The Lake House

Time

She fighted so hard to save his life that she was out of energy, soak in tears that never seemed to let up. Her heart was in pieces and that weird feeling  wouldn't  go away.

Kate still couldn't say why it hurt so much, but when she decided to follow Dr Klyczynski's advice and take the day off to connect with what was good for her, the universe found a new chance to save that life.

She didn't think she would fall so deeply in love, but now all made sense.

The time that separated the physical meeting between the two was also the time needed for her to be able to save him.

The time that before passed so slow for him, today passed too fast for her.

"Is there still time?" She thought, as she quickly wrote her last letter.

Time.
She never wanted the distance between them was so real as she wanted now. Here, she still had time.

Her desperation grew by the second and she could barely hold herself up. As she knelt down and waited for some sign of him, she felt her tears fall stronger and stronger. Her hands were shaking and her heart was beating too fast.

Running out of time was hopeless.

A short time before it all happened, her heart had filled with hope when she saw his drawing hanging on the wall of the architecture office.

It was as if that incredible fantasy suddenly became real. He was real.

There was someone in her time who knew him and she could finally find him.

At that moment, nothing that had happened before mattered.

"Do you know how I can get in touch with him?"* she said the first thing that came to her mind and it was about Alex.

Everything was about him.

For the last year, she tried to forget him every day and as much as she tried to believe that their time had passed or that he hadn't come to meet her because he couldn't wait for her, her heart never let the feeling go away.

Now, beyond to thinking about him every day, there were still memories of the lake house she wanted to bring to her new apartment.

Kate smiled as she touched the drawing.

There was a lot of him there: his style, his passion for architecture, and his romantic vision of what that place meant to them.

She was filled with hope when she thought they would finally be at the same time.
It didn't take long for Henry to snap her out of her thoughts with the most devastating news there could be: Alex had died in an accident two years ago.

Immediately her world collapsed and her body sank into one of the worst thrill she had ever experienced.

"Where?" she asked, trying to make a connection to what had happened two years ago.

And when Henry talked about he being hit by a car in front of Daley Plaza, her body instinctively ran. Fast.

Not thinking, not waiting, not trying to understand.

She needed to get to the lake house and maybe time could save him.
______________________________________________________________________________

In 2006, Alex remembered a letter where she talked about Valentine's Day that year.
He didn't remember exactly what it was, but he had left all of his letters in storage.

Alex hadn't been back to the lake house in over a year, but he knew that by then it was no longer inhabited. Kate had moved to Chicago a few days earlier and he could go back to look for any clues. 

They would start exchanging letters soon, so maybe there was some way to find her.

When he found the letter that informed him of her being at Daley Plaza that day,  Alex couldn't be rational. 

This was an opportunity to meet her and even if she didn't know who he was yet, it would be worth seeing her.

In a hurry, Alex closed the glass door and hurried back to his truck, dropping the letter in his hand and letting the wind drag it close to the mailbox. 

When he walked over to take it back, he noticed that the little red flag indicated that there was a letter there.

"Kate?" He thought, feeling his heart race at the possibility.

And then, he opened the box and found a recent letter, in her handwriting.

Alex...

I know why you didn't show up that night. It was you at Daley Plaza that day.

It was you! 

Please, don't go. Just wait! Please.

Don't look for me, don't try to find me.

I love you.

And it's take me all this time to say it, but I love you.

And if you still care for me, wait for me. Wait with me. Just wait. Wait!

Wait two years, Alex.

Come to the lake house. I'm here.*

Kate.

Earlier, Alex had read Kate's last letter, where she talked about a man having died in her arms on Valentine's Day in front of Daley Plaza and now this new letter brought a new meaning. That's
why he didn't find her.

Alex knew something had happened and, in fact, only death could make him give up on her being so sure about what he felt.

"It was you at Daley Plaza that day."* The line echoed in his head, but he needed to see her.

_________________________________________________________________________

A few miles later, Alex was looking for any sign of Kate. Both cards in your pocket and still lost in his thoughts.

"I love you." * He felt his heart beat a different rhythm. "It 's take me all this time to say it, but I love you."

Then his eyes find her across the street. His first reaction was to go to her, but when he took the first step, he felt his body lock.

"And if you still care about me, wait for me. Wait with me. Just wait. Wait!"*

Alex read the letter again and noted that Kate's handwriting was agitated. He took a deep breath and decided to get out of there as quickly as possible, thinking that time had given him another chance and he couldn't play with it.

Kate would be waiting for him in two years. He just needed the patience to live the most incredible, maddening love he'd ever felt.

"And that's how she saved my life." He thought and smiled.

Alex would never imagine that he would know when and how he would die, much less that he would be saved by the love of his life.

Anyone would say he was crazy, or drunk, or both.*

"What do I do now?"

He couldn't risk the chance to be with her in 2008, while he didn't understand how that would be possible.

"Why would she go to the lake house now? And if she doesn't, how are we going to meet?"

How much could he change time?

"I can't change anything else." He thought. "I can't stay here."

Alex thought a lot about all this magic that involved the two of them throughout the day and decided that he would need to disappear for two years so that the timeline didn't have a new big change, after all, his being alive at that moment was no longer something that had happened before.

In the next few days, he organized his trip to Barcelona and arranged with Henry that he would work on projects from a distance, without explaining much about the reason for the trip.

The return ticket was already scheduled for 02/13/2008 and he just needed to trust that time would take her to him.

As Alex said goodbye to Henry and boarded his flight, Kate woke up on her day off with a strange feeling, remembering some fragments of her dream: it was a mix of the Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth story in Persuasion, Morgan and her surprise birthday party. Completely disconnected.

Jack climbed into her bed and she patted her head. "It was a bad night." She told Jack. "A surprise birthday party with the whole town watching me."

She laughed and then remembered that mysterious man who had danced with her in the garden.

"What was his name?" She tried to remember but couldn't.

"I don't remember his face very well, but I remember the feeling." Kate smiled at Jack who was looking at her as if she understood what she was saying. "I liked that kiss."

She touched her lips and remembered, for no reason, her mail that might still be being sent to the lake house.

"Do you want to take a walk today?" She asked Jack. "I have to check if they left anything for me in the mailbox at the lake house.

CONTINUE..

*the lake house movie quotes