Warning: This story may be emotionally sensitive to some. Read with caution, or you may leave and come back for the next story.

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Some people say that if you stare too far into lakes or ponds you'll fall in and drown. 

But there are other tales that say if you stare into water with great darkness in your heart you will not drown.

This theory is only testable in midwinter when water completely freezes over. The water must be still without currents rushing below, so rivers will not do.

If you see your reflection in the ice you can look down upon yourself and make a wish. 

You must wish to leave this world for something better, and you must wholeheartedly be prepared to leave everything behind, for once you've begun your journey you cannot go back.

Should you feel lonely or sorrowed to the point where you cannot be happy in this world then your reflection will muddle and form a path in the ice. If you step down into this path you will not feel the water. Your foot will come down on a solid surface; the stairs that will lead you down into another world.

If you manage to find these stairs and descend, you will find yourself in the depths of the lake. Some people say it is the work of mischievous fox spirits, and that it's all an illusion and you'll wake up in your own bed, but if you believe another world exists beyond the edge of the ice, then continue on until you see a bright light.

No two accounts tell of the same kind of world, for each person's experience is different. How we know about this I cannot say, but many times these people will be called back by their neighbours, family, and friends. They will be begged to remain on land, to not fall through the ice. But these people cannot hear them, merely saying they will continue on their path down the icy stairs to another world.

They say that in the end all people will find a new world where there is no sadness, fear, or loneliness. It is a place where everything and everyone is happy. They never hunger or want for anything, so there is no reason to return to the world they once knew.