10/15/14

Freeze Tag
Caroline B. Clooney

In this creepy, cold book, freeze tag isn't just a game. It's reality. :O

Meghan has the perfect life; a loving family, a perfect boyfriend, popularity. But there's one problem. Lannie. They've been childhood "friends" since she first moved into the neighborhood, but Lannie was always different. She had cold, piercing eyes, with an eternal far away look in them. And there was one more thing. She could freeze anyone, anytime, with just a touch of a finger. 

         "Even Lannie's words could freeze. Tuesday's leaping lungs and throbbing hear went to slow   motion, and her skipping mind fell. No. Recue teams cannot save them. Our mother and father cannot save them. That terrible little phrase 'froze to death' hung in front of all Tuesday's thoughts like an icicle hanging off a porch." (Clooney, 83)

There was nothing more that Lannie wanted than Meghan's boyfriend, West. She would do anything to have him for his own- even risking Meghan's life. She froze Meghan, and made West promise to love her best, forever. Fearing for her life, West agreed. Worst mistake of his life.

As they grew older, and Meghan and West began to plan the rest of their lives together, Lannie comes in, reminding them of the promise he made to her, all those years ago. West leaves Meghan, to protect her, but promises to keep meeting her in secret. 

But, he begins to change. Slowly, he begins to forget to meet her, to stop sitting with her at lunch, to stop inviting her over for dinner. And she notices that he, has become like Lannie. Cold, uncaring, unloving. But she still wants him.

His siblings, Tuesday and Brown, also hated Lannie. The two had devised a plan to get rid of Lannie forever, by giving her a taste of her own medicine. They would lock her in a car, in the middle ot a blizzard, so that she would freeze to death.

But as Meghan discovers this plan, she realizes what people they have all become. Though they never were frozen by Lannie, their thoughts were still cold, and all that was in their eyes, was coldness. So she walked out alone, into the stormy blizzard, and unlocked the door. 

          

         " This is what it means, thought Meghan Moore, to choose the lesser of two evils. Lannie is evil, but it would be more evil to stand aside and silently let her die..... 

                       "Come in my house where it's warm," said Meghan.

                         Lannie said nothing.

                         Perhaps she was too cold to speak.

                         Or perhaps..she had waited all her life to come in where it was warm." (Clooney, 166)

Though this book was short, I will never forget the haunting creativity the author had, or the vague message it sent. The ending line, as seen in the quote above, allows the reader to use their imagination, in the somewhat happy ending. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes creepy things, or to someone who is in search for something a little different.