drown

Two

I was greeted at the door by a tall, lanky man. His face was shaded by locks of dark, wavy hair that was common with the Cross folk. Was there anyone in the world with bluer eyes than Blake Cross? "Aye, knew you'd show up." He grinned and pulled the door shut behind me, Fatima and the others were in the kitchen. I could hear their loud, childish quarrelling.

Despite their expensive looking home not being filled with priceless antiques and statues, something was still telling me that even the wallpaper alone was worth a grand.

The Cross family were known for being minimalistic.

Maybe they knew they were rich and wanted to be humble? I had always found their empty rooms and homes strange, it lacked a warm feeling of comfort.
If I had their sort of money, I could only imagine the things I would waste it on.

Familiar with their house, I followed the dark halls towards the kitchen. After spending years at a place, you almost know it as well as your own home. I slid the wooden door open and stepped into the  kitchen. It wasn't any sort or modern plastic looking kitchen.

I'm no interior designer but it reminded me of an old library. An old empty library that painted egg shell white that is.
It was shockingly clean, like always, and reeked of the cleaners Mrs Cross used religiously.

Dirt just did not exist in their home.

A dark haired girl seated on the marble white counter turned to face me, I flashed her a smile. "Hey, Fatima..."
Their backpacks laid on the counter, something Mrs Cross wouldn't be happy about. I pushed myself up onto the bench and listened to the usual bickering that came with Antonio and Mathew.

"If you weren't so damn stubborn we would have left by now-" Mathew spoke through his teeth, trying to stay calm. Failing. Antonio, or Tony as we like to call him, just shook his head and continued to go through the cupboards.

"Why's there never any damn food in this house..." Tony commented, ignoring Mathew's whining.

"Listen to me!" Mathew spat, getting furious. He was always the hothead in the family. "I don't know why we need to go to the lake house, it just makes things harder" he continued. My eyes followed him as he walked up behind Tony. He put his hands on the man's shoulders, only to be shrugged off.

"It's fine, you're just overthinking"
I felt awkward being there in the kitchen, listening to the two brothers fight. Were they planning on cancelling the trip?

I felt a bit peeved.

Fatima looked over at me and gave me her million dollar smile. I wondered how long it would take them to notice me. As Mathew turned to grab his bag off the counter, he had a perplexed look when he saw me sitting there. His face relaxed. "When'd you get here?" I playfully kicked his knee. "When you guys were busy losing your heads again." He gritted his teeth, sheepishly.
"What about going to the lake house?"

Matt wasn't ashamed of his temper but he didn't like it when outsiders saw him go off. "Yeah, well" He replied quietly as he shoved a packet of Twisties into his backpack. He didn't answer me.

"Were you planning on cancelling the trip?" I asked, curious. Matt looked up at me again with his grey eyes. He hesitated but quickly answered. "No?"

Fatima scoffed. "No, no. You got confused, Matt's just a lazy ass that doesn't want to leave the house" She laughed again and passive aggressively nudged her brother. Mathew gave her an annoyed glare before he turned his back to them and didn't respond.
-
After another round of Mathew and Tony arguing about who misplaced the house keys, we finally left through the backdoor. I whinced as we left the cool house and went back into the scorching heat. The track was not far from where we stood, just past the weird shaped tree and to the right of the old tin shed. I brought my hand to my forehead and shaded my face from the bright sun.

"Do you remember the first time we all went to the lake together? Before it became a death trap?" Fatima reminisced, watching the path ahead of us as we passed the weird tree. It had a thick trunk with small branches that stuck out in all directions.

"Yeah, I remember when we did some water skiing and your dad flew off the back of the boat" I laughed as fond childhood memories flashed through my head one by one.

As children, we spent a lot of time on the water before they closed the lake.
Admittedly, I missed being a child and I had missed spending all my time with the Cross children. Fatima reached over and gave my hand a soft squeeze.
"Yeah, dad wishes he was still fit enough to ski now.." She shyly looked back at me. "There really isn't any way we can even swim there now"

Tony and Mathew were walking ahead of us, knocking into each other occasionally. I watched as Tony jerked Mathew back by his backpack and dug around for the bag of Twisties. Mathew barked at him to bugger off. Tony turned around to face us, walking backwards awkwardly.

He brushed his long black locks out of his eyes before opening the packet and offering us some. I sheepishly took a handfull. Tony noticed Fatima holding my hand so I quickly shook her off.

"How's the thing, Ben" Tony chewed on a mouthful of chips. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What thing? Do you mean school..?" I responded, confused.

"No, I mean the weird thing you have with my sister—"

I raised an eyebrow, oblivious to his sarcasm. My face flushed slightly. Fatima and I were close but I she probably thinks of me as a brother.

"Yes, I mean school you dumbass. Still shitty?" He replied jokingly and gave me a weird smile.

"As usual, could you expect any other quality from the government?" I said with relief. It was true though. You can't ask much from the Australian Government.

"Do they still make you wear hats indoors?"

"Absolutely"

"Still no working hand dryers in the bathroom?"

I nodded. "The girls got one but I thinks it's broken again"

"Well, they tried and failed. What can expect?" He shoved another handful of Twisties down the hatch. We both shared a mutual hatred for my school. Mrs Cross didn't want their kids to go to a Catholic school because she thought it would "convert" them. So, we all ended up in the same shitty school.

"Only one and half more years before I'm out of this damn town" I ate another twistie before I continued. "No offense, but this is a shitty town full of shitty people."

Tony dramatically gasped before Mathew chimed in. "I take full offense"
I couldn't tell whether he was serious or not, it's just a Mathew thing.
Tony pouted his lips and turned to shoved his face at Mathew.

"You know you hate this shit hole town." Tony stretched his arms into the air and caused Twisties to fly everywhere. "Let's run away Matt, to the city where it's full of money and hot girls!..." Tony licked his lips.

"...Unless you're a pussy!" he sang.

"Has anyone ever told you you talk too much?" Mathew breathed through his teeth before he pulled back a long branch and let it whip Tony. Tony hissed in pain and slapped Mathew on the back. "Shut up, you emo." He said through a mouth full of Twisties.

A smile tugged at my lips, the familiar fighting between Tony and Matt was a reminder that everything was still the same. I felt guilty that I had planned to leave everyone behind when I finished school.

Fatima pushed backed an overgrown bush that blocked our path. I helped her open a passage for us to crawl through. Sharp branches scraped at my arms, leaving white lines across my skin. A cool breeze swept through the brush, causing the whole forest to rustle gently. The wind was a cool relief even though it brought a strong smell of pond water.

I lifted my arms, shamelessly drying my sweaty shirt in the air. Just beyond us was the lake of my childhood. The stoney beaches where deserted of any visitors, with abandoned plastic toys as the only memento left of a once loved lake.

A lake where we once played innocently before they discovered remains of dead bodies. Nothing new.