The Death of Winter's Kiss

The Lake

"They're out there," he told me. "Fields and fields of them. As far as the eye can see." I wasn't sure what he was talking about. He pointed to the horizon, and I looked, but all I could see was rows and rows of trees.

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On a late summer's day in the small town of Merom, Indiana, my brother and I were playing football in our yard. We were waiting on mama to call us in for dinner so we could pray and eat. The sun was setting while Lucas and I continued to toss the ball back and forth. Mama doesn't like when we come in the house all smelly, otherwise we'd be playing real ball. Like men. Last summer, Lucas and I were playing ball late at night, we wandered a little far from home and didn't hear when mama tried calling us in for dinner. That night, we got our butts paddled with a wooden spoon.

Later that same night, I awoke to a sound outside my window. I thought to myself that it must be the tree branch again. That darned tree branch always wakes me up, I'll have to see if Dad can take it down sometime. I got out of bed and looked out the window to find Ethan standing outside throwing pebbles at my window. I opened it to see what he was doing at my house at 1:42am. "Come on, Henry!" He whispered loudly. "What are you doing? It's late, Ethan" I told him. He seemed a little anxious about something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. "I found something! Come with me to check it out," he pleaded. I was really tired and I got a strange feeling about this. I didn't want to go, but I didn't want him to go alone either. "Can't we just explore it when the sun is up? I don't want mama to worry," I said. "No, we have to see it when the sun is down!" What could he have possibly found that we can't see it in the daylight? I really didn't want to go, but I had no other choice. "Alright, I'll be out in a minute," he nodded his head. I got dressed and met him outside, making sure I didn't wake up dad and mama in the process.

We started to head south and I still couldn't see what he found, it was so dark outside that I could barely see my own feet. "Man, I wish you had brought a flashlight," I grumbled. "When we get there, we ain't gonna need one," what he said piqued my interest more, but I was still worried about what he had found and how he managed to stumble across it at this time of night. We walked for what felt like hours before we got to wherever we were going. "Do you see it yet?" I tried looking but it was so hard to see anything around me. "No, what am I supposed to be looking at?" I asked. "You'll see, just keep going! We need to head a little east and then we'll be there," he said. A little east? What did he find..?

We went a little further south and then we headed a little east and what do you know, he found a lake. The moonlight glistened off of it so beautifully, I could see why he wanted to show me at night now. "Ain't it gorgeous?" He asked. I was too surprised by its beauty to answer him, which I suppose he took as a response. We stood by the water and just watched as the light wind moved it around. We sat there for what felt like an eternity, just sitting and watching. At some point I noticed that he had gotten up and started walking away somewhere, but I wasn't sure as to where he went. "Ethan?" I called. No response. "Ethan!" I called again, this time I heard a little rustling a few feet away from me. At this point I was scared, it was in the middle of the night and my best friend was nowhere to be found.

Finally after calling for Ethan a few more times, he managed to find his way back to me. "What's up?" he said. "Seriously? You wander off and all you have to say is 'what's up'? I didn't know where you went," I snapped. I couldn't see much of his face, but the moonlight kind of helped a little with that. "Sorry..." he sounded ashamed. "It's alright, let's just go back to my house before mama wakes up and realizes I snuck out. I'm tired anyway," I told him. He agreed with me and we started on our walk back to the house and I told him that he could sleep in my room for tonight so he wasn't going home alone. We still managed to wake up fairly early the next morning somehow, mama made us breakfast and didn't even question the fact that Ethan spent the night thankfully.

Later that day, Lucas, Ethan, and I went to go out and play some football. "Don't throw it too hard or it'll go further than mama wants us to go," I said. They both nodded their heads in acknowledgement and we continued playing. Mama didn't want us to stray too far because she was always worried about the stuff she'd see on the news about kids being kidnapped or trafficked, but we always brushed it off because it doesn't seem like the type of thing that happens in real life even though it probably happens every day. We just listened to mama because it was the easiest thing and we really didn't want to get the paddle again. Dad came to check on us and he wound up joining us for a bit. Dad throws the ball a little harder than we can, so we had to spread out a little further, but it was still fun. "Mama isn't gonna be happy that we're getting all sweaty and dirty," I said to dad. He chuckled and said it would be fine. It's almost as if mama could tell we were talking about her because a couple minutes later and she appears on the porch with Avery on her hip, watching us with the slightest smile on her face.

Mama started to examine our clothes when she came to the realization that we were all gross now. "You best not come in the house like that," she said half sternly, half jokingly. Dad turned and looked at her and said, "oh come on, darling. We aren't that dirty and gross." I could tell that mama rolled her eyes at that comment, but I could still see a hint of a smile on her face as she looked at us. "Alright boys, I'm gonna call it quits. Don't wander off too far, have fun," dad said, catching our attention back from looking toward mama and Avery. We all nodded in agreement as dad started to head back to the house. We kept playing ball for a while longer before we realized the sun was starting to set and it was nearing dinner time. "I should probably be heading back home before my mom starts to question if I'm still part of that family," Ethan joked. Lucas and I said our goodbyes to Ethan before we headed for the house.