There were woods and open land surrounding the apartment complex. The boys were the older brothers of my friends, so we were never welcomed to play with them. During a particularly cold winter, the five of them had decided to walk on the frozen ice that had covered the pond. None of them knew how to swim. When he fell through, he drowned immediately. Afterwards, we all referred to it as “Death Pond” and no one ever went into the woods again. His was the first death that had made any direct connection to me.