
toy store, and finds out they have only one left in stock, but he also finds
out he is not the only person interested in claiming the doll.
Neala and Darcy go way back, playing in
each other’s play pens kind of way back. They are not friends, more like mortal
enemies, and both of them wanting a single doll was the start of a series of
events that no one could have predicted, not even Father Christmas himself.
It all happened in slow motion.
Darcy was shouting at me from inside of the
tunnel one minute, and the next his upper body disappeared as the roof of the
snow tunnel collapsed in on top of him. It literally collapsed on top of him
and now he wasn't moving.
At all.
For at least twenty seconds I did nothing
but stare at him then my senses kicked into overdrive.
"Darcy!" I screamed, and threw my
blanket off my body as I rushed over to him.
I licked my lips and stared down at his
body with wide eyes, and shaking limbs. My heart was slamming into my chest,
and each pulse got louder and louder. I could hear each beat my heart took and
my ears rang with the noise.
"Darcy!" I shouted hoping he
would make a noise from under the snow or at least move his legs.
Nothing.
Not a sound or kick from him.
I really started to worry then, the thought
of him drowning crossed my mind. I mean, snow was made of water and he was
buried under the snow, which meant he was technically under water right now.
Fuck.
I had to save him.
I dropped my candle to the ground and
ignored it as the glass bowl that encased the candle smashed causing it to blow
out.
It was darker now, but the rest of the
candles along the hallway were still lit so I could see pretty well.
"Darcy, don't worry!" I shouted.
"I'm gonna get you out of there!"
I dropped to my knees and began to scoop
handfuls of snow off his body. I threw the snow onto the pile Darcy created
while digging the tunnel off to my right, but I had to stop because my hands
hurt with the cold. I instead moved to Darcy legs and gripped onto them and
pulled. I pulled with all of my might and the idiot's body only slightly moved.
"Move!" I shouted and pulled at
his legs again.
I held onto Darcy with every fibre of
strength I had and pulled again, and by the grace of God, his body moved.
It actually moved.
I was strong!
"Yes!" I cheered.
I scrambled up to Darcy's back when his
shoulders became visible. I placed my hands on both of them and pulled as hard
as physically possible, the wet floor under Darcy made him slide which
made things so much easier for me and my arms.
"You're out!" I cheered.
Darcy was gasping for air so I rolled him
over so he could suck in as much air as he needed. His eyes were closed, but
his body was shaking. I instinctively placed my hands on his arms, directly on
his biceps.
His firm biceps.
Stop it.
I began to rub up and down very fast hoping
to generate some heat for Darcy to ease his shivering. All the rubbing was
pointless though, unless I got him up off the cold wet floor he would just get
sick.
"Darcy, stand up," I said.
He didn't move, nor did he reply to me.
That worried me.
I looked to Darcy's face and found his eyes
were still closed. I looked down to his chest and saw it was moving up and down
which relaxed me immensely.
"Darcy!" I said loudly, shaking
him.
"Darcy!" Einstein called from the
kitchen.
I screeched, "Shut
up, Einstein!"
Stupid bloody bird.
I looked back down to Darcy when I thought
I heard him chuckle, but I was mistaken because he was motionless with his eyes
still closed. This wouldn't do, I had to wake him up because we'd be stuck
in this house if he didn't fix the tunnel and continue to dig so we could get
out of here.
Was that selfish?
"Darcy!" I shouted and shook him,
hard.
He groaned and it caused my pulse to spike.
"Neala?" he croaked.
He was alive!
"Yes, Darcy, it's Neala. I'm here.
It's okay, I saved you."
I was so proud of myself for saving him,
too.
"Neala," he gasped my name again,
and this time it was followed by a cough.
I frowned down at him.
Why was he coughing?
"Are you okay?" I asked,
genuinely concerned for his well being.
Darcy coughed again. "I don't think
so... everything is fading."
Oh, my God.
Fading?
As in fading to black?
"Don't you die and leave me here
alone!" I snapped at him.
I may have still hated him close to ninety
percent, but I didn't want him to die... I also didn't want to be left on
my own with just Einstein for company.
"I'm... I'm dying... Neala."
Oh, no.
"You can't be, you weren't under the
snow for that long- Darcy!" I screeched and shook him when he started to
go limp.
"Neala," he gasped. "Come
closer."
I couldn't believe what was happening.
This was not how things were supposed to
end, we were supposed to get out of here... together.
"I'm here, Darcy," I said and swallowed
back a sob that wanted to escape.
Darcy's breathing slowed. "I can see
the light," he whispered.
I blinked back tears. "Go to the
light, Darcy."
Darcy gasped for breath, then all of sudden
everything stopped.
His movement.
His breathing.
His everything.
Oh, no.
"Darcy?" I whispered.
Nothing.
Oh, my God.
"Please don't be dead," I said
then released the sob that was dying to be let out.
I stared down at Darcy's face, and I
couldn't believe what just happened.
He died in my arms.
What was I going to
do?
I never even told him I was sorry for
giving him the runs, or for all the other times I was a bitch to him, and now I
would never get the chance.
I felt like dirt.
I began to cry, but Darcy's body suddenly
twitched then he inhaled sharply, and loudly.
I blinked then widened my eyes in shock.
"Darcy?" I whispered.
Darcy blinked opened his big brown eyes.
He was alive!
"Am I in Heaven?" he asked.
He thought he was dead!
Darcy blinked his eyes a couple of times
then he flicked his eyes to mine and he stared at me for a long moment before
he sighed.
"Nope, not Heaven. This must be Hell
if you're here," he said, his face was as serious as if he just told me
someone had a heart attack.
I stared down at him then narrowed my eyes.
Ex-fucking-cuse me?
"What?" I asked, completely
confused.
Darcy looked at me then burst out laughing.
Laughing!
I gasped and dropped him to the floor.
He grunted in pain, but continued to laugh.
That... that fucking bastard!
He played me.
"You joked
about dying?" I screeched.
Who does that?
L.A. Casey was born, raised and
currently resides in Dublin, Ireland. She is a twenty two year old
stay at home mother to an almost two year old German Shepherd named
Storm and of course, her four and half year old (the half is
apparently vital) beautiful little hellion/angel depending on the
hour of the day.
Her first novel, Dominic, was released
on March 17th, 2014, and on March 21st, 2014, it became an
international Amazon bestseller.
Follow L.A. Casey on tsu
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