I looked across the white sea of ice. The brisk, bitter air shook my hair. My hands and feet were numb with cold. I followed my feet over the cracking thin glass sheet beneath my feet, my eyes shifting across the white snow and layers of ice. My eyes then beheld a sight no one could ignore. A child, sitting in the cold, hungry and alone. The child followed me as I beckoned her to my side, she scampered along the ice and rolled in the snow. It brought a smile to my face as she looked up and stared in my eyes, hers full of hope and happiness. Up the hill and over the mountain, we reached the peak, frosted in a thick blanket of snow.

We stared below as she clung to my leg, the white landscape was a scene of beauty. Covered in snow and glaring ice, the sea peaked out a rich deep blue. The wind picked up and nearly blew me off my feet, the temperature dropped fiercely. I took the child downhill and led her towards a small hole in the snow. She sat in the burrow away from the wind and cold.

As she fell into deep sleep, I walked down the hill. Over the cracked ice, I walked towards the dazzling water. A fish filled sea,my intent, to feed one small child. I stuck my hand in the freezing sea, pain seared in my hand as the cold attacked it in the most vicious way it could. Something slimy brisked past my hand,I reached and the fish fell in my grasp. I backed up freezing in my bones, the mountain seemed further away somehow.

The wind was cruel, snow started falling with it. Before I knew it I was caught in the midst of a blizzard, that bombed me ,attacking every which way. I couldn’t see two steps in front of me, I held my hand to my eyes shielding them from the harsh weather. Stumbling I fell onto the rock solid ice. Exhausted, my eyes closed slowly and I fell asleep.

Hours later, I awoke covered in snow and freezing cold. The sun blazed down, blinding me. I picked myself up and dragged my tired feet up the mountain, still clinging to the fish that now lay dull and lifeless. As I reached the burrow, not one living thing was there. My mouth dropped in panic and the fish fell into the burrow. I spun around calling her name, searching high and low.

Then out of the blinding white snow she appeared racing towards me calling to me, I ran towards her, relief and happiness overwhelming me. I held her close, embracing her not letting go until I squeezed the air out. She leaped for joy at the sight of the fish and gnawed at it like she had never seen food before. As she picked off the last bit of meat from the bones, she curled up in the corner of the burrow. I laid beside her, she may not be mine by blood but she is mine by heart. My little Polar Bear.