The Lake House

Chapter 7

I woke up in a sweat damp bed, once again woken up by my own screams. I was still in the same clothes I wore the day before. I must have fallen asleep while trying to come up with possible ideas as to what was going on.

I sat up in bed. I looked at the clock which informed me that it was midnight. I was wide awake now. I couldn't believe I'd been asleep since about 6 p.m yesterday. I didn't think I was that tired when I went to lay on my bed. I tried to go back to sleep but sleep wouldn't come. I kept going back to what had happened at Pete's house. All of a sudden I had this urge to go back to his house and try to find my phone, and maybe see if Jake really did tell me the truth when he said that the phone was not there.

It was the middle of the night! I thought. I'll wait til the morning. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but I knew I would not be able to go back to sleep unless I knew what was going on.

I got out of bed. I grabbed a torch and shoes and headed for the front door. Quietly I opened the front door, trying my best not to wake my parents.

The cool night air surrounded me as I stepped out of the house and into the insecure night. I shut the door behind me and waited for a second, hesitating. I knew I had to do it. I was now certain that something creepy was going on, it's not just my imagination.

I decided to go past my two best girl friends' houses. They lived near Pete and I bet Hayley would love to figure this out with me. She's always been one for mysteries. Megan, on the other hand, would be a little hesitant. I decided to go to Hayley's house first.

I knocked on Hayley's bedroom window softly so it didn't wake her parents. After about a minute she came to the window and opened it. She looked exhausted but she was happy to see me. Though she was a little puzzled as to why I was knocking on her window in the middle of the night.  

"For pete's sake Tess, do you know what the time is?!" Hayley said grumpily.  

"Uhm yes, it's 12:30. Why do you want to know the time?" i said. 

Frowning she said, "doesn't matter. What's up?"  

I explained the whole story to her, and I saw her face lighting up as I told her. Some times I felt like we were opposite when it came to this sort of thing. I was terrified of this situation and she was so excited to go and explore Pete's house for clues. I always thought she would make a good detective one day.

Hayley agreed to go, though she was a little worried that she wouldn't get her beauty sleep. She quickly grabbed some equipment she thought was essential and we headed to Megan's house.

Megan's room was in the second storey of her house so we couldn't knock on her window. Hayley messaged her to come outside. About 5 minutes later Megan appeared half asleep and didn't look up to it. Her blond hair was messy and all over her face, and he blue eyes were blood shot.

When we explained what was going on Megan thought we were being paranoid, but after some begging she agreed to come along. She went to get changed and met up with us again in her front yard.

After a ten minute walk we reached the familiar two storey house that belonged to the Nel family. Pete's family.

My thoughts took me back to the first time I came to this house. I was about 5 years old and I had met Pete at pre school a few weeks ago. He told me that we should be friends because my dad had nice cars, and even at such a young age he had developed such a strong like for cars. He invited me over and told me to bring my dolls, because secretly he loved playing with dolls.

I smiled at the memories. Such little things that I can still remember 15 years later, they meant so much to me.

We stood on the porch near the front door. I turned the knob on the door, taking a deep breath. The knob didn't turn. It was locked. I could not remember locking the door after Jake found me. Maybe Jake had locked it. I went around the back to check the pot where the key is kept. To my surprise, the key was in its usual spot under the pot. I was certain that I did not put it back there, and apart from the Nel family, I was the only one that knew where they keep the key.

Someone was here. Someone locked up the house after I left yesterday. Could it have been the Nel family? Are they back from the lake? I knew that Pete would have called or messaged me when he got back, he always did. I asked Hayley to ring my number.

A faint ring tone was coming from the shed just outside their house. 

"what? How did my phone get there? I was only in the front hall and the study room. I was nowhere near the shed!" i said to Hayley and Megan who were getting scared.

We followed the sound of the ringtone to just outside of the locked up shed. I looked at Hayley who was just as puzzled as I was as to how my phone ended up in a locked up shed.

We started searching around the shed for a hole or an opening where we could get in, but there was no way of getting in, unless through the locked door. I knew where they kept the key for the shed but it was inside the house, and just thinking about going into that house gave me the creeps.

I had to get my phone so we decided to go into the house. Hayley, of course, was very enthusiastic about this whole thing. She unlocked the door and I followed her with Megan close behind me. We quietly made our way down the hall. I froze in front of the office. Turning to my left I saw the scene where I had been the day before. Everything looked normal. Except the phone was missing. There where I had seen the phone with the incoming call, the phone I had touched, the phone that is now gone.

Someone was in the house. Someone put the key back in its spot. Someone put my phone in the shed. And something told me that someone wasn't Pete. Megan and Hayley followed my gaze to where the phone used to be and stiffened.  

"i take back what I said before. You're not just being paranoid." Megan said with a shaky voice.

All three of us took a few deep breath and I led us to the bowl they keep the keys in. It was in the too kitchen. The kitchen was the same as always, tidy and clean. I found the key in the bowl and we made our way back to the front door, holding our breaths as we passed the office.

Standing in front of the shed, we paused a second to think about what we might find in there. I looked at Hayley and Megan who were looking at me with worry and their eyes as well as anticipation. What is going to be in this shed might give us sleepless nights for months. Though it can't be worse than my current nightmare filled nights. Holding my breath i slipped the key into the padlock and twisted...