PAPA WALOE'S SMILE LINES CRINKLED AS 6-YEAR-OLD ME TODDLED INTO HIS ARMS, giggling hysterically. "Hi, Van-van!"
"Hi Papa Waloe!" I grinned at him with my missing-teeth smile. "Can you pleeeaasee tell me a bedtime story?"
"Sure, Van-van! Which one do you want?"
"The one about Al-al-Alkid Lake!"
My grandfather's eyes twinkled mysteriously. "Sit down, Van-Van, and get comfortable. This is a long one."
"Back when I was a young traveller, my friends and I decided to go on a trip to Yce. We walked, and walked, and walked, until we arrived. It was freezing cold in Yce, you know, Van-van?
I was shivering so much that I thought I was going to freeze to death and die right there! But then, we arrived at a cottage. We stayed there for the night, and the owner of the house told us a terrifying story, and after we heard it, I swore to never go to that accursed place again."
"What did the owner say? What did he say?"
"He said, 'It was a cold evening, and my friend went out fishing at Algid Lake for his dinner. A freak blizzard started blowing in, and in a matter of seconds, people say, he was surrounded by snow. He was wearing about 5 layers, and still, the wind chilled him to the bones. In seconds, he froze to death at that place, immobilized in ice. The next day, we found him there. His face looked like he'd seen a ghost, his mouth open wide, gasping like a fish. The villagers say he still haunts that lake, pushing anyone in who dares to fish in that accursed lake.'"
"If he comes after me, then I'll just run away!" I told Papa Waloe, holding up my pudgy fists.
He laughed, a deep chuckle, and then continued. "If you ran away, the other ghosts will get you, Van-van. Everyone who's died at Algid Lake has been killed by a ghost. And once you die, you join them."
His voice seemed a register deeper when he spoke those words, and for a moment, his eyes turned completely black. Then, just as quick as it had happened, the warm hazel returned to his pupils. "Good night, Van-van. Your mommy is going to yell at me if she sees you awake at this hour."
I looked at him. "Papa, where are you going?"
He looked at me for the last time, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Algid Lake."
YOU ARE READING
idiomatic
General Fiction⚠︎ UNDERGOING HEAVY EDITING! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK ⚠︎ • she rues the day he showed up. she resents the way his black robe floated in and out of her life. she remembers how he destroyed it all. • word count: 1918 #79 in "words" cover by @skywrxtes d...
