The History of Us

5 - The Lake at Night

Present

The Lake at Night

"Out of all the places in the world, you take me to this old dock?" Elsie couldn't help but chuckle. Her eyes wandered around the scenery, taking in the familiar sight of the lake, with its horizon blurred into the line of trees beyond.

It had been a while since Elsie went to the dock. She used to come back here every time she went home from university for her semester breaks during her first three years, but then overtime her visits back home became short-lived and infrequent as she started taking several internship programs, and the lake simply became a distant memory of a place Elsie almost forgot existed.

"You used to love it here," Liam commented, "And I would've taken you to that abandoned building  over there, but I don't think the 18th century ghost that lingered around would fancy having a visitor this late at night."

Elsie snorted. "Her name's Lady Margaret and she's from the 19th century!", she scolded jokingly.

They took a seat at the end of the dock, dangling their feet above the water, without submerging them due to the low-tide. The night had grown increasingly cold that Liam had to take the blanket that he had stored in his car to the dock and drape it across Elsie's right shoulder all to way to his left shoulder. They were sitting closer than they had been back at The Friar's Corner or in Liam's car, but Elsie didn't mind it one bit.

Slowly and surely, everything around them became incredibly familiar to Elsie once more. The sound of the water's ripples were like music to her ears, followed by the smell of the freshwater and the occasional cool breeze against her skin, but above all, it was Liam's presence that made her feel like she was 18 again; on the brink of leaving home, with nothing but high expectations, wistful dreams, and a witty view of life.

It was as if the past decade hadn't changed a thing, and she was right where she belonged.

"So after university, where did you go?" Elsie asked, picking up the conversation where they had left it off when they arrived at the lake.

"Right," Liam snapped out of his trance, having been distracted by the illuminating moonlight. "After I completed my bachelor degree, I guess I needed some time off. So I went to Budapest, and it was beautiful. It was lively and friendly, you would've loved it there-"

Elsie was devastated to hear that Liam still thought of her as the lively and friendly person whom she used to be, when now, all that's left is the empty shell of the girl he had known once. Often times, usually in the dead of night, she'd lie awake in bed, starring up at the ceiling, her mind drifting off to where it all went wrong. How she had become this person that her former self would barely recognize.

Snippets of memories from her glory days in high school would resurface every now and then, but as the years go by – whether it was out of embarrassment of her own naivety, or the regret at how things had turned out for her – she found herself wanting to shut it all out instead of reminiscing them meticulously.

"-But then I only stayed there for a year. I continued with a master's in counselling. And I guess I'm a certified counselor now, and I guess you could say that I have you to thank..." He chuckled, "But enough about me! What about you? What have you been up to?"

"To begin with," Elsie took a deep breath, keeping her eyes trained on the water surface below her. "I should tell you that I left lively and friendly in the past. But apart from that, I've been doing well. Nothing special or out of the ordinary, I didn't make any breakthrough discovery or helped humankind in the way I thought I would, but I guess I learned to be more realistic, especially towards life."