The Lake House

The night air seemed to bite at my exposed flesh. I had no idea why my mother brought us to this lake house so suddenly. It was because her haste to leave the comfort of our two-story California house that I was grossly under packeted for the chilly autumn climate of South Dakota. There was no explanation for the trip or why we had to leave so quickly. Every time I would ask, mom would simply say it was about time, she took us on a family vacation. Never mind that we were in the middle of the school year, and it was almost Halloween. I was supposed to go to a Halloween party with all my friends, but I didn’t even get to tell him goodbye before I was thrown into our car whisked away to the middle of nowhere.

Mother rushes us inside even though it is practically the middle of the night and there is no one around to even see us enter the giant Lake house. She locks the door behind us and immediately goes to the fireplace. “Annie, go make sure that every door and window is locked. I will start a fire and get us something to eat.” The shakiness of her voice startles me, and I can see the fear in her eyes. I obey without question and start with the living room, not quite ready to be alone in the giant house just yet. Luckily, or maybe unluckily the windows are locked I am forced to move to the next room.

The entire house gives off a negative energy that I can only chalk up to be me wondering around an unfamiliar house, in the middle of the night, ensuring that everything is locked. I flip on the kitchen light, and it takes a second for it to flicker on. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, it has all your typical kitchen appliance only nicer. I check the door first. My hand rest on the dead bolt as I scan the lake in the backyard. I have no idea what the name of the lake is but it’s bigger than any lake I would have guessed would be in the middle of the South Dakota mountains. The water is an inky black color with a gentle moon reflection streaking down it’s center. It seems like a harmless lake surrounded by equally harmless trees.

I turn the deadbolt roughly, satisfied with the loud click, and slam the window curtains shut. I repeat this action to a second back door I find on the far side of the house and with every window but one. The master bedroom had only one window and it was wide open. The curtains blew around haphazardly as the wind rushed in and I couldn’t bring myself to fight the brace the cold to shut the window. It was on the second story and all the way to the back of the house so I don’t see how it could be a problem. I close the door and brace a nearby chair I found in one of the side rooms against the nob so extra measure.

I make my way back to my mother in a significantly less spooky house since ever light was lighting my path now. The fire in the living room was small but slowly growing as it consumed the larger logs. I turn into the kitchen and see my mother with her back towards me. “Mom?” I question and she jumps at my words as if not expecting someone to be in the house with her. She has a giant kitchen knife in her hand as she spends around, and I throw my hands up in mock surrender. “Woah mom, why so jumpy?” She visible relaxes as she lets out a sigh of relief. “It’s just you. What have I told you about sneaking up on people Anastasia?” she scolds as if it’s my fault we are in this house. “I’m sorry, I tried to announce myself when I walked in. Why are we here?” she sets the knife down with a chilling thud and scrapes one of the bar stools against the tile floor before taking a seat.

I join her, being gentler in the movement of my stool. I open my mouth to repeat my question, but she shakes her head. She reaches for my hands, and I want to pull away from the chill of her icy hands, but I don’t. “Annie, do you remember what I use to tell you about your father?” I nod as some of the highlights of her stories come to mind. “He was a dead beat that didn’t want me, so he left you when he found you were pregnant with me.” she nods with a sad smile, but it slowly turns into a shake as tears start to form in her eyes. “None of that is true baby.”

I shake my head in confusion as if the act could clear the cloud forming and make sense of what I just heard. “What do you mean?” I ask far to quickly. “There are things you should know about your father. While he is not a dead beat as I led you to believe he is a very dangerous man. When I found out I was pregnant I ran away from him, and he didn’t like that.” I cut her off before she can finish saying whatever it was, she was planning to say. “What do you mean my father is a dangerous man?” before she can answer a knock sound on the front door and we both jump to our feet. Mother grabs for her knife and walks to the door silently. I follow behind her trying steady my own paces.

She places her hand on the knob just as another set of knocks is delivered to the door. She slowly opens it knife in hand but drops it to the floor to hug a man I have never seen before. The door glides open wider, and the giant ebony man hugs my mother back just as tight. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startled you. I’m glad you made it.” his voice is slightly familiar and one that I have heard my mom speak to often. His eyes fall to me, and he smiles wide in what I assume is supposed to be comforting but smiles from familiar strangers never are. “Anastasia, how you have grown.” His voice is gentle for his size and sounds as if he has known me my entire life.

I say nothing so my mother steps walk over me to encourage me to talk to the man. As she walks over, I watch the giant as he stands in the doorway. His eyes suddenly go wide, and his smile drops into a gasp. Blood slowly drips out his mouth and I start to back away. He falls face forward with a thud revealing a man with eyes like my own. “Honey, I’m home.” he sings happy walking on top of the giant man’s body. He pulls the large knife from his back before standing again. “Anastasia, run.” My mom says shoving me towards the back of the house, but I am frozen in fear. My legs give out and I fall backwards.

“Anastasia, after your mother? How sweet.” His voice is laced with venom and every word comes across as a threat. “You stay away from her. She is good and is nothing like you.” My mother screams at him placing herself between us. “She is my daughter; I have a right as her father to see her. I’m sure she has been wondering where I have been the last seventeen years.” While I always wonder what had happened to my father, seeing him in front of me brandishing a blade dripping red from a fresh stabbing made wish he had stayed gone. “Richard, you waved that right when you murdered that first girl.” My mother’s words are colder than the night air being let in through the open door.

