My Story: The Fisher on Darby Lake

     It was just a regular day, or so I thought, it’s late December in Shanonville and it is so cold! My name is Alex by the way, I spend most of my winter’s in Florida at Disney world with my mom but this year it’s all different, my mom got into a car crash while I was at school and she . . . She had to go to the hospital, did I trick you? Hahaha . . . Maybe I shouldn’t be laughing I mean my mom got hurt. Putting that aside, this year, since my mom got hurt and we have to spend money on my moms well being I don’t get to go to Disney, and what’s even worse! I have to stay with my dad this winter. My mom and dad got in a divorce a few years back and I got to choose who I wanted to live with, you can probably guess who I chose, it’s not that my dad is bad it’s just that he’s a little crazy, my dad has a lot of conspiracy theories and he believes our dog was possessed. I mean WHAT! How could you believe our dog was possessed? I stayed with my mom so our dad took the dog, I got here a few days ago and I havent seen the dog since, my dads name is Daniel and he is pretty annoying for someone who believes in ghosts and stuff. “Hey kiddo” someone says as I turn around
  “Oh, dad” I say as if I dont care, but I actually do . . . My mom got hurt pretty badly so she said I would have to stay with my dad for the rest of the year until school let’s out. “So you excited?” He asks
            “Excited for what?” I ask truly not knowing what he is wondering what I’m exited for
“Ha! Did you forget what day it is?” He asks me in disbelief

            “What . . . Day is it?” I ask cautiously “is another one of your conspiracy theories?”

“. . . Kiddo? Do you know why me and mother got in a divorce?” Daniel says

            “No. . . Why?” I ask knowing that I was not truly ready to know the truth

“Never mind, sorry kiddo” he says regretting his decision to bring up that topic.

I look up at him a little disappointed at his response, “ughh . . . No it’s fine” I manage to say even though it’s not “I get it” even though I didn’t, why couldn’t he tell me? I decide to lighten up the mood “hey, can we go Ice skating on lake Darby?”

    “Kiddo, it’s Darby lake not lake Darby” he explained mockingly,

“Okay, okay it’s Darby lake . . . So? Can we go?” I ask hoping he will say yes, after a few minutes I still have no response from my father,   I don’t get it why did he just go silent, it’s not like I asked a lot from . . . Him, “ Really, really, you’re thinking about your conspiracy theories aren’t you?  Wow, and when I thought you changed maybe it was better that I went with mom. Do you really believe that kind of stuff still how many years has it has it been five? Six? Seven? Eight? How long are you going to believe that’s stupid theory that you have?” He still won’t answer I can’t believe I’m stuck with him for the rest of the year. “Kiddo, it’s not like tha-“

“No I will tell you what it’s like!” I yell at him “because” I start tearing up rapidly “be-because o-of  y-you E-e-e-e” I cant hold back the pain and anguish I feel “ELANE!!!” I shout at the top of my lungs.

 “Calm Down!” He tells me and I run to my small bed room and grab a pillow, I run into the tiny closet and slam the door,a few seconds later I hear a knock knock knock

 “what do you want?” I ask still sobbing like a baby


      “I want to know why you want to go to the lake” he says calmly

“. . . I wanted to go because when we lived here we would always go out on the lake, I wanted to know If you still believed all those conspiracy theories, you would never go out on the lake because you said there was something evil out there Incased under the ice. . . I wanted to know if you had pushed all those theories aside and stopped believing. I guess I was wrong when I thought you would stop, but not everything that I want will happen right? RIGHT!? I can’t believe I thought you had changed.”

        “Come on kiddo, you know it’s not like that. . .” He says to me, I give him no response because I don’t really know what is going on anymore “okay. . . We can go to the lake, I want to show you something”

 “Really?!?! We can go?!?!” I say truly exited

“Yeah, I guess” he says a little unsure “If it makes you happy”

I trudge out of the closet a little groggy from all the crying but now I have good news right? I put on my coat and grab my skates, I can’t wait to get on the ice!!! Dad gets all of his stuff ready and we get in the car, but for some reason he doesn’t grab his skates. I know that he is still hesitant about going on the ice but he said he wanted to make me happy right? I can’t believe after all this he still didn’t grab his skates, but I mean what do you expect he just decided to go three minutes ago. When we get to the lake I see someone on the other side of the lake fishing. . . I take a look at the water and wonder if it’s a liquid or a solid. The water is ice. . . I look back up to were the Fisher was but he was gone. “Hey ugh dad? . . .” I got no answer after waiting a while, I look up to were my dad was but he wasn’t there. . . “DAD! DAD! DAD WERE ARE YOU!?!?” I scream, I’m so scared I don’t know what’s going on, I run over to the rose red truck my dad has, I look inside frantically but he’s not there! I look at the opposite side of the lake again and I see it, right there in front of my face, the man standing there, staring back at me “HEY!!!WHO ARE YOU!?!?!?” I scream at the top of my lungs, I get no answer and I am bawling my eyes out ring ring ring what is that? I slowly get closer to the truck Ring Ring Ring the noise gets louder as I peek in the truck RING RING RING my dad left his phone in the truck, I pick it up to see a hospitals number. I answer the phone and say”hello?”
 “Hi is this Daniel umm. . . Daniel Chestmand?” A voice from the phone asks


“Ughh. . . No, sorry this is his child Alex” I say hesitantly




  “Oh, hi Alex is your father there?” The strange voice asks from the phone




“Ummmmm. . . He went to get something and forgot his phone” I say not know what would happen if I would have told the truth

