What Lies Beneath

Arrival

 In small towns, sprawling suburbs, and dense cities, it isn't uncommon to see huddled groups of teenagers and young adults alike. They form cliques: popular ones, the jocks, straight-A geniuses, band kids, and the outcasts. The groups, casting out those unlike their own, never go away, and it certainly never stops creating judgment in life. Sometimes, it seems like the best way to get away from it all is to just go far, far away.

"Are you sure this is the right way to go?"

"I've been here a thousand times; I know how to get there." Daniel is over-exaggerating, of course. He's been here once a year since he was a child, and he is only twenty.

"A thousand, huh?" asks Spencer, a sly smile on his lips.

"I know where I'm going."

The dirt road is, according to their GPS, only a few hundred feet ahead, but Daniel feels as though he's driven by it more times than he can count. He's heard the mocking voice of his phone sneer Recalculating far too much during this drive.

"There," says Jordan, pointing up ahead. She has the map opened up on her phone, too, since it seems that Daniel can't follow his well enough. "Turn there."

The dirt road is hardly a road at all, and the entire drive through the forest is filled with soft bickering and complaints about the jostling car. Their luggage tosses and jiggled in the cramped trunk of the car, and Spencer finds himself often pushing over the blankets and smaller bags beside him in the backseat so they don't topple over.

"Finally," says Daniel with relief. He sees the house begin to peek out of the trees, and with that, he can see the lake water beyond. The house was a second home in his childhood, and he can see in his mind's eye the image of his sister running ahead to the locked door when they would first arrive. The sun would be shining, and the lake would be shimmering. All was perfect.

It's cloudy today, not the best sight to reminisce. The lake seems dull, and the windows of the house are gray. The weather says it will rain tonight, but they have enough time between now and then to get settled in the house.

Parking the car, the three finally drag themselves out.

The house towers above the three kids as they approach it. It seems so lonely, almost out of place among the evergreens and birches growing out here on the edge of the lake. Perhaps it's the weather that makes it feel stranger, or perhaps it's because of how long it's been since Daniel's stood before this place. There is something familiar about it, though, sitting deep beneath the sunless afternoon light and the slightly overgrown vines creeping up the corners.

"This is it?" asks Spencer, and Daniel wonders if he expected more.

"This is it," Daniel repeats back to him.

"What do you mean, this is it?" Jordan sets a hand on her hip, a smile on her face. The wild has always been a source of comfort for her, she once told her friends. There is something welcoming about the smell of dirt and pines, the taste of summer on her lips as she climbs into the sky. "This is perfect."

"No, no, it's good," says Spencer. "It just felt ... bigger when we were kids." Something is missing, some feeling that this lake house used to bring him.

"It does feel different." Daniel grabs his bags from the car and walks forward to the door. The key for this place jingles against his old house key and his car key. It feels heavier.

Once inside, They all set aside their pillows, blankets, and baggage that they'll be using to live here for about two months. A long vacation, yes, but it was a plan they had for a while. Each of them can't help but think about their ideas to spend the next two months. Renting kayaks, having campfires, spending late nights with movies up in Daniel's parents' old room, the only one with a TV. There are board games in the basement if they get bored, and about an hour away there's a small town where they can stock up on all the junk food and snacks they want.