Illusory | ✓

i l l u s o r y : 25

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHTED 2015

I L L U S O R Y : 25

Bridger is waiting for me when I open the back door that leads out onto the back porch, standing in front of me with a beach towel in his hands. He smiles gently at me as I stand in front of him, wearing a one piece bathing suit. Call me weird, but I don't really care for two piece bathing suits that much anymore. Not that I cared for them to begin with, that blue bikini I had two years ago ended up growing too small for me. I ended up buying just one pieces after it grew too small for me, feeling more comfortable in one pieces than two pieces.

"Are you ready to go?" I ask him and he nods his head before I walk out and shut the back door closed behind me. My family didn't stay that long, none of them decided to stay over night, and they had left before it started getting dark. My parents are too dead asleep by now, that they wouldn't hear me walking down the hallway. That and Dad still snores ridiculously loud.

Bridge wraps his arm around me and pulls me close to him before we head down the porch and in the direction of the back yard. Oliver greets us by his dog house and I bend down to scratch him on the head, which in return sends him licking my hand. I smile lightly at him before I pull away and let Bridger walk a little in front of me, the both of us heading towards the pathway that leads down to the lake.

"So, did you ever go to the lake a lot?" I suddenly ponder to Bridge, which sends him glancing at me in the corner of his eye. He moves some branches away from me so that I don't get scraped by them and then moves his hands back to his sides.

"Only during the summer. Dad and I would go camping during the summer in just one tent and we'd sleep in sleeping bags. We'd carry just enough food for us for the week and we'd go fishing and of course...we'd star gaze. We'd tell each other ghost stories and Dad would be impressed by mine, although when I was little they were kind of childish...which they were supposed to be. We didn't really swim in the lake though. Since it's known for so many drownings in the town's history, Dad didn't want me in it. We'd go to a little swimming hole farther back in the woods," Bridger informs me and I nod my head, being captivated by the story.

Unknown to me, I end up tripping over a tree branch that lays sprawled in front of me. Bridger manages to catch me before I fall completely on the ground. Chuckling at me, Bridger shakes his head. "I told you that you were uncoordinated. You're not even wearing shoes and you're proving my point."

I roll my eyes at him and smack him against the chest before watching for some more fallen tree branches on the ground. Luckily it's just littered with dirt and fallen leaves, but other than that I don't come across another tree branch on the ground. It also doesn't help that Bridger is ready to catch me if I trip over my bare feet again.

When we reach the trees that lead out to the lake I feel my heart rattle in my chest again, at the thought of being in front of the waters. I had managed to enter the waters again, when I went to save Bridger from my childhood demon. Now though, with the treat of my demon gone, I can't help but wonder if there is anything else that is threatening in the waters.

Bridger pulls back the gathering of bushes and trees for me to walk through and when I feel my feet touch the dry grass I stand near the side of the lake, staring at the beauty of the calm lake off in the distance. It looked just like this on the day that Jared died, it was so beautiful, and it took my breath away. I remember us going into the dry grass and screaming at the top of our lungs, not caring who we let hear us.

I don't even realize I'm walking again until I blink and pull myself away from my thoughts, seeing that I'm standing in the middle of the dry grass again. Bridger stands off to the side, his eyes calm and patient as he observes me a few feet away. He's close enough for me to feel safe, and yet I know that he's not suffocating me with his worry.