Short stories

The lake

There, was Xavier. He carried a notebook in hand and a pen over his right ear. His backpack holding his camera and tripod stand leaned on the stump of the tree behind him, next to a bottle of grape flavored soda purchased from the vending machine right outside the entrance somewhat of a distance away.
He sat cross legged under a tree surrounded by darkness with a faint hint of light coming from lampposts a few hundred metres away, other than the one from the torchlight he set aside. The tree he was under was relatively close to the edge of the serene water in front of him, so he could get a good view of the lake before him.
Moon Pearl Lake, the place which he sat, a lake somewhat far from the nearest town, and a remote place from the nearest city. Only known for its scenery, and holding a mysterious history of some sort.
It was somewhere past eleven into the night, when you'd expect everyone to be at home, especially a thirteen year old, catching the late night shows or in bed. The only signs of life around that area other than Xavier was the night guard, snoozing away in his post, which was still pretty far away. Well, only if you don't consider the sound of crickets and other critters living around the greenery that is.
The subtle sounds of the occasional splashing of water, away from the bustling of cars from home, along with the clear white reflection of the moon up in the sky on the surface of the lake, was able to keep his brain calm and active while typing his report. He was the journalist for his school, and he had his material, but needed a place to write the article. And therefore, he chose this place. Sometimes, he'd bring his headphones to play some music of his choice, or his violin when he was bored, but most of the time it was just him, the lake, his equipment and a pen and paper.
He sighed, tapping the back of his pen on his chin, trying to come up with a heading to his newest article.
...
The sound of droplets splashing lightly onto the surface of the water, brought his attention to the lake in front of him. His eyes looked up and out to the large lake, which seemed to glow under the moonlight that night. He took a moment to enjoy the scenery for a bit before going back to his work.
Again. The loud but distant sound of droplets brought his attention back to the lake... Where at the very centre, a bright light
It seemed to have its own body, tall to about a human's height. As he stared longer, the light faded to a gentle glow, glistening above the water.
A girl, in a white dress over the lake surface, in a pose as if she were hovering over the water, slowly descending till her feet touched the water. In her left hand, she had a violin and a bow on her right.
Taking a deep breath, she put the bow on a string and began to play a little tune. At the same time, her slender legs started to move and perform a little dance, as if they had a will of their own. Her body moved along to the rhythm of the violin as she skated around the lake.
Xavier watched, his jaws open by the little performance put up by the mysterious entity.  Her graceful flashy movements and skillful playing of the stringed two-pieced instrument was not only beautiful to watch but also a display of rare and amazing talent. It felt like his heart followed her every move, skipping along to the charming rhythm of the stringed instrument. There was a sparkling glitter of water droplets that followed after her every movement, as if the lake was dancing along to her, making the scene much more magical.
As an editor for his school's newspaper, he could tell what was real and fake from his eyes on paper, other than that,  he was one to believe in only his own senses, mostly being his eyes and ears. But witnessing and listening to the unreal solo performance above the water before him, he was beginning to doubt the only things he had trusted all his life.
The girl, with a silvery white hair, and a pale ghostly body continued to perform for him for the next hour, which passed by on a whim. The long medley of violin music and dance gradually closed to an end. Xavier's entranced mind began to regain its consciousness and awareness of his own surroundings.
But more importantly, realization of the performance put up by a mysterious girl standing above the water surface at the very middle of the lake. He immediately go up, swinging his head left and right, looking for people to confirm her existence. Only to remember that it was somewhere between midnight and the first hour of a new day, and no one else was around. (or at least awake to see it *ahem* security guard)
The girl at the middle of the lake glanced upon Xavier's direction, which resulted in their eyes meeting.
Despite being a considerable distance away, he could somehow see her entire appearance very clearly. Looking into her beautiful azure blue eyes almost made him blush, giving of somewhat of a nostalgic feeling he couldn't seem to fully grasp. Her mouth was also open in slight shock, covering her mouth halfway with her small slender hand holding the bow of the violin. Xavier however was astonished to the bone, despite his still body that stood straight as they looked at each other.
"I needa take a picture or something now, or no one's gonna believe me when it tell them... " he thought, acting on his feet and kneeling to grab his camera.
By the time the device had powered on, he turned back to the lake, towards where she stood. Or at least, where he thought she stood.
"Huh... " as it turned out, the moment he took his eyes off of her, she had already vanished from the vicinity. The lake was back to being an ordinary body of water, reflecting off the moonlight as it always had. The only sounds were once again the swashing of light waves and the crickets that lived among the vegetation surrounding him.

...
The following night, Xavier returned to the lake, same timing and spot. But this time, he came prepared with a full camera setup. He tried to convince some of his friends to join him, but they all chose to be in bed not only of their own accord but also their parents'.
...
Some time had already passed since midnight. The moon was full again just like the previous day thanks to the clear sky and the location's distance from commercial buildings.
Xavier's camera had been set up studio style, running and recording for the past fifteen minutes, not wanting to miss a single part of the anticipated performance he witnessed the other day.
Another hour passed and nothing had happened. He had his eyes wide open the entire time thanks to the three cups of strong bitter coffee he ingested before arriving at the lake some time before twelve. By then, his camera was almost completely drained of power, which led him to decide to pack it up. After which he sat there a while more, hoping to see another instance of the strange phenomenon but to no avail.

Saturday.
A week passed by since he last witnessed the amazing yet paranormal event at the lake and Xavier finally gave up trying after six failed attempts day by day. He packed up his belongings, sighing in disappointment and came to the conclusion that on the first day, he was, well, "seeing things".
He looked back one last time at the spot as usual to ensure he didn't leave anything behind other than the empty plastic bottle and bag of chips to mark his spot, yawning. Suddenly, a glittery sparkle was seen above the water right in front of eyes, but at that point he no longer believed in the being he saw and assumed it to be the splashing of fish. He then walked away from the special tree where his special spot was, with a heavy heart, a feeling of regret overwhelmed him. Which turned into worry and anxiety as soon as he realised how behind he was on finishing the article which was supposed to be printed by Sunday.

...

She peered over a bush behind, gazing upon him as he walked away with the tripod stand in his arms. She couldn't help but smile, seeing his dedication to come to the lake every day that week, just to see a special someone he saw before. She let out a light giggle of joy and satisfaction, before disappearing from the scene again.