As we turned onto a wide dirt road a huge lake came into view. There were boats with senior men lazily fishing, a few kayakers racing each other from one side to another, and a couple of children splashing around the shores. Though it seemed filled mostly with adults, I was glad the summerhouse was at least on a nice lake and I felt a bit happier my "gardians" had inherited one from their great aunt twice removed or something.
For the rest of the afternoon we unpacked our stuff into a small bungalow located a few meters into the trees surrounding the lake. The whole time the only thing I could think about was jumping into the depths. All afternoon I had a wild fantasy in my mind of finding a sunken ship with treasure worth millions. I simply could not wait to get my bathing suit on. Unfortunately by the time we had finished unpacking night was already falling but Vera and Meg insisted that we go to some community campfire. (They wanted to meet our neighbors and the whole "bungalow community.") And seeing as they are kind of illegaly adopting me I will let them force me to do just about anything. I mean if someone is putting themselves out there for you like that they can get away with alot.
As we trudged towards the fire pit Vera excitedly talked about how he wanted to meet all the great people and maybe there would some people my age and blah. I just smiled and nodded because I knew there probably wouldn't be someone my age, let alone my century. As we approached the fire pit I was pleasantly surprised to see that my assumption had been wrong. There was a boy who looked around my age and like he had a little too much of all this family bonding as well. We shared a smile and he came over and sat down next to me on the log followed by what must have been his younger sister. Older people, most with silver hair, milled around talking in their elderly ways. The small girl turned to me. She looked about ten or eleven. "Hey I'm Sarah, you guys new here?"
"Yeah, my uhh... mom got a house here from her aunt I think. I'm Holly by the way."
"I'm Tyler," The older boy introduced. "So where are you-"
"So have you heard about all of the strange deaths around here?" Sarah interrupted.
"No Sarah, you know that's only a legend, no truth behind it." Then he saw the curiosity in my eyes. "Oh its nothing, just some stupid story!"
"No its not! Just ask old George. GEORGE!" A balding man wearing a plaid sweater turned away from what looked like a very animated conversation with Vera. "George tell Holly the story about all of the strange deaths."
"No Sarah," a middle aged man who I thought must have been her father interrupted, "you have to stop with those ridiculous stories."
"But you've only been here a year Silas," the plaid man argued, "You haven't seen any of the strange happenings. Just four summers ago a girl went for a night swim and never returned." My imagination took me away from finding buried treasure to finding a girls dead body floating slightly before the bottom, pieces of her flesh gnawed away by fish. Lovely eh? "Most assumed she had drown. But she was a strong swimmer that one. No something definitely strange happens to that lake at night." By now the whole idea of this awesome lake was about ruined. I certainly wouldn't go swimming tonight like I had planned. I didn't even know if I would go during the day surrounded my other swimmers. "And she wasn't the only one, oh yes, I remember twenty years back a couple went out for a romantic boat ride one night and never returned. And there've been others as well. Why yes, there's definitely something fishy about that lake." He wagged his finger at me.
"So do you have any idea what could possibly be causing these deaths?" I asked.
Tyler rolled his eyes at me. "I know! There's a deranged, warped, gigantic turtle that eats people alive… no wait it's the lake. The lake gets hungry for human flesh sometimes. It just swallows people whole."
"Yes that's my theory." George agreed. "The lake gives so much to us. We relax on its shores, swim, fish, and canoe. There are endless possibilities of things to do. The lake gives so much to us." he repeated. "I'm sure when it gets hungry it usually preys on fish and we just don't notice. But once in a blue moon it just can't help but satisfy its cravings…"
Gosh, the people you meet at bungalow colonies.