My father shrugs as if he is being accused of forgetting to take the trash out instead of murder. “You won’t be able to keep my child from me any longer. She will realize who she is meant to be.” His words are chilling, and I force my limbs to move back towards the staircase while my mother kept him distracted. “She is nothing like you and I need you to leave before I call the police.” She threats but a laugh erupts from my father’s chest. “You’ll be long dead, and I will be long gone with her tow before they even get here.” This jump starts my body into working and I fly up the stairs. I head straight for the window I know is open and throw the chair down the hall. My mother’s screams start to fill the house and I fumble to open the door. When I finally get it and lock it behind me her screams go quiet, and I can only fear the worse. I move to look out the window and notice a small dock that I never saw before.

My heartbeat rings out in the silence as I quietly try to crawl to the window. Before I can reach it, the knob on the door rattles but doesn’t turn. My eyes dart to it and I watch as who I presume to be my father tries it again. He bangs on the door in frustration, causing it to bounce off the frame slightly. “Annie, I know you are in there. Let me take you home, away from your kidnapper.” I am frozen in silence and try to force myself to move in the direction of the window. I am so close, yet it feels like the length of several football fields. Loud thuds that I can only assume to be kicks bounces the door further. I quickly stand and stick most of my body out of the window. A small rowboat is attached to the end of the dock, and I know it’s my only hope to escape this man.

The door slams open, the knob lodging into the wall and my father darts towards me. without thinking I jump to the ground and land with a crack. The pain surges up my leg and I am absolutely positive I broke something in my leg. I push through every painful step limping as fast as can towards to the only hope for survival I had. “Annie, don’t run from me!” I don’t look back but hear him hit the ground. I push myself to hobble faster and when I finally reach the dock, I dare to hope that I can get the boat in time. He shouts my name and I know he’s getting closer since my name is slowly over taking the beats of my heart.

I drop to my knees and yelp in pain as whatever part is broke encounters the hard wood. I fumble with the knot trying to get it undone but the adrenaline has caused me to lose all my fine motor skills. I’m like a child that can’t remove the double knot from their shoe the only difference being I am not calling for my parent to help but actively trying to get as far away from him and his knife as possible. The knot finally loosens, and I throw the rope into the water. I try to crawl to the boat, but a sudden jerking motion causes me to stand. I start to feel the cold air for the first time since my father entered my life. His hands are wet and warm as one clamps over my face and the other holds my hands behind me.

At least he doesn’t have the knife. “Why do you run from me?” he whispers, and I can feel the hot tears beginning to roll down my face. “You are a murder.” I choke out and he squeezes my wrists tightly. I don’t know if he heard me since my voice is muffled by tears, my mother’s blood, his hand. “I did it all for you, my first-born child. The devil had asked me for your soul upon your birth and I couldn’t bring myself to give you to him. I killed those girls as a sacrifice to him, to keep you safe.” Not sure at what he saying I try to escape his hold. I slam the foot of my broken leg down on his foot and we both yell out in pain. He lets me go and fall forward. I dive into the water seeing as the boat as drifted a few yards away from the dock.

Water immediately takes my breath away and feels like a thousand needles trying to pierce my skin. It becomes hard to move my joints and impossible to move my finger without a sharp pain following. I try to force myself to breath and work through the pain as I reach for the boat that only floats further away. A second splash reminds me that my father is in closing in. “Why are you being so ungrateful? I saved you.” He is only a few strokes behind me and is gaining on me quickly. His hands are on me again and there is nothing I can do. “I tried to save you from him, and this is the way you thank me?” The anger in his voice his clear. He pushes my head under the water, and I try to slam my fists into him, but it does nothing. He pulls my head up and I am too focused on gasping for air to hear the first part of what he’s saying.

“… this is the only way. I am doing this because I love you.” He starts to push me back down, but I scream at him to wait. “Daddy please, don’t. I’m sorry, I didn’t understand but now I do. I was wrong before.” I beg, hopping he doesn’t see through my lies. He looks upon me fondly brushing some the hair that clings to my face out of the way. “I’m so glad you see things the way I do. I only hope you can forgive me from saving you from that monster that took you away from me.” I nod franticly sure he is refusing to my mother. He brings me close treading water for the both of us. “I love you so much my child and we will find each other again soon.”

Panic racks through me again and my father’s grip around me tightens. He stops swimming and we begin to sink. I thrash and fight, but he does nothing but hold tight and drag me down. The further from the surface we get the colder the water gets. A fire starts in my lungs, and it slowly spreads out of my chest and into every muscle. A dull ache forms in my head and quickly becomes worse. The lake must not be that deep because we have stopped moving down. I can’t see anything in the dark water, but I reach around the in the sand looking for anything that could help me fend off my father. My visions somehow start to tunnel, and my headache has become a stabbing. I try to hit my father but my blows under water do nothing to him.

The fire in my lungs starts to warm me and I close my eyes frantically. “Anastasia, just breath.” My mother’s gentle voice soundly loudly in the water. I shake my head frantically, but I can feel her hands on my face. “Look at me Anastasia.” I open my eyes and suddenly I am no longer at the bottom of a lake but in mother’s arms under the warm California sun. “Do you trust me, Annie?” she asks, her eyes full of love. I nod slowly and she gives the same warm smile she has given me all my life. “Then breathe.” I open my mouth and the pain is completely gone. My mother stands and helps me, keeping my hand in hers she leads me towards the bright sun that reminds me so much of home.