Ch.2 Ice

They say if you work hard enough good things will happen. That doesn’t seem to be the case with me though. My name was Drake Johnson and I was an employee of the biggest retail company in the world known as Retail Kingdom. Before I came to the store, I did a lot of volunteer work. I helped run cameras, edited videos, ran fundraisers, helped build a playground, and a whole lot more. That all stopped after I started working for Retail Kingdom. They put me as a Frozen/Dairy Associate since they had the lowest amount of people working there. Thought I was going to enjoy working there…I was wrong. It’s not very hard work; all you do is stock shelves and keep the area clean. But when you’re the only one working weekends, the busiest days, then it can eventually drive someone insane! What’s even worse is having managers who do nothing but bark orders while sitting on their comfy chairs. Oh I would give anything to be them right now.

            It was Christmas weekend and everything was getting low really quickly and I had to rush all over the place to make sure everything was filled. On top of that, there was a mess that the overnight stockers left me, like always, so it was very hard to get in and out of my cooler and I barely had any time to clean everything up! I thought it would never end! Then it was near the end of my shift and things were finally slowing down so I decided to sit down and rest for a little bit. Then, one of the managers walks in. He sees me resting and next thing I know, he starts going off on me. “Drake, what are you doing just sitting around?!” he screams.

“I was resting for just a second sir.”

“You don’t need to rest, you need to work!”

“I’ve been working nonstop and without anyone’s help so I should at least be to sit just a second!”

“I don’t care what you want; I care about what this company wants! And what this company wants is sells which someone who is acting lazy like you are isn’t helping!”

            At that moment something just snapped in my brain. He had the nerve to call ME lazy. Compared to plenty of people I’ve seen, I am not LAZY! The managers are so lazy they wouldn’t give me the keys to unlock the door I needed to go through or unlock it themselves. I’ve seen people not do any work in college and somehow pass their classes. And there are people who are too lazy to work and yet can still obtain money and go to college. But what drives me insane the most, is what all these people have in common. All of them are doing better than me! The managers get higher pay, the government helps anyone that doesn’t work by giving them thousands of dollars, and people who do work hard still have money problems and no one would care.

            As all this was going on in my head, the manager is still screaming nonsense but he gets closer and closer until he is practically in my face. He then proceeds to grab me by the shirt and yells, “Are you even paying attention to me?!” I looked him in the eye and I seized his wrist. Then suddenly, something strange was going on with my hand. It felt colder than usual. And then ice started forming around my manager’s wrist. It started consuming his hand and went up his arm. The manager started freaking out but he couldn’t get free because of how tight my grip was. Something about me changed, like a different person started taking over. The ice stops where the arm and shoulder connected. I chuckled and then I broke his arm off like a icicle on the bottom of a roof. He screamed in agony and yet all I could do was watch and enjoy the show. He calmed down a little but then he looked at me and began to back away. He wasn’t going to get away. I quickly ran up to him and I speared my hand into him. His eyes widen and he was completely speechless. I stared deeply into his eyes and I said, “You know, the human body consists of 65% water. Now let’s see what happens when I freeze it all.” The manager starts twitching and writhing in pain. His skin started turning blue and was gaining some major frostbite. Finally, he stopped moving and making noise and he was frozen in place. I took my hand out and I started examining him. I proceeded to push him by the forehead with my finger. He topples over and shatters into many little pieces. I stared at the remains and I say to myself, “Hm, I do believe he is dead.”

            Suddenly my mind went back to normal and I was me again. I looked at the remains and then my hand. I couldn’t believe what just happened! “How could this happen?!” I ask myself.

“Because of me that’s how.” A voice said.

“Who’s there?!”

“Don’t worry I’m just a little voice inside your head, a conscience you would call it.”

“This power I had come from you?”

“Sure was! Magnificent isn’t it? What do you think of it?”

I glanced at my hand and I smiled. “I want more, give me more!”

“Weeell if you insist. You can have it all!”

            Ice started forming from my feet and worked its way up to the tip of my head. I remained calm, closed my eyes, and let it do its thing. I was completely covered in an ice cocoon and the whole cooler that I was in started becoming frozen completely.

            About an hour goes by and another manager comes to the cooler entrance. She brought a cop that walks around the store in case there was any trouble. She must have brought the cop since the other manager hasn’t been seen for a while. I wonder why hehe. The cop tries to open the cooler door but the ice on the other side made it to where it couldn’t be opened. After a lot of pulling from the cop, I finally spoke, “Hold on, I’ll open it.” The cop backs off and you can hear the sound of ice cracking as I was opening the door. The cooler was fully open and cold air started spewing out. Then, I came out. I was a new being. I was the size of a regular man but my skin was blue and frostbitten. Instead of a worker’s uniform, I had on a suite that looked like it had been frozen. I became bald, my mouth was gone but I could still talk, my eyes were completely blue, and my ears were gone and yet I could still hear.

            The cop and manager were scared stiffed. The cop slowly grabbed his walkie talkie and said, “I need units over at Retail Kingdom for immediate assistance!” He looks back at me and the female manager then asks, “Drake? Is that you?”

“Hehehe, not anymore. Himesh now.”

“What do you plan on doing now?” the manager asks.

“Probably become a king.”

“And what happened to the other manager?”

“Dead.”

“And what will become of us.” The cop asks.

“Also dead and if you expect me to say a cheesy ice pun, then you already deserve to die.”

            I launched two large icicles at them, each piercing their bodies and pinning them into the wall. I crossed my arms as I’m looking at the dead bodies and I say to myself, “The new decorations are already looking splendid.” I proceed to walk out of the store leaving icy footprints with each step I take. People are of course screaming and running away and I was soon outside. It was raining and I was greeted by a bunch of cops who were taking cover behind their cars and pointed their guns at me. “FREEZE!!” a cop screamed. I let out a sigh of disgust, “He just had to say it.”

“Put your hands in the air where we can see them!” the cop screamed. I was told I should always do what the cops tell me to do. So I put them up. As I raised my hands, I looked up at the sky with the rain pouring down. “And I sayeth to thy people, ‘Let death rain upon them.’” I focused my power into the sky and the rain stopped. The cops looked at each other in confusion. I chuckled and I threw my hands down. Then a shower of the sharpest icicles possible came down and pierced everything in its path. Cars were destroyed, buildings crumbled, and the pathetic humans were scurrying like ants trying to get away but they should know better than to think they can escape the winter.

I soon stopped the raining icicles and made it just sleet a little. I looked at all the dead bodies that had suffered my power. They all deserved to die for being so weak. I slam my foot on the ground and ice spread across the area. Towers of ice were rising with walls forming between them. And in the middle was the palace that I always wanted. It stood tall and gloriously. After it was completed, I walk inside my palace to a large room with chandeliers, pillars and at the other end was my throne. I walked up to it, turned around, and I sat in it. That was the moment when I felt in charge for the first time. I rested my right arm and I lean my head on my fist. I say to myself, “Hm, hail to the king.”