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Prompt 5 -Ice Bath
Around 8 pm, Partridge stood at the crosswalk, preparing to cross the street, and sighed. Considering Partridges feelings on the cold, he was questioning why he was walking in it, at night, with a light layer of snow falling. Oh yeah, he was coming back from a long party at the art gallery he worked at, for 'networking purposes' his boss had said, attendance by all staff was mandatory, especially the young man, since he was one of the few gallery attendants not really in a financial position to ignore the gallery curators demand. It had paid off for him at least, even if he didn't get a bonus like he hoped, he did come out of it with some names, and a bit of snacks for later, but now he was shivering, and those things didn't matter in the case of the dark and the friggin cold. He rubbed his arms, hoping to keep himself warm , even with the big coat he had on and thick sweater (and leggings, and thick denim, you get the idea), it wasn't enough to fight the chill of an evening snowfall. Not to mention the ice patches that seemed to be a bit ahead of the snow which...huh, did a fire hydrant bust? Partridge wondered, careful as he crossed the road to avoid slipping. Or maybe the snow had been rain when he was still at the gallery, it didn't really matter to him, he just wanted to be out of the cold. Walking on, he stumbled and slipped a bit as he came up on slick spots he couldn't see well , even with the street lamps. It was at one such spot, two blocks before he got home, that Partridge stepped on one, but he didn't slip, instead the spot shattered, and he was pulled into the frigid cold water. He had no time to think of the oddity of the deep puddle of ice, only focused on the panic he felt as the water and the dark surrounded him, the oppressive feeling of the icy water pulling him down as he tried to not open his mouth and scream. He watched as the swimming lights above him quickly receded, the hole getting smaller as he went down, down and down into the dark, paddling his arms as he did. He could have cried, but the water would not allow it. His consciousness fading, he felt a slight tug at his arm, then his chest, before he finally succumbed to the dark. Partridge woke again with a gasp some time later. wet, little warmth save for a rescue blanket someone had placed over him, and very much alone. He looked around, shivering and panicked, to see the puddle he fell into wasn't even there. What the hell!? "But---and it--it -was....where?" Partridge said aloud, but there was no one around to answer.With a look to the ground where the hole was, he shakily got up, stumbling the last block towards his warehouse turned loft, hoping to put the night behind him. He definitely wouldn't be taking any assignments from his other job for a few days afgter that night, that was for sure.