The car journey to the Hampton's had been a tiresome one if that. First the traffic set back the travel time by at least two hours and then there was the delay in which to get gas and food. By the time Sam reached the Lake House the sun had begun to set into an orange glow in the distance.
As she neared the huge iron gates she instinctively reached within the glove compartment and retrieved the gate remote and clicked it. The car rolled gently against the gravel as the gates slowly shut behind her. The Lake House looked just the same as it always had done. White timber finish, old fashioned windows complete with shutters and screen doors. It stood beside the old green painted dock where Sam's father's boat usually resided. It was a breath taking house to say the least; it still held the same sense of familiarity and comfort that Sam experienced ever since she was a little girl.
Samantha Turner was grateful of her parents for actually going ahead and allowing their only daughter to use the Lake House as a means of escape from the usual daily routines for a College student. In fact Sam was more than privileged with such responsibility. In their eyes, their daughter could do no wrong; she was a high achieving student and was never seen to be discerning the Turner name with such things like taking drugs and drinking alcohol but that was the problem. With sticking to the rules religiously for the past nineteen years of her life, the defiant teenager that dwelled within her wanted to break free and rebel against everything that was causing her to conform. That's something her parents didn't know about and to be honest, Sam liked it that way. Having to endure boarding school with other teens just like her, it was fair to say she had picked up the art of manipulating and lying amongst other things and her parents were still completely clueless. They didn't question the reason behind why she wanted to spend the weekend away at the Lake House for if they had they certainly wouldn't have handed her the keys over so easily. They were led to assume she needed time away so she could write an essay for one of her classes that she couldn't put of any longer but if they had paid any attention to her, they would have realised their only daughter, the apple of their eye, was so ahead of any work that it meant she could slack off if only a little.
The car slowed to a halt outside the vast house and greenery that surrounded it. Peering up at the house a cloud of childhood memories came flooding back instantly. She remembered sharing her first kiss with a boy named Michael down by the water shore, helping her father put up the mass on the boat every time they arrived or even the spontaneously rainy nights when her and best friend Becka would build makeshift tents using her mother's expensive white linen bed sheets and pretend they were camping. Those seemed like distant memories and she missed being the carefree child that didn't need to worry about finals or boys. Removing her iPod from the car radio she was surprised to find that 'isolation' by Joy Division had been playing. She smirked at its irony before slipping it in her bag that sat on the passenger seat before pulling it on her shoulder and exiting the car. The house still smelt the same as it always had. A freshness mixed in with what she assumed was the sea breeze from the lake. She had to admit it, it was a little odd and slightly daunting knowing that she would be alone but she knew if she sucked it up, the time away would do her some good.
After packing away the majority of her things, Sam took it upon herself to open a bottle of her parent's expensive vintage wine from the wine rack thinking that it wouldn't be missed even if they did notice it had gone. She thought she rightly deserved it since she had spent almost five hours driving so with that, she poured herself a generous amount of the liquid as she retrieved her cell phone from within the confines of her pocket. As she speedily dialled the number, she awaited the familiar tones of her mother's voice. After a couple of seconds waiting, the call was finally answered.
"Hey mom." She started.
"Hey honey, how was the journey there?" She could hear the sound of hangers clattering together in the background, knowing full well her mother was in the middle of dressing up for the evening. "How is everything? You've remembered to open the windows haven't you?"
Rolling her eyes before divulging into another long sip of the wine did she respond. "Fine mom, everything's okay and not yet."
"You really should do it as soon as you get in; god only knows when the last time somebody opened them." Her mother complained.
"It's fine honestly, besides it's already getting dark so I'd feel safer knowing they were all closed at least until morning." Sam reasoned.
"Have you seen anything of Uncle Frank? He should already be there vacationing with the family. He said he was going to keep a close eye on you, he doesn't like to miss a trick that man." Sam could picture her mother on the other side smiling at that remark.