  “Well . . . I’m sorry to say but . . . Your mother . . . She passed away” the voice says is a sad voice

“WHAT?!?! How, when?!?! WHY!?!?” I ask crying over losing my dad and now knowing my mom passed

“I’m sorry for what happened, your mom was a wonderful person. . . I have to go, I’m sorry for your loss” she says not actually knowing what was going on on the other end of the phone Beep the phone hung up “NO! No! I need answers!!!” I yell at the phone “where is my Dad!? How did she die?!?!” I scream into the sunset. “Excuse me, are you lost?” Another strange voice that I haven’t heard asked me, I turn around I see a young girl she looks like she is the same age as me “I heard screaming so I came outside to see what was going on and I saw you on the ground”
 
     “Who are you?” I ask the short skinny girl “What’s your name?”

“I think I should ask the questions. . . My name Is Melanie, what’s yours?” Melanie says to me in a sweet and sincere voice

    “Alex... I lost my dad and I can’t find him, I also just found out that my mom just passed so I am struggling to take everything in.” I say, then she asked me a strange question “Can you see that?” She points somewhere around where the strange figure was still staring at me from “Yeah, isn’t that a man though?” I ask

  “So you see it too? I have asked many people that question and so far you are the only one that said yes. . . Not everyone can see that man, only us” she tells me

“Haha, do you think just because I’m new here means I will fall for your prank, very funny” I say to her in disbelief

 “You don’t believe me?!?! Seriously!?!? The one other person who can see It like me thinks it’s a prank, ha” she says like she really is telling the truth. “Wait. . . So you’re not lying?” I question what

 what she was telling me, well it does make sense but. . . I don’t get it, why? Why was this happening to me? To her, *coughs* sorry Melanie, I look out at the silhouette of the man that supposedly only me and Melanie can see, she invites me into her house and tells me all about the mysterious man, if it even is a human, I still have my dads phone on me and it suddenly started beeping. It said something was in the voicemail so as opened it up, in the voicmail it stated “if you are listening to this it means
that I ,Daniel,  have disappeared, I also believe that you have noticed the man across the lake, the
figure is the bad one but when you go outside again there will be two figures. You will be put through
a series of challenges to survive, if you succeed then I, Daniel, will be returned, Alex I hope you
know that I was not lying when I said that there was something near the lake. Please do your very
best to succeed the challenges, if you fail one of you will be killed and dragged away into the lake to be a slave, but whatever happens if you fail whoever dies this will be th last you hear of me. Unless you win of course”  *End of final message*

 We run outside and see the two figures, they are identical, I hear something even though it is not out loud, it’s more of like in my head. . . “You will be asked one question, if you succeed congratulations we will give back Daniel and leave the lake until another pair of gifted kids come along, if you fail there WILL be consequences, choose wisely and think it through” and that was all I heard, suddenly I just thought of a question but I have a feeling that It wasn’t me who thought of it, it was the  man ,if  I can even call him that, what is what is the lake called? What is it? I can’t remember, but I have too. . .
I think it’s lake Darby, yeah I’m pretty sure it is! If I remember correctly my dad said it’s lake Darby not Darby lake, or was it the other way around. . . No! It has to be Darby lake! My dad probably saw this coming, I said it was lake Darby and my days said it was Darby Lake, I would of never thought that the lake would be Darby lake that has to be it. “Hey, I think it’s lake Darby” Melanie said

  “No! It’s not, sorry umm no it’s Darby lake and I know that for a fact, my dad told me that” I say confidently

 “I think you have it wrong,  it’s always been lake Darby” she says trying to convince me but it’s not happening

 “I have to save you . . . Please trust me, please. . . I know you don’t believe me but I KNOW it’s Darby lake” I say trying to convince her

“I’ll pay you back, you belived  me when I said the man wasn’t a joke now I’ll believe you when you say it’s Darby lake but if you are wrong you will die, not me” she says a little scared and angry at the same time.

“We have our answer” I say aloud to the two figures across the lake and me and Melanie are suddenly face to face with the figures and they say that Melanie has to answer the question. “Ummmm. . . Our answer is Darby lake” she says a little hesitantly the two figures disappear and Insee my dad scrunched up in a ball uncounsous on the ice. I run out to wake him and I shake and shake and he opens his eyes “hey kiddo” my dad says in a soft voice

 “Dad!!!” I yell so happily “mom. . . She died” I say so suddenly not even realizing it, meanwhile Melanie is screaming happily and saying we did it! You were right! “ hey, kiddo you remembered what I told you” my dad said softly, again

 “Yeah, I remembered” I told him quietly, I got my dad to the hospital and he told me all about how the same thing happened to him when he was younger. . . He said mom didn’t believe him when he told her, he said she got so fed up with his theories that she couldn’t handle it anymore. “I love you kiddo, I know that it said mother died . . . but that was all set up by those terrible people”

 I am so surprised and happy about the news he had told me, and from that day forth I never ever doubted another theory my dad had told me again. Now of coarse my parents were still divorced but I came
up with an Idea where during the school year I would live with my dad and then during the summer I would live with my mom, it’s not the best compromise but I have a feeling that I am going to have a lot of fun with my dad. “Hey dad before I end the story I’m sure all the readers are wondering what
happened to our dog named gibbons” I ask waiting for the answer

                              “Now that’s another story”


                                            THE END