Life at Lunar Lake

Chapter 1

I was hesitant to walk to school the next morning, given what had happened the night before, but I kept my mouth shut, as always. It’s not like I could speak up, and it’s not like my dad would bother driving me. He was already at the lumber farm by then, and he’d taken the only car we had, which was a dinged up, rusted gray truck. So I really had no other choice but to walk to school. I put on my glasses, put on a clean outfit, and started on my usual stroll to Lakeview School, my pace quicker than usual. We only have one school for all the grades, since we’re a small town. There aren’t many children here.

“Mason!” I heard someone call and turned around to see Krista walking along the side of the dirt road we took to school. I slowed my pace and let her catch up. “Hey, you’re walking pretty fast! Why don’t ya slow down?”

I shrugged. Oh, one thing you should know about me; I don’t talk much. In fact. I don’t talk at all. I’m a mute. Ever since I was little, I’ve just never been capable of speech. I was diagnosed with bilateral vocal cord paralysis (BVCP)  when I was young and I just haven’t been able to speak. When necessary, I use sign language, but I find it easier to just not communicate at all. Krista and I are in the same grade and all the same classes because she is pretty much the only person in our small school who knows sign language and she acts as my interpreter. We’ve known each other ever since we were little kids and she’s stayed by my side ever since.

We proceeded to walk to school, waving at people passing by in cars or bikes. Lakeview is a very small town in North Carolina, deep in the wilderness. Pretty much everybody knows each other and they all are aware of me and my condition. With a population of just 102, if something new happens in this town, it spreads around like a wildfire. We don’t get many visitors and the town is so small that many people just choose to walk or ride bikes, especially since there’s only one gas station. I’d much rather be in a small town like this than in a big city. From what I’ve heard, people in the city are rude to each other and there’s more snooty rich people as well as homeless people. Here we’re all very polite and friendly. Well, except for my father. He’d much rather be alone and drunk in his room. He used to be friendly and social, but that was before my mother died. Then he developed a drinking problem and it all went downhill from there. Now I pretty much live alone, with him occasionally staggering out of his room to yell at me. Long story short, the Hewitts aren’t the most popular family in Lakeview.

I put my backpack by the door and sat down in the highschool classroom. We have one classroom for every school section (elementary, middle, and high school), since there’s only a handful of kids in each grade. In the morning, there’s half of the grades (1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, etc.) and in the afternoon there’s the other half. For some reason, 11th and 12th are in the morning. I’m in 12th grade.

Krista sat in the desk next to mine as the bell rang. Mrs. Woodberry, the teacher, strode into the room with another girl following behind her. I had never seen her before. She had beautiful blonde hair streaked from the sun and her skin was the perfect shade. She had light, barely noticeable freckles. Conner let out a low whistle. “Damn, look at that girl’s tits!” You had to admit, she was a pretty busty girl. She was absolutely gorgeous.

Mrs. Woodberry tapped on the whiteboard. “Attention, class! Attention!” She waited for everyone to quiet down. “I would like to announce that we have received a new student.” People started murmuring again and she waited for them to stop. “Her name is Heather Ros. Heather, where are you from?”

She smiled. “I’m from… Florida. I’m from Miami, Florida.” She blushed.

“Wow, Miami! It must be nice there! Well, welcome to Lakeview! I’m sure you’ll love it here. Find a seat anywhere you’d like.” Heather nodded her head and walked down the aisle, looking for an empty seat. Conner motioned to the one next to him, but instead she sat in front of me. She turned around and extended her hand.

“Hi, I’m Heather.” I took her hand and shook it. “And you are?”

I turned to Krista. “His name’s Mason,” she said.

“Uh, I think he can speak for himself, thank you very much,” Heather snapped.

“Actually, he can’t,” Krista replied angrily, her eyes like daggers. “He’s a mute, and he only talks with sign language. I’m Krista, his interpreter.”

“Oh,” she said in response, looking bashful. “That’s horrible. I apologize. You know, I can understand sign language, too.”

I nodded and smiled, motioning out “I accept your apology.”

“Ahem,” Mrs. Woodberry said impatiently. Heather turned around and we got started with class. Out of the corner of my eye, I kept seeing Krista sneaking glances at me and Heather. She looked distressed.

After school was out Heather pulled me aside. “You know, my house is over by the lake, too. We can walk together, if you want.” I nodded. We started walking down the path. “So, tell me about yourself. You can’t talk. Why?” I proceeded to tell her all about my past, my condition, and just stories from my childhood. She was staring at me intently the whole time, actually listening. I looked over my shoulder and saw Krista walking on the other side of the road, looking angry. She wouldn’t turn my way. Heather saw me looking at her and took my hand.

“So, what about you? What’s your past all about?” I asked through sign language.

She looked around a little. “Oh, it looks like we’re at your house. I’ll see you tomorrow, though! I’ll tell you about me then, okay?”

“Yeah, but tomorrow’s Saturday,” I motioned.

“Oh, right,” she said, smacking herself on the forehead. “Duh! Well, maybe we can get together sometime tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure, maybe we can go swimming in the lake-”

“No!” She interjected. “Er, I mean, I’m not a very good swimmer. Maybe we could take a tour of the town or something.”

“Uh, sure. We have a boat that we could take out, too. That wouldn’t require you to swim.” I replied awkwardly.

She smiled and took my other hand. “That would be great. I’ll meet you here tomorrow, okay?” Before I could object, she waved and turned around, leaving. Huh, I thought to myself. That was somewhat odd. But still, she seems like a nice girl.

I saw Krista look my way and I waved. She started walking over to me. “I thought we were going swimming tomorrow, Mason.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. Sorry. Maybe another time, though.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, sure. You’ll probably be hanging out with Heather and be too busy to hang out with me, the girl you’ve known for as long as you can remember. But that’s fine. Just totally forget about our plans. See if I care.” She spun around quickly on her heel and left. I sighed. I thought about chasing after her but stopped myself.

Krista never acts like that. I’ve never known her to get mad, or at least not at me. Can’t she see I just want to hang out with Heather for a little bit? She seems like a nice girl. Why can’t she give her a chance? I shook my head and walked back inside, plopping my backpack inside. The windows were open, letting in the cool breeze and the warm sun. I walked outside on the back porch that overlooked Lunar Lake and took out my homework, sitting in a chair and letting the sun warm my skin. My father would be home soon and he’d probably trash the house with his cans of beer. If Heather’s coming over tomorrow, I should get the house cleaned up a little more, I decided. He better not go on a rampage and smash things like he sometimes does. And if he’s hungover tomorrow… what will he do to Heather? I guess all that’s left to do is pray that he’ll stay in his room. I don’t want him to ruin this for me. I finished my homework and put it back in my backpack. I know what I’ll do. I’ll hide the alcohol so he can’t find it. Besides, it’s for the best that he gets over his drinking. I stood up and put my plan into action.