Only You

The Lake House

Faithfully...

I pulled up to the house, my car skidding as I jerked to a stop. Lake Shichorn had been a place my family had gone to for years... years up until. Until it happened. I thought to myself. I wanted to just pull my hair out! For so long I had vowed to never come back to this dingy little town, I had nothing but bad memories here.

I opened my car door and as I stepped out looked around. The old place looked the same as it had so long ago. A big ancient Oak tree stood near the front door, the back yard had a pile of weather wood propped up against the house and smaller oaks and maples made up the back yard... The old oak, "Journey",  we used to call as kids, still stood,  I thought to myself in wonderment.

I wondered if... No, I turned my mind from the old and onto the new. Carefully I walked up the weathered and beaten steps on the old place, in my minds eye seeing them when they were new. Only the occasional creak betraying their true age, and my fantasy.

I checked if my purse was securely attached to my shoulder, and seeing its comforting presence patted it lightly. Rolling my shoulders gently back I tried to keep calm, yet anticipation built in my stomach. Finally reaching the top of the porch I dug through my purse finding the little white envelope that had been sent to me. It contained a single silver key, one never used ever before.

I grasped the padlock in one hand, the key in the other and began to unlock them when the sound of a car jerked my roughly from my reprieve...

"What the hell are ya doing here lady?", a man's voice yelled from behind me. Instantly I cringed, the sound of a harsh voice bringing back all the memories of the incident, that had happened so long ago. But as I have said, their is no time for that now.

I turned on my polished pumps, jimmy choos. Shoes that cost more then the people of my home town made in a month.

Lifting my head to the sound I saw the man who uttered the rude words... Nathaniel. I watched his face go as equally white as my own when our eyes met. That spark of recognition followed by an instantaneous feeling of revulsion we'd carefully cultivated towards each other throughout the years.

Feeling black spots on my vision I tried to keep myself steady, my hand reaching out and sub-consciously grasping the battered guard-rail of the porch. Looking back to Nathaniel my eyes darted back and forth like those of a wounded animal trying to find a way out of a trap.

Before the blackness overcame me, my last thought was... He hasn't changed a bit in the past decade.

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An Eternal Flame...

Opening my eyes, I was met with warm brown ones.... They seemed so familiar at on once then so far away. In those few precious seconds I once again saw the magic that used to happen, then the spell was broken by his voice.

"Are ya'll okay mam?", he questioned softly

"F-fine Nathaniel.", I spoke quietly, as to not provoke him.

Studying me for a moment as though thinking he could prove I wasn't real, that this wasn't really happening he stumbled out his next few words, "Bliss, Bliss is that you?", he asked rhetorically. We both knew he already knew the answer.

" Are you alright?", he asked calmly, "I, I've become a Paramedic. You fainted." he said quietly.

I laid there, not sure what to do. Then somewhere from the dark recesses of my brain the thought wormed its way out, telling me that I should answer. "I know.", I croaked out.

Still professional he asked me if I had any medical conditions etc. While I laid there stupefied he started to look concerned, probably for my mental health. I half giggled to myself...

Slowly I raised myself to my knees, then stood fully... if a bit wobbly.

I turned carefully and pulled out the key once again, inserted it into the lock and unlocked the door. As I bent to retrieve my purse, the door swung open. To my surprise I was able to see a family of raccoons run out of the building! I cringed and backed away from the door. Well, I attempted to back away, and ended up backing into Nathaniel.

This caused me to awkwardly jump forward again to escape the sense of claustrophobia that over-ran my being. 

Then I paused, I was doing it again... Letting my emotions control me. I would not back down. Nathaniel was just a high school fling.

Sliding my hands down my blazer and skirt to smooth off dust and leaves I walked towards the house without giving Nathaniel a backward glace.

I stepped through the door, glanced up at the ceiling and... "Oh, no!"  I couldn't believe it.

Some sort of furry mammal had made its home in there... the house was in ruins!! I wanted to cry, my mind kept showing me what had once been, yet I couldn't deny the reality of the situation.

As I stood there in the main entrance room, I imagined everything back in its proper place. The Decan's bench resting against the wall finished in a cherry-wood, oriental rugs covering the floor in a rich brocade and the chandelier proudly glistening in the middle. The bronze base and crystals sending prisms of light throughout the room.  

Then looking at it now I saw the room as it really was; the chandelier missing pieces here and there, the carpets which had long ago been eaten away by moths not to mention the rodent droppings around the bench.

I don't think I can do this, I thought to myself.

Nathaniel's voice spoke from behind me, so I turned and acknowledged the sound.

"Bliss? Ummm...what exactly are you doing here?", he asked in his deep timbered voice, sounding a little strained.