'Uncle' Frank wasn't really Sam's uncle. It was a nickname that had somehow managed to stick for reasons even she wasn't aware of. She assumed it was a thing upper class people did with one and other, call each other 'Uncle' so and so, 'Aunt' this and that so the pretentious privileged were all intertwined with one and other. Uncle Frank lived across the road from the Turner's with his family and she always found him to be extremely irritating. Always turning up when he wasn't invited, always trying to be funny and 'down' with the kids. It was only when she started to develop female attributes that she'd catch him leering at her in her two piece bathing suits when she'd go swimming in the lake. The only good thing about Uncle Frank was that he had his daughter Becka, one of Sam's oldest and closest friends.
"Not yet, I was hoping to head over there in a while and see if Becka wanted to stay the night. It might do her some good getting away from her parents." Sam said as she fiddled with the cork in between her nimble fingers.
"You know as much as I want to preach about the reason why we agreed to let you stay at the Lake House, I can't deny that it'd make me feel better knowing you weren't alone." Her mother's voice sounded concerned.
"Well I thought I'd check in with you anyways before I forgot, I know that you don't like to worry." Sam said completely changing the subject.
"If you have any problems, any at all you call the police or you go straight to Uncle Frank's alright?" Her mother cautioned.
"Yes mom…" Sam groaned. She hated it when her mother would continue to treat her like she was still a child.
"I know you're an intelligent girl Samantha, I just don't want you to make any stupid decisions."
"Wow mom that actually sounded like half a compliment." Sam teased sarcastically. "Besides I'm not stupid enough to open to the door to anyone wearing a hockey mask baring a machete. So you have nothing to worry about. I doubt even some psychotic murderer will go to extreme lengths to scale the ten foot high fences to get to me." She reassured.
"Well I trust you Samantha just don't give me a reason not to-" At this point she could hear her father's voice mumbling in the background. "I'm going to have to go now honey, your father's just got in and we made reservations for dinner at 'Le Bernardin' and you know what he's like when we're not on time." And this point, her father's voice could be heard booming down the receiver complaining about needing to order a cab.
"Oh okay, I'll try and remember to call in the morning mom, bye."
"Bye honey, I love you."
Sam ended the phone call and proceeded to finishing the glass of white wine almost immediately after. She knew she'd need at least a helping hand from the Dutch courage if she was going to have to tolerate 'Uncle' Frank's presence.
Sam slipped on her khaki military coat before she slipped out of the front door being extra careful to hear the lock click before she hurried her way across the gravelled pathway till she reached the gate system where she punched in the access code. Once on the main road she was always surprised to find it eerily quiet. She was so used to the chaotic streets of the city that whenever she came to anything remote like this, it scared her a little. The sky was now black and was illuminated by a full moon and a few stars.
As she hurried along the wide road she immediately came face to face with a house of similar value to her own although it was clear that this one was bigger by comparison. Stopping at the huge gates she was surprised to find they were already open. Thinking nothing of it, she quickly entered the Bailey residence feeling oddly anxious as she carried on her quickened pace until she reached the front door.
She rapped on the door and braced herself for the Pervert to welcome her inside but instead she was stood waiting a good few minutes before she had to knock again. Her knuckles barely had time to drop away from the door when it swung open abruptly revealing a startled looking Becka.
"You took your time." Sam smiled as she hugged her. Only then did she realise her friend wasn't hugging her back let alone neither looking or acting like her usual bubbly self. "What's wrong?" She enquired with a raise of her eyebrow.
"Nothing why?" Becka enquired with a weak laugh.
Sam frowned slightly. "Well is this the welcome I get after not seeing me for six months?" She teased.
Becka shifted her weight uneasily onto each leg as she looked back over her shoulder repeatedly. "Sorry." She replied solemnly.
"Are you sure you're alright Becka? I mean if your dad's being an ass you're welcome to stay the night at mine." Becka went to open her mouth but was rendered silent when two figures appeared beside her. Becka's aura changed dramatically and Sam couldn't put her finger on the cause. "Oh, I didn't know you had company." She added as she took and adverse glance at the two strangers.
