The Family Secret

It was on the last Sunday of the year that everyone agreed to have a reunion on the island. The lake had frozen over, just enough that it was stable to walk across. The distance felt like they had to walk a marathon. The children began to demand for a break, but the father insisted to continue until they had made it. The one child offered a chocolate to her sister so they both had enough energy to finish the journey. It reminded them of being at home in front of the fireplace where they could keep warm and swap chocolates they received from Christmas. The wallpaper they never cared for with its bleak greyness, though at this moment they would much rather see that than the sharp cold white snow that currently surrounded them. Snapping back to their current situation, the oldest of the two noticed their father opening a notebook he had kept in his pocket. Curiosity had instilled in her since the very beginning of the trip. It had been years since she had been on the island and seen her relatives, why did they need to meet now? Why when it was so cold? It was as though there was a grave secret behind this visit but she had no idea what it could be. Trying to walk closer to her father, she tiptoed along the ice, leaning to the side as to try and read the notebook. When she was nearly a foot away she heard a sudden crack below her feet. Her father quickly turned around.

"What did I say about walking close together!?" The ice they stood on cracked once again, the mother, father, and older daughter falling through the ice plummeting to the darkness below. The youngest daughter, completely shocked, ran to the edge of the ice, peering into the water as bubbles no longer continued to rise to the surface. Beside her the notebook lay open showing a page with strange symbols, and an image looking like stars and planets. She recognized earth drawn in at the leftmost of the page. Then on the opposite side was another familiar planet but why she recognized it she couldn't understand. Oddly enough, the strange symbols above the planet she could read quite clearly... 'Home'.