Broken Ice (segment 1)

Inspirations for this story: Evanescence songs (Particularly "My Immortal"), a frozen river, Minnesota winters, and every book I've read involving car accidents (particularly the part of Willow by Julia Hoban that I've read).
YouTube playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=45F867A31374D07F
(unlike the first song suggests, the accident was not on purpose. other than that, I picked it cuz it kinda fit.)
Summary so far: Deidre feels like she's carrying the world on her shoulders, and that she was the one who put it there. In many ways, she has. There was no way to tell what would happen that fateful night, not even a year ago, yet she knew that what happened was her fault. Three lives were over and she, the destroyer, was left behind. With her medical and legal costs piling onto her previously fragile family structure, no friends, nowhere to be but school, home, and sometimes the hospital, it seems like there is no hope for her. Guilt and isolation are all she has and the icy river in the forest, with its cracks and ever-flowing water seems to be the only escape...

Jamie came back home to help his parents move south, somewhere warm and never wintery, or so they hope. Winter and cold and ice and snow only bring back the night of their loss. His brother was one of the three killed in an accident back in January of that year and his family wanted nothing but to forget, though his brother seems to haunt their minds no matter where they go. Jamie had rescued his brother once, but he couldn't this time. There had been no chance, and the boy's life had been cut so short, by someone who'd supposedly loved him. While his parents are gone looking for houses many states away, he must face a week occupying their home, where haunting memories resonate from every corner, especially the infamous river at the edge of their backyard.

Broken Ice

The girl didn't have to go very far to get there. In the past, it had been easier to run, but today, it didn't matter. It was still a quick jog from the house into the forest, and she could be fast if she tried hard enough, making her way through the skeletal trees, the painful heels of what passed for winter boots a lifetime ago crunching against the snow that now covered the ground. She wore a grey trench coat because she had nothing black to wear for a winter jacket. No hat and gloves; it wouldn't matter where she was going.
The cold washed over her with the speed she was going, barely feeling the prickling pain in her right leg as she'd had since the accident, when this sort of pressure was applied. Nothing applied now, where she was going. Running, speeding, like she hadn't in so long. It felt like a rush, numbing everything in her mind.
And soon, none of it would occupy her mind.
She finally arrived. The river flowed so quickly, wide enough to walk across with little trouble and time, long enough to extend from town to more remote parts of the area, and deep enough to bury herself beneath the icy slabs, that looked like smaller scaled, fast-forwarded melting glaciers.
Deidre took one tentative step onto a large slab of ice, before allowing herself to step onto it fully. As the fast-flowing water started moving the ice, knocking it against other slabs, she instinctively dropped to her hands and knees. Like the Titanic preparing to hit an iceberg. But instead of trying to protect herself, she tilted the ice, until there was a large enough crack of water for her to slip through.
Her hands, then her head, then the rest of her, diving in as smoothly as someone crawling into a warm bath. The freezing water began to fill her, wanting to turn her into ice, and for a few moments, she was flailing beneath it, though she told herself not to struggle. Her friends hadn't had that chance.
Even losing breath, filling with this liquid ice, feeling nothing but cold, was less painful than knowing that they were all gone and she was the one to blame.
She closed her eyes and stopped fighting, waiting to meet them all again.
--------------------
His parents were gone for the week. And he was left here alone, and he wasn't going to be able to stand this place for much longer. He'd come back simply to help them move, so he could go back to his studies and occupy himself. Being busy helped him forget.
The place that haunted him the most right now, a place he despises now, but cannot avoid, is the river. It held the most memories, joyful and powerful, of his brother to him. In the spring, when the river was at its highest from the melted ice, they raced handmade boats down to the mini-falls, and in the summer, they would always pile rocks in it to create a freezing pool for them. The fall, when they were younger, they mostly avoided the cold water, and when they were older, his brother would sometimes photograph it. He always had an eye for the arts.
The winter was the most unforgettable time for the river, however. When it got dangerous, they got dangerous. Their favorite activities then were trying to walk across it, or as far enough on it as they could without falling in. Most of the time, they managed to get to either side before the ice could crack.
But one particular, fateful day, when his brother was seven, and Jamie was ten, a day like the ones preceding this one, the ice was too thin, and too slick.
"I want to go first," said his little brother, with a determined look in his eyes.
"Are you sure?" asked the older one, having never seen his brother with this amount of fearlessness before.
"Aha. I'm sure."
"Well, alright. I'll be right behind you, okay?"
The younger one nodded and he started across the river cautiously, but after a few steps in, the ice cracked, and the boy slipped in. He was small, and his swimming skills were not up to date; the river could easily sweep him away. His brother knew better than to panic. This day had been bound to happen sometime. He slowly crawled onto the ice, trying to find a thicker slab, so as to not fall in himself. His brother bobbed in and out from under the water, as the river flowed on.
The boy crawled farther in, strangled cries of "Jamie, Jamie!" coming as his younger brother continued to be pushed farther out. The ice was broken enough. The eldest brother pushed on, struggling not to fall in himself. And then it broke beneath him, right next to his brother, but close enough to the edge to get them both back. He dove under the water, reaching for the little boy's hands, using all his strength shoving and fighting against the current all while carrying the weight of his brother. The first thing he did when he reached the edge was set the boy on the side, out of the water. The seven-year-old coughed and wheezed, spitting out water. His brother then forced himself out of the water, carrying the boy inside with his ice-water numbed body.
He'd been able to save him that time. That was ten years ago. So many things could change in that time. And they had. The young man tried to shake the memories. But he could not. Gradually, he rose from the floor of the living room, away from the warm fire, putting on his winter jacket, a hat, gloves, and a scarf, slipping into snow boots, and made his way outside again.
He despised the river and all it meant to him, though he couldn't keep away from it. As much as it hurt, it made him feel closer to his brother. And it reminded him of a time when things were much simpler and he could be a hero. As he approached its familiar edge, he noticed an obscurity in the water.
A clump of grey and blue and brown... brown hair, a grey coat, and brown boots. A person was in the water. He froze for a moment, considering the implications of this, but he prayed, hoped, forced himself to believe that this person was still living. And he ran, long strides through the snow, leaning toward the water, and dropping his arms into it, pulling the figure toward him. It was a girl, a girl far too familiar, very pale, her lips and fingers blue. Jamie had a moment of hesitation.
This was her, the killer, the girl who'd done so much more than just cut short the life of his brother and two of his friends, but the one who'd caused all this grief and heartache and pain. But he pressed his fingers to her neck, a faint pulse remaining.
He saw the way his brother had looked at this girl, someone who used to be his friend, someone he thought he loved. And he knew what he had to do.