St. Barbara Valley (Really Rough Draft)

*Chapter Three*

As they let me pass the police tape, I never let my eyes look away from the motorcycle propped up on the dirty snow. It should've of been trapped underneath the thick ice, laying on the bottom of Lake Chester, swallowed by seaweed. But somehow, it stood in front of me. I looked foreign on the snow, unnatural like it shouldn't of been there. There was something off about it, and I wondered if anyone else felt it.

It was just the same as I remembered it, the deep red color still vibrant, the name "Audrey," after Audrey Hepburn, was spray painted in black on the sides. My father told me when he bought the bike, my mother made fun of him for buying one that was girly. He said he bought it anyway because my parents were engaged at the time and my mother's name was Audrey. My father was a romantic.

I circled around it, scanning every inch of Audrey with my eyes, trying to find any sign of aging. There was no rust, nothing was faded or dirty. It showed no signs that it had been under water for two years.

As I wiped the tears off my cheeks, I turned to the officer on duty.

"Is this a joke?" My voice came out hoarse and dry. I licked my lips then cleared my throat.

"No, Miss. Davies. We had a woman call in saying she passes by the shore every time she goes to work and for three days the thing sat here. She finally called in around five, we got here around half past six. We called as soon as we recognized who's it was."

"But how did it get here. This should be impossible. The motorcycle is in perfect shape. I watched my father drown in that lake, along with this!" The jabbed my finger towards it. "The search team couldn't even find thing in the damn lake, how did it end up here?"

"I'm sorry, but we don't know." A silence filled the air as we both stared at Audrey. If the motorcycle was here where was my father?

I looked around at the police cars that surrounded the bike, they seemed to act like a barricade from the outside world. Flood lights made the snow sparkle, making it seem like Audrey was ready to shoot a commercial.

I looked out towards the lake, and scanned the snow to see if anyone had cut a hole in the ice. Had someone fished out Audrey? Had they dived under the ice just to retrieve it? The idea, I knew, sounded insane. There was no way someone would go through all this trouble just to fish up a motorcycle, then leave it on the beach, Audrey waiting for someone to find it. The unanswered questions made me frustrated, nothing made sense. I let out a small, frustrated cry. I grabbed my hair in an attempt to calm myself, the tears escaped anyway.

I whipped around to face away from the lake, hoping to get away from my thoughts, but I ended up staring at the mountain side. My eyes immediately found the cave, a black hole in a blanket of snow. My stomach ached with the idea that something had come out of that cave and had caused my Dad's accident. I started to hyperventilate, gasping for air. I was tried calming down again, but the attempt made made my breathes raspy, causing me to cry harder.

Why is Audrey out of the lake? Does that mean my father's body is somewhere? What happened to him? What came out of that mountain? It touched me, did it infect me? What else did it cause? What is in that cavern?

I suddenly felt incredible light headed and I dropped to knees to keep my balance.

"Lorraine! Oh my god, Lorraine!" Poppy cried. She and Noal had been keeping their distance, they knew I didn't want to feel pressured or claustrophobic, having been through this with me before. But they still hovered near by in case something happened.

Poppy knelt down beside me and wrapped her arms around me. Once my face was buried in her jacket, I calmed my breathe and let the tears run freely.