Chris Mastree's Arc

Chapter 7 of 10

Chris stared at the frozen lake beyond the park. The ice stretched out, gray and endless. They picked up the dying seedling and walked toward the shore. Their branches dragged through the snow, leaving thin trails behind them. The cold bit at their trunk where the green had tried to grow. The wind pushed harder now, stinging their bark. Chris needed to find shelter before the storm hit. Through the swirling snow, they spotted something round and still. A pond, perfectly circular, frozen solid. Koi fish hung motionless beneath the clear ice, orange and white shapes suspended in time. Chris knelt at the edge and stared down at them. The fish weren't moving, but they weren't dead either. Just waiting. Preserved until the thaw came. Chris set the seedling down and sat beside the pond. The ice protected the fish through the coldest months. They stayed alive under there, patient and still, until spring returned. Chris touched the new brown patches on their trunk. The green was fading again, but it had appeared once. It could come back. The greenhouse had taught them how to grow. The abandoned building showed them others had struggled too and kept working. Now these fish reminded them that waiting wasn't the same as giving up. Chris picked up the seedling and checked its stem. Still firm. Still alive. They stood and turned back toward the abandoned greenhouse. The storm was coming, but they had shelter now. They had tools. And they had time to wait for their own spring.