At the lake

Prologue

Pain.

I opened my eyes and squinted. My head was throbbing and my eyes were fuzzy and watering. Uneven rocks, I could feel them biting into me like jagged teeth. Slowly, I lifted my head and pushed my hands into little stones and dirt. I smashed back down into them as I failed to lift myself up off the ground.

Where?

Groaning, I strained my eyes to focus, my vision a spinning blur. Where was I? The only colours I could make out were a smudge of grey...green...brown? A strong wind blew across my face. It was cold. We were outside and... high up? The grey must be the sky. If it wasn't raining here it was always cloudy. I felt strands of my hair blow across my face and the gusts of wind grew stronger.

The lake.

We must be at the lake.
But I would never come here alone. I couldn't, you could only get here by car, and I didn't drive.

There was that pain again.

I managed to bring a hand up to touch my head. Searing pain, then a flash of white. My fingers felt wet. Blood. Suddenly, my stomach twisted and I threw up a bit in my mouth. I swallowed and tasted metal. I still couldn't see properly but I could just about make out a silhouette walking towards me. They crouched down in front of me and stayed there for a good three seconds before tilting their head like a dog does when it's curious. It was like time stopped then, everything went quiet, the figure was still, like a statue. As my vision was just about to somewhat focus on this person crouched in front of me, they lurched towards me.

Constricting hands wrapped around both my wrists and pulled. My limp body was being scraped along the floor like a sack of flour. My skin burned as it was dragged along rocks and dirt. I wanted to scream out from the pain as the ground tore through my clothes and dug its teeth into my skin.

I could only see up, past their arms and shoulders. Storm clouds were brewing.
Little drops of rain plopped on my face and I revelled in the feeling.

Wash it all away, I thought as I closed my eyes and welcomed my end.

Thump. That was the sound my body made as it hit the ground. The next thing I felt were hands that wrapped around me and pulled me into a seated position up against a big rock. My body was limp and sagging.

The fog in my head was thinning, and regret was taking its place. I was somewhat relieved to go, but I thought I'd get chance to make things right before I did. Maybe I took to long and someone I hurt was taking things into their own hands. How I got here though, was a blank. I couldn't remember anything. How did I get here? Why was I here?

Something rough was being tied around my wrists, rope probably. It burned my skin as they tightened it. If they were holding me for ransom they'd be waiting a long time for money.

Better to just kill me now, I thought.

They sighed deeply. It was the first sound I heard them make other than their footsteps on the stones and rocks. I opened my eyes, head still woozy.

There were too many questions.

Blinking away slow falling raindrops, I opened my mouth to speak as I laid eyes on the figure who had dragged and tied me and god knows what else. They were wearing one of those scarves you wear when you hike that can be pulled up over your mouth and neck to keep you warm or protect you from sunburning the back of your neck. All I could see were their eyes, piercing eyes staring down at my pathetic self.

"What's-?" I croaked, and coughed; my throat was dry as sand. The masked figure put their hands in their pockets, standing casually over me like I was nothing. Nobody.
"That's not the right question Aliya." Their steady voice was muffled from the scarf but I could understand them. They just stared at me. Thunder was beginning to roll out across the ever darkening sky. Clouds were thickening like a wool blanket smothering me. The rope dug into my wrists. No way out. My heart began to quicken, the realisation of my situation finally,truly sinking in as my head began to clear. The fuzzy, throbbing pain in my head was almost entirely replaced by the fear that was now being pumped through my veins.

I was tied up, at the lake, with a mysterious masked figure looming over me, with no way back. I was sweating now, feeling somehow hot and cold at the same time.

"Who?" I croaked.

"WRONG!" They yelled, closing the gap between us and bending down so that their face was level with mine, and their eyes could stare into mine inches away from me. I flinched, scrunching my eyes shut and a silent tear escaped down my cheek. The rain washed it away as though it was never there.

"Why...?" It was barely a whisper.

"What was that?" They asked, their face still only inches from mine, they tilted their head to the side so that their ear was closer to my shaking lips.

"WHY?!" I whimpered, tears flowing freely down my face now as the realisation as to just how bad this must be set in. I was shaking now, the rain had crept up from a slow trickle to a full on shower now and my clothes were drenched.

Cold.

My head, although still nursing a dull ache, was clearing now, along with my vision. I saw red and brown swirl into the water on the ground. Blood and dirt soaked into the earth beneath me. My legs were out in front of me, heavy and limp.

The rain was becoming unbearable, heavy droplets now crashing to the ground like bullets. It was hard to keep my eyes open in this. I kept blinking as rain fell into my brown eyes. I didn't know if I was still crying or not.

The mysterious figure pulled their scarf down from over their face. I froze. They smiled.

"I'll tell you why."