The Lake (Short Story)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

March 14 2002

"Echo! Seth is here" Angel called out. Echo smiled and jogged downstairs and nearly ran into Seth. He smiled down at her.

"Hey" she smiled at him. He winked, and kissed her.

"Seth!" Jeremy ran downstairs straight into Seth's arms. "Your back!"

"Yep. North Carolina was beautiful. I've got pictures. Mom's gonna be back in the end of March." Seth notified.

"Let's see the pictures." Jeremy said excitedly.

After Seth showed Jeremy the pictures, he and Echo went out into the back and walked to his house. He pulled her into his arms as they walked.

"I missed you" she smiled.

"I did too" Seth confessed. Echo and Seth had been going out for nine months now. She loved Seth; Seth was like a part of her family now. They were meant for each other. Both of them recognized that.

Echo found herself turning back to the Lake again. It was ridiculous but she still had dreams about the Lake. Even though the dreams terrified her to death she couldn't stay away.

Angel and Jeremy didn't go back into the Lake again. Gen had forbid it. They decided they didn't want to go through that terrifying experience again.

But somehow Echo knew that something wasn't right. It didn't click, exactly. She and Seth had been investigating about the Lake, there had been no problems before. It just seemed to start with those two girls who happened to be playing in the Lake when they met death.

But there had to be more to the story. Seth had said that the mom must have been gone for a while, maybe about fifteen minutes at the max and then came to check up on an empty Lake. After seeing what she saw she called the police.

They searched the Lake for hints of where the bodies might have been but no signs. No bodies.

Until Echo stumbled upon them. Or maybe even the other way around.

"Hey" Seth whispered in her ear. "Still having those dreams?"

"Yeah, it's nothing. Just dreams." Seth raised a brow.

"Just dreams?" he repeated.

"I don't know" Echo admitted. "I feel like somehow I wasn't supposed to come out of that Lake alive, Seth"

"That's crap. Don't even start!" Seth moved from her looking into the woods. "How could you say that?"

"Like I said; I don't know. For some weird reason it sounds right. Maybe you weren't supposed to save me. Maybe you came at an inopportune time." Echo suggested.

"That's ridiculous. You're making it sound as if the Lake was trying to kill you" Seth snorted; Echo was silent.

Seth turned to her.

"You're kidding me. Echo, that's not even possible!" Seth argued.

"Think about it Seth, how could anything get into that lake? It's so dark I don't know if anything could live in there. The gates are locked!" Echo said hysterically.

"I know" Seth sighed "But what's your proof. You don't have any real proof!"

"That's why you're here, Seth. You're going to help me. There has to be something that's connected to me and those two deaths." Echo murmured to herself.

Seth shook his head.