"Alright, come on in Sasuke! The water is great!" I said.

Sasuke was standing on the dock outside one of the cabins for rent in navy swim trunks. The nice toothless man allowed us a stay in a cabin with a minimal charge due to the offseason for lake goers. My dad asked how many fees were going to be included in our one night stay, but the creepy fisher wasn't very clear…

Oh well, there had to be a catch to the low price. I remember coming here when I was little and the nice teenager around the age of 18 told us he would take off the minor fees if we take cabin 13. Nothing was wrong with it except it was couple miles to get back to the road… although there was another reason why we almost didn't take it. There was this really great tea shop that served food at it. I suspected the fisher and the nice old woman working at the tea shop were in league with each other, or rather close family members because the food there was really expensive. However, we ate there the entire week we were in cabin 13 and some of my best spoken conversations I had when I was little had been in that tea shop. Man, I can't believe I forgot about this place… some of the information I got on my mom was shared to me for the first time here.

Anyway, my dad asked for Renjiro, the guy who was the 18-year-old when I was 4. The toothless man brought him to us and he seemed to have remembered us from the get-go. He was older, about 25 or 26 and his long sandy hair was now medium-length. He greeted me with a smile and I said it was good to see you again. He seemed to have grown even more friendly and eccentric as we had talked. My dad asked for cabin 13 as long as we get out of the minor fees like last time. Renjiro said yes.

Then I remembered someone as we talked… someone I couldn't even strain to remember for the longest time. It was his little sister. For some reason I distinctly remembered her being 2 years older than me. Renjiro, being more the prominent figure in my life since he was nice enough to play with us in the lake, was 14 years older. Yes, I could do math when I was 4.

Then when my dad talked about how he came here with my mom when she was pregnant with me the memories started flowing in… it was another one of my talks. You don't really wanna hear about that, though. Sorry, it's kind of embarrassing.

However, that's when I asked about Kumi and Renjiro spoke up. He told me that she died of an illness when she was 11 years old. That's just so sad! I started to look down when Sasuke wouldn't come in the water.

"How deep is it?" he asked.

"Deep… now go." I said glancing up to him with an angry look.

I tried not to look surprised when Itachi was sneaking up on Sasuke. "What?" he said noticing my facial reaction.

Itachi picked him up by his shoulders, went to the very edge of the dock, and pushed his chest outward to hurtle Sasuke into the water. I laughed…

Hard…

"WHAT THE HELL!" went Sasuke scowling like a mad dog as he came up and started to tread water.

"Hahaha!" laughed Itachi and me.

XXX

It was later at night. We were out by the fire pit roasting marshmallows on non-burning wooden sticks as we talked, had fun, and told each other stories of the variety. When Renjiro and his family joined us, they started a riot, especially Renjiro's wife. I noticed that Renjiro had a whole family who was just plain nuts.

Then when it got late, their oldest daughter who was older than me and looked to be adopted invited us kids into the basement of their base of operations. The base was actually their second home where they keep an office and a bunch of video games down below. I just couldn't say no, even if I never really had owned a console before or even played a video game in my entire life.

We played video games until my dad came down told us we weren't staying the night and we had to use the cabin we paid for out of our patronage. "Aww!" said all the girls including me. Itachi and Sasuke got up from our seats and told them goodbye. My dad then said to us as we exited the basement, 'We'll be staying until 4:30 tomorrow. I extended our stay so you guys can hang out or whatever.'

XXX

This was when things got weird.

I was lying in my bed in the overhang when I heard something scratch the window next to me. No, it wasn't just a scratch; I could have sworn it was the sound of chains rattling and knifes scrapping against glass. I nearly screamed. Was it the wind blowing on a tree branch? No, tonight there was no wind. Was it a… A GHOST?! Come on, get real. Was it a bird or a squirrel? Maybe…

I calmed down and thought if it was a squirrel or some other dumb animal, like a woodpecker… they make similar sounds, right?

That's when I calmed down and nearly went back to sleep.

But that's also when I heard something and sat up to look around.

"OH JEEZ!" I said in a loud voice.

I saw her and I knew it was her… it was Kumi! She was sitting by the fireplace as she turned toward me and vanished before my dad sprang out of his bed upon the couch.

"Naruko, are you alright?" he said.

I thought long and hard… "Um! Yeah dad, I'm fine! I just thought I saw something in the dark…"

"Well, don't go loopy on me now!" said my dad irritably.

"Mmhm…" I said as I went back to bed.

XXX

"Naruko, are you okay?" said my father as he felt my forehead.

It was morning and I was standing in the kitchen. I thought I had swollen eyes or something, because my face felt awful...

"No way, you have a fever!" he said suddenly. I jumped abruptly but calmed down moments later thinking, Just a cold!

"Ugh… daddy…-" I said, but he shut my lips.

"Don't say anything… we can't go anywhere until you're better."

I would challenge him, but I did feel sick. I really had no choice but go back upstairs until I felt better. Luckily if it's just a cold I can convince my dad to take me out of this place anyway.

XXX

"Ughhuhuhu." I coughed. I looked out the window of the cabin and there they were. I looked at the lake and saw Sasuke, Itachi, and Renjiro's daughters playing in it. Oh how I wanted to be out there in this lovely weather with them. Sure it was a little hot but I think that's just my fever from my cold.

I heard the cabin door open and began to freak out. After I saw that ghost last night I'm not taking any chances. "Hello?!" I screamed loudly.

"It's us, your father and I, Naruko." said Renjiro in his smooth, luxurious voice.

They came up to the balcony and Renjiro looked at me with pity. "I knew it… just like her."

"No, it can't be…" said my dad, putting his hand to his head.

I knew what was going on… I instantly said, "No! By her, you don't mean Kumi-chan, right?"

I knew something was wrong, I just knew it! Goddamn… I'm not going to die, am I?

"Let me tell you a story."

Renjiro told me the most harrowing story of his father and how he used to have to protect his little sister and mother from his beatings. That's when he got sick one day… and he just died! His mother cried over him, even though he was terrible to her and her children… she just couldn't stand it. His family grew very poor after that. They found this lake and he and his mom built all of these cabins. They furnished them and spent every last ryo note they had. However, they were an instant success. Not long after I turned 4, his mom died. In fact, it was the few months after she died that I met Renjiro. Renjiro explained his great uncle took over the business, the toothless fisherman I had met. He jacked up the number of fees, the prices, and he used all the money he earned to build a tea shop at the base of the lower peak for his wife to run. They may have been successful in attracting business, but the people noticed the price had gone up considerably. However, they did nothing about it because they could get discounts. Suddenly, why Renjiro gave discounts became clear to me.

There was one theme to the story, however… his mother and father may have both died of different causes, but 2 other girls besides Kumi have come to this place and gotten sick with the same virus that I have.

"So, you're saying… I'm… I'm…" I said quietly.

"Have you been seeing anything lately?" said Renjiro.

My dad was surprised at this and spoke.

"Yes, she has, haven't you?" he said.

"The delirium has set in."

XXX

Cliffhanger! Oh well… just have to see next time.

Sorry for the fillerish quality. It'll be wrapped up next chapter.