"I'm fine Sam, I'm just a little sick that's all." She said with a sniffle as she dabbed at her watery eyes with the back of her hand. She completely disregarded Sam's comment about the males beside her.
"Are you sure?" She asked again, her voice showing nothing but compassion.
"She's positive." Said one of the figures beside Becka. Sam now directed her attention to the mysterious pair now. Only then did she notice they were dressed in pristine white golfing outfits complete with the gloves to match. "Oh where are my manners? I bet you're wondering who we are." He spoke again noticing her quizzical stare. Sam pursed her lips together as she a waited for the stranger to continue. "I'm Paul and this is Peter. We've been staying with Betsy and Robert... I mean Mr and Mrs Callaghan; we've been keeping Becka Company."
Sam made note of both boy's appearance and demeanour and granted that she saw them as no other than friendly, accepted them as acquaintances. "Callaghan?" She questioned with a puzzled expression as she completely dismissed Becka's unnerving expression.
"They live in the old cottage just down the road, the one with the red dock." He explained hoping that it would trigger off something in her memory.
"They sound familiar; I bet they've been round to a couple of our BBQs before." Sam said optimistically.
"Becka's parents are out of town for the night so we thought we would keep an eye on her. She's not been feeling too good have you Becks?" He asked in a caring tone as he thrust an arm around Becka's shoulder and pulled her shaking body closer to him, all the while he remained to be smiling. But Becka didn't say anything, not even a whisper escaped from her lips.
Sam surveyed the tension between Becka and the two boys and then a devilish smirk formed upon her face. "Becka can I have a word?" She then looked up at Paul.
"Oh by all means don't mind us." He said as he ushered Becka to her friend before stepping back to give them if only a little privacy.
"What's the deal?" Sam asked in a hushed tone with a glint in her eye. Becka swallowed hard before sniffling loudly again.
"What do you mean?" She replied faintly.
"Drop the whole 'innocent' act. I know you've slept with one of them." She winked as she nudged Becka in the ribs lightly. "Go on which one was it? Or was it both?" She fake gasped.
Becka's lips twitched into a forced smile before she turned her head back to the young men, only then did Sam notice Paul was watching them closely and there she fought the urge to laugh as she wasn't sure if he had heard what they had been saying or not.
"Fine don't tell me, it'll add to the suspense of when you do actually come out with it in one of your drunken states." Sam joked. "Anyway, the actual reason why I came over was to see if you wanted to spend the night at mine. I am actually living the dream as we speak. I am parent free the entire weekend not to mention I have full dibs on the liqueur cabinet" She squeaked excitedly. "But it already looks like you have a busy night." She winked.
"Yeah I think I will come over." Becka said strongly. She cast Paul another wiry glance over her shoulder.
"You can invite your boyfriends if it means that'll you'll come and keep me company." She added with a chuckle.
Becka brushed her some of her sleek raven hair behind her ears before she was graced once more by the two men.
"I-I'll try and make it." She said.
"Yeah feel free to come over anytime, I don't think I'll be going bed any time soon. Plus I can hear that bottle of 1994 Chardonnay calling my name as we speak." Sam laughed.
"Where do you live?" Paul interjected. Sam quieted down almost instantly as she cast him an unsure look.
"Just across the road there." She said as she gestured with her thumbs, completely dismissing Becka's fearful expression.
"The house with the green dock?" Paul enquired.
"Yeah…" Replied Sam as she scrutinized his questioning nature.
Paul nodded in what Sam thought was approval before he added "It's very beautiful."
"Thanks?" Sam smiled unsure of how to take the compliment. "I better be heading back now anyway. Don't leave me waiting bitch." She now flung her arms around Becka one last final time before she started retracing her steps back to her own house.
"Bye" Peter and Paul called politely in unison.
"Bye Sam." Becka said wordlessly. Little did Sam know that that would be the last time she would see her best friend alive.
