After All These Years | ✔

25 - ZAC (David Reddan)

David Reddan let his window down as he travelled over the bridge that led to the Lake house.

The last time he drove over this same bridge was during his first years of University. He sported a very different car, but somehow the feeling had remained the same.

He had been studying business, living out of home independently and partying it up every weekend like any other college student. It hadn't even hit the mid-year break when a 19 year old David was driving his first car over the Stanley Bridge, surprised at how hard it was not to cry.

He had taken a week off to attend his mother's funeral; a nice reception in a clearing next to the Lake House, right beside the big oak tree: her favourite spot to sit and knit while she supervised the boys while they played in the lake. When he came home then, almost 11 years ago now, He thought he would be able to find the strength to go back after only a weekend and resume classes as normal. But the funeral, and just being near the house without his mother cleaning the veranda or calling his name from through the fly wire door, was harder than he thought it would be. When he finally went back to college, he almost dropped out of his studies in grief.
For this very reason, David had pushed everything that happened that weekend to the back of his mind, burying himself in his studies until he was numb to the heavy emotions that came with it. His other siblings, his younger sister and step brothers moved away from the Lake House too, afraid of the memories still there. It had been years since he'd even thought about the home he grew up in and where his mother had her heart attack.

Looking back, there wasn't a distinct period in time when David stopped keeping in touch with his father and his brothers, it was almost gradual. The monthly phone calls became shorter and shorter until they simply didn't exist anymore. He only kept in touch with his older brother, who was also in business.
It's funny how specific people mean so much at a point in your life, but then you grow apart ever so slowly, until they seem like only a memory. For David, to come back to the old lake house felt like he was literally driving down memory lane, admiring the view, but also feeling the heartache.

The water below him reflected the sun and David lowered his dark glasses onto his nose. Unconsciously, his mind drifted back to the image of his own family. Jamie, with her arms crossed and plaited hair falling over her left shoulder. Standing with Ben, his little arms shyly clutching the material of her jeans. Can they really fix everything? He felt he'd messed up the marriage so much that it felt like they couldn't. And as much as he could try to blame someone else, there was no one left but him.
David put on the brakes as he recognized the end of the street. He silenced. It seemed that every part of the street brought back memories. On the footpath he could almost see a 10 year old version of himself trick or treating or riding his skateboard. He looked over the houses of neighbours he grew up with, their houses now hiding behind plants and trees that used to be only small, potted sprouts. Even the familiar cracks and tar on the road took him almost a full 30 years back.
The bitumen road led slightly downhill and David slowed the car as he reached the end of the court and the road made the transition to his old gravel driveway. The lane veered left, running parallel with the lake and he stared down at its shore, almost able to see himself pushing his brother into the water over the small edge of its banks, swimming goggles tightly strapped to their heads.
A smile formed on his lips as he pulled up next to the brown weatherboard house, facing the garage his father used to spend the majority of his time in. Taking the key out of the ignition, he opened his door and stepped out of the car.

The first thing that hit him was the smell. The smell of the pine trees and the red ground below them; it was the scent of his youth.
He slowly climbed a couple of wooden stairs to the wide, front veranda, stepping forward and knocking on the front door. When he didn't get an answer, he stepped to the side and cupped his hands to his face, peering through the window to the door's side. The house looked empty.
Too empty.
He tried the handle, but it wouldn't budge. He couldn't even remember where they used to keep the spare key. Why did he feel like such a stranger?
David let out a sigh, turning to step back down the stairs. He checked the garage, but there was no trace of his father. That left only one option; the lake.

He was halfway down the small path they made down to the lake's edge when he spotted a boat out on the water. He stopped, placing a hand on the bark of the tree next to him. He recognized the small dingy floating in the middle of the lake, it was his father's. But the thing that puzzled him was the figures sitting in it.
He knew the person facing away from him was his father; it was obvious by his clothing and the way he sat. But the other figure was hard to see under his hood, he couldn't tell gender, but he guessed it was a man by width of his back and the way he slouched. He had a small child around Benjamin's age, sitting on his legs and helping him fish.
It couldn't be his brother could it? He had Lucy, a 2 year old. They were still in contact, so he would've told him if he planned on seeing their father. Though, he'd let no one know about his visit, so there was no telling what he could have done.
But, if he wasn't one of his brothers, who was he?
David was considering searching for the key of the house and waiting until his father returned inside, when the young figure stood up abruptly in the small boat, causing it to sway slightly. His father was no longer sitting up straight, but hunched over his knees, the hand of the figure was making circles his back. David's eyes widened, watching and wondering what could possibly be happening. But then he remembered.
The cancer.
Instantly he became frantic, realizing his father was in the middle of a large lake, having some sort of emergency, and he was in the hands of a stranger. The boat started moving, but it was going the wrong way. He clenched his jaw and lightly pressed his fist against the tree he leant on. He had to go to him.
But how?
He scanned the beach on the opposite shore and found a clearing further along the beach. It must have been a park of some sort. It was a long way off from where they were heading, but it was good enough.
In one swift movement, he pushed his body off the tree's trunk and ran back up towards his black car. Starting it up, he sped backwards down the long, gravel driveway in search of his dear father, and the mystery man and child who had helped him.