Under The Lake

I Rose

"Ben, I've been meaning to ask you, how are you the only person that didn't get sucked into the lake? You jumped in after Nicole, right? How did you get back up?" Steven asked, and by the tone of his voice I could tell he was now looking at me as a suspect. Truth is I didn't know, I just did.

"I don't know Steve. I saw Nicole jump in, and after a few seconds to a minute passed she didn't come back. So I dove in, clothes still on my body and I couldn't see anything. It was so dark and dirty I had to go back up hoping she did the same. When I got back to the dock and she wasn't there I felt a weight crush my insides, I lost her. People around us, our old friends they seen what happened and they just imagined she drowned. I know she didn't, as I've said before Nicole could out swim fish." I felt like I was now being watched, everything I said was suspicious. Did they think I had something to do with this? We stood by the many trees in this new place and looked around for both Ned and Nicole. These people looked normal, they could've been regular Missouri residents except they look better. They had a glow of a pregnant woman and the smile of a dentist commercial. There was nothing wrong with St. Louis Missouri but these people made us look like we lived in a trailer.

Then I seen it, the moment was so clear to me it forced my jaw to drop to the sweet grass. I almost fainted, but I needed to be conscious to see this up close. As I looked straight ahead, I seen young Ben. It was me, the same outfit I had on the day I met Nicole twelve and a half years ago. I looked like my sixteen year old self, freshly in love. Then I saw her, Nicole at the age of fifteen walking up to me and wrapping her cherry blossom scented arms around me.

"oh my god!" I yelled running toward them, well toward us. I ran and ran and it felt like I was running a marathon until I realized they weren't even here. I fell to the ground where the two of us stood and felt terribly sorry for myself.

"Ben, Nicole isn't here. This is a small place and we've asked everyone. She isn't here okay. Let's go home" Julia said patting my back, but none of this made sense. We headed back to the submarine that waited for us, took one last look at this strange fantasy like place and climbed in the tank.

We arrived back in Missouri and the sun was still barley awake. Once we got onto land, we were greeted by our friends the police.

"What the he'll do you four think you're doing? Do you know how...you know I thought kids were stupid but you're all grown adults! The things in that water are not safe. Go home all of you, next time you're caught in there you won't see day light" we followed the officers orders and all went home to process what just happened today. Someone knocked on my door shortly after I got home, I was assuming it'd be Jason proposing a club night, but it was Julia.

"Hey, um, what's up?" I asked opening the door.

"Can I come in?" She asked boldly, unlike her usual self. I let her in where we both sat on the couch watching crime shows.

"It's crazy, how people can just hide the murderous side of them so easily" Julia said. She drank two full glasses of whiskey, then three more until she began moving closer and closer to me.

"I gotta hit the can" I said, rushing to the bathroom. I was so uncomfortable having a woman sitting this close to me on my wife's couch. I took enough time to pretend to pee and then went back downstairs, but Julia wasn't on the couch.

"Jul-"

"I'm sorry Ben..." I heard from the kitchen, I turned to see her holding a knife in front of her.

"Woah, Julia just put the...what are you doing? What's wrong?!" This was so random, out of the blue.

"I have been holding my feelings for you in for the longest time Ben and I'm sick of it! I go home and I throw up because of how love sick I am, I sleep and dream of our children we'll have one day, I wake up and hope to see you outside my house proposing to me! I know you love me somewhere inside Ben, let it out!" She swung the knife around with each word she spoke. My breathing got heavy and I started walking towards the door slowly.

"You don't remember me do you Ben?" She asked, and that's when my attention was captured.