Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Thing at the lake
“Hey kids” Mr. Frank yells coming in, “Bret your mother is looking for you,” he does a fake laugh and looks around at the four of us—the things we have gathered, magnifying-glasses, flashlights, protein bars, two baseball bats “so of course you four are here, is there a way that I can stop you kids from going; snacks perhaps?”
“We have to find out what happened to Sean” I pipe up, “and no amount of snacks can stop us from going.”
“Dad let us explain” Andy says placing a hand on my shoulder “We want too.”
“You three think that Sean didn’t run away and want to go find him or at least find his…”
“He is alive Dad…I feel it” Andy says foolhardily. None of us ever told him but…we were sure that Sean did die—by the look in his eyes, Mr. Frank thought the same thing— “You kids be safe out there and you boys watch out for the girls and protect them.” The moment that followed was calm; the way he said it was off, like he is hiding something. The phone rings in the other room and Mr. Frank goes to pick it up. “He is alive…” Andy mumbles under his breath. We leave out the back to avoid being seen by anyone who would tell Bret’s parents.
The path behind the houses was our way of sneaking out—mystery solving or otherwise—and now we needed it again. When we were kids Andy led the way with Bert on his heels, Vicky behind her as I brought up the rear. The weeds are overgrown and Andy’s head nearly pokes over the fence and the space is tighter, we are older after all. The sun starts to set before we reach the end of the path. “I hope there isn’t any spiders back here” Vicy taunts Bret.
“Don’t start Vicy” Andy says not looking back. We squeeze through and right before we reach the end I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see who had followed us but there is just a flash of light—for a second I thought I saw Sean's face. I rub my eyes and a note land on my head ‘Please Do Not look for my body stay out the woods’ it is written in Sean's handwriting. “Hey Buddy,” Andy calls from the inky black of the night “are you okay”?
“Yeah,” I slide out of the pathway and hand Andy the note, "Believe this or not but this fell on my head.”
“Th…this is Sean’s handwriting” Andy looks at the note closer, almost mesmerized by it. I look over at Vicy and Bret, they are hugging each other, and it almost feels like Bret is crying. The streetlights turn on; Andy looks up and turns towards the girls. “Let’s go to the lake” The rest of the way Bret hangs off of Andy’s arm, like when we were kids. I hear a notification sound and turn towards Vicy “Really, turn your phone off we are looking for…”
“It’s Bret’s phone…” Vicy grumbles, “her mom has been blowing it up ever since Mr. Frank walked in.”
“Oh, that’s why” I look at Bret and she is shaking ever so slightly, that must be the reason Andy is holding her so tightly. We reach the end of the woods and take out our flashlights. The trees look different at night, they look bigger and their shadows move like they are alive. The Autumn chill sets in as we reach the branching paths. One way leads to the lake and the other deeper into the forest, leaving town. A strong gust of wind comes from the left “Of course the creepy wind is coming from the lake” I groan.
“Yes,” Vicy Laughs “don’t complain its fall.”
“Yeah, in September, March is the windy month.” I roll my eyes “Andy what do you think” Andy’s eyes look glazed over as he starts walking towards the lake through the wind Bret on his arm. We walk for a while then the light of the full moon shines from the horizon and illuminates the path. We turn off our flashlights and look out onto the lake. I check on Andy and his eyes are back to normal, “Okay crew let’s…” Andy Starts
“Split and look for clues” the three of us laugh while taking out our notepads from my bag.
“Really guys” Andy starts to pout and grabs his notepad “you could have let me finish, no need to mock me.”
“There is every need to mock you” Vicy says, grabbing my arm “Buddy and I got the lakebed you too go look in the woods.” Andy makes a face at Vicy and she just winks. After we walk over closer to the lakebed “He still likes her doesn't he” I chuckle.
“Yeah, and she likes him…” Vicy stops and looks over at the lake “...why do we have to find Sean, the adults in this town have been doing a politely nothing seance we were five and probably before that.”
“Vicy this was a choice we made” she’s not wrong—we have always stopped the greedy banker, old farmer and even saved a life, the older we get the worse the mystery—the adults need to step up. “If you ever want to stop.”
“If we stop, who would…” her eyes tear up and the shine of the full moon makes them look like diamonds “we are the only ones who care about the truth in this town “She walks away and starts looking for clues. Her raven-like hair swaying in the crisp night air. I check the bank of the lake; a shine catches my eye: in the water a heart. A golden locket, inside a sonogram and a picture of Daphne. Sean never took this thing off. I look around the area where we saw Shara, the police's footsteps make it harder to see Shara’s. It’s like they are trying to hide something—then again, they are always hiding something.
“Buddy, over here” Vicky calls me over “There is only one set of footprints over here” I run over and see the footprints. I look back towards the way we came from, but then the thought hits me; the police did their search a week ago, what are the footprints still so perfect? A low growl comes from the tree line, we turn to face it but, “That isn’t normal” Vicy says grabbing my arm.
“No, it's not,” I flash my flashlight at it and it's like shining a like on a breck wall “it’s like an unrendered video game.”
“This is not a game Bud it is…”
“Nick, Victoria we found Sean…” Bret’s voice comes from the ebony of the night, “come over here.” We start to back up closer towards the lakebed. After a moment Andy’s voice says the same thing, but louder. The air grows still and the voices stop, even the crickets stopped chirping. In the dark of the tree line a red glow starts emanating. “Nick Victoria it’s me…” Sean's voice comes though low and shacky.
“You're not Sean” Vicy yells at the voice, something growling again. I turn my head and see Andy and Bret hiding behind a tree. Andy mouths ‘Bubby and Vicy’ I nod and start moving towards them. The creature using Sean’s voice continues to call out to us “come over here guys didn’t you miss me”?
“Yeah, we did but why don’t you come out into the light,” I yell back playing along. The ground shakes and the red glows brighter the closer we get to Bret and Andy. In the darkness I see a light shining and for a second I see Sean’s face again. I stop and stare into the small patch of light in the darkness.
“Buddy,” Andy grabs my arm pulling out of my trance, “you were walking towards the tree line.”
“What!?” I look bad and see I had moved about ten or twenty feet away from the lakebed, “I was just standing next to Vicy and looking at the…” I look at Andy's face, and he has blood dripping from his black eye and the cut on top of his head. We start walking back to the girls, but I feel as if someone is watching me…The world goes black. I feel as if I am floating in space. I fall back deeper and deeper into a void. I hit a hard surface and try to move but I couldn’t. “Buddy,” I hear Sean’s voice “I said don’t try to find me.”
“We had too you're like a brother to Andy” I say laying on the ground, “you were the hope of our town.”
“...I was never that good. All I did, was be myself like you guys.” A banging sound comes from below me and the red glow engulfs me out then it turns blue and back to red. “Keep them safe Buddy, this wasn’t the first time the town hero ‘ran away’ do what you kids do best and meddle.” I open my eyes, see flashing lights, and hear Vicy yelling my name and someone yells “grab her.” I sit up and see Bret’s parents, Vicy’s mother and Andy’s dad yelling at each other. “You have a lot of explaining to do boi” I see my father say before I pass out once again.