A Collection of Short Stories

The Lake

 Perched high on his booster seat, 6 year old Chase watched as the abandoned white house drew closer and closer. Each of the windows had been covered with several pieces of wood, and he could only imagine the types of monsters living within. Beside him, his 5 year old sister, Abigail, snored loudly, completely oblivious to what was happening. His parents thought he was oblivious too, but Chase knew what this meant.

When the car finally came to a stop, Chase's mother turned to look at her two children. Chase pretended to be asleep. It wasn't until her voice broke through the silence in the minivan that he cracked an eye open. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads," she said, a smile stretching across her face. "It's time to go explore the new house."

Chase hopped out of the van, watching as the mist on the ground clutched at his legs with spidery fingers. Despite it being the middle of summer, cold air bit at his skin. Massive black trees towered over Chase as he hurried behind his parents, stumbling up the gravel driveway towards the house.

Abigail clutched at his hand, shivering. "I don't like it here," she whispered into his ear.

The two watched from the bottom of the porch as their father struggled to open the front door, and when he finally did, a cloud of dust bellowed out the house, threatening to consume them all. Abigail screamed.

Their father came to a crouch in front of Chase and Abigail. "I know this might seem scary, but it's just an old house. Your mother and I will have it fixed up in no time," he said in a voice he hoped sounded reassuring. Standing up, he grabbed both Chase and Abigail's hands before leading them into the dark doorway.

As they ventured into each dust covered room, Chase tried to shake the eerie feeling that pricked at the hairs on the back of his neck, but it only grew stronger. It wasn't until later that night, when they were sitting in a circle on the living room floor eating pizza, that he caught sight of the dark lake in their backyard.

"Dad," Chase mumbled, mouth full of pizza, "is that our lake?"

Chase's dad looked towards the window his son was pointing at, squinting to see through the curtain of fog outside. "Honey, did Stan ever say anything about a lake to you?"

Shaking her head, Chase's mom made her way to the window to see for herself. "That's weird," she muttered. "He showed me pictures of the house, but none of them showed a lake." After staring at it for a while, she shrugged and turned to her family with a grin. "I guess we won't have to pay for a pool now."

The next morning, Chase awoke to a loud splashing noise coming from outside. Quietly, he slipped out of his sleeping bag, changed out of his pajamas, and tip-toed into the hall, listening carefully.

"Chase," his sister whispered from her doorway, already dressed as well. She glanced towards the backyard, her blue eyes wide with fear. "Did you hear that?"

Nodding, Chase grabbed her hand. "I think it's coming from the lake."

Careful not to wake up their parents, Chase and Abigail hurried through the house and down the back stairs. The morning mist swirled around their legs as the two walked towards the lake's shore. Dirt and grass soon became wet, muddy sand covered in slimy algae. A thick cloud of fog hid most of the lake from view, but Chase could see the still waters and dark grey boulders that lined the edge. Abigail tugged at her brother's arm and watched as his gaze followed to where she was pointing. Neatly stacked in several rows on top of one of the rocks were perfectly shaped, smooth stones. Their glassy coats glimmered against the morning sun.

Despite his unease, Chase made his way to the rock and lifted himself onto its damp top. He helped Abigail up, and the both of them stared at the stones, careful not to touch them. Upon closer inspection, the two could see small engravings on the surface.

"What are those?" Abigail asked.

Chase shrugged. He hesitantly picked one up, bringing it closer to his face for inspection. On each of the stones were words, carved in a language with no letters. The symbols swirled all over the stone's surface in elegant strokes, and they seemed to glow against their dark green background. Without thinking, Chase positioned the stone in his hand and threw it into the lake, watching it skip along the water's surface until it vanished into the fog.

"C'mon, Abby," Chase sighed. "There's nothing out here." He turned to hop off the rock, but was stopped by his sisters piercing screech. He jumped around just in time to see the stone he'd just thrown skip across the water's surface back to them. Chase grabbed a second stone and threw it. A minute later it came skipping back. He picked up another rock and threw it with all his might, but the third stone came skipping back as well.

Chase threw stone after stone into the lake, and every single time they came back. It wasn't until all of the stones were piled up on the shore that they saw the dark figure looming in the fog. It seemed to be hovering above the water, but was too far away for Chase to see it clearly.

"Chase," Abigail whispered, reaching for her brother's hand as she kept her wide eyes trained on it. "I think we should go home now."

Slowly, the figure began to move towards them. Chase felt a sharp chill against his spine and sweat had started to drip down his forehead. Abigail's cries were the only sound. Without looking back, Chase forced his sister off the rock and the two sprinted back towards the house. When they reached the top of the stairs, he yanked on the door handle, expecting it to open with ease. But the door was locked. Abigail and Chase pounded on the door, screaming for their parents to wake up, to unlock the door, to take them away from this awful house.

The stairs behind them creaked, as they usually did when a person stood on them, and both Chase and Abigail stopped their banging to listen. When the creaks got louder, Chase pushed Abigail behind his back, pressing her up against the door so that she wouldn't be able to see, and forced himself to turn around.

"Chase?" his dad said, standing at the top of the stairs. "What are you two doing out of bed so early?" Without waiting for a reply, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "Look, Abby, I found you two something."

Chase and Abigail stepped towards their father and peered into his outstretched hand. Sitting on his palm were two shiny, dark green rocks whose graceful engravings seemed to glow.