SmokeAndOranges
[COMPLETE ON PATREON] The not-so-small town of Love Lake is having a devil of a year. The lake itself is running drought-dry, hailstorms keep taking issue with good folks' shingles, and disease runs its fingers through the surrounding croplands. Even the night stars look melted in the heat. Many wallets are tight, and summer celebrations promise to be a subdued affair.
Most students at Love Lake High are bored half to tears in their final weeks of class, watching their erasers melt on the windowsills and taking bets on which room of the school gets hot enough to burn paper. So when Jean Williams is first to spot a shadow at the bottom of the lake, it's no wonder the news spreads fast. Over the coming days, all eyes are on the water as it pulls back from an honest-to-god building.
On the lakebed. Still standing, like the fish maintain it or something.
Entertainment's hard to come by when it's too hot out to play ball, so the moment school is out, the popular kids are the first to propose exploring Love Lake's own mysterious ruin. Dante Moore is part of the team, though he wonders if he's most useful as bait. But he's not near the top of the class for nothing, and he's the first to suspect there's something more still lurking at the bottom of Love Lake... and that it ain't gonna stay under the lake for long.
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Complete on Patreon. Entry in Wattpad's 2021 Open Novella Contest. Longlisted. Complete.
Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)