The Pond

It was three weeks after my seventh birthday and my sister Guess finally came home from the big city. Although she seemed like the same old Guess i've known all my life, there was something different about her. She was more secretive and snuck out late at night. Well of coarse she was always secretive. Whispering on the phone with her friends, writing love notes to boys on the football team or just being a stupid secritive teenager, but this time it was different.
One night, it had to be atleast one in the morning, I heard her sneek out of the house. She didn't come back until five. She was soken wet. It's as if she went for a swim with all her close on and she reeked of a heavy cigar and liquor smell. When I asked her about where she had went she just brushed me off and told me to go back to bed. So the next night, I waited... waited untill she got up and left. I quietly followed her, just to see who she was with or if she was getting picked up. But what I found was bizzar. She. My big sister Guess did something unbelievable. Guess went to our little pond in the backyard and jumped in. She went under and as she went under there was a little white light, as if someone turned on a small but strong flashlight.
So I waited for her to come back up. But after a few minutes passed... I realized there was something very wrong. I waited and waited, all the while praying that she was alright, and after atleast three hours she came back. But she wasn't alone. There was a man. When the man went back into the pond, Guess walked back to the house which sent me quietly running back to my room. What ever she is doing and whoever she's doing it with...she wants NOBODY to find out about it.
The day I lost my sister.... all I can remember is it was down pouring.
It was a usuall Sunday. Noisy. My step dad Klark and my step mom Wendy were in the living room. Klark, yelling loud, rude things to the tv screen while he was watching the football game. Wendy, on the phone with one of her friends, loudly and obnoxiously talking about the latest gossip said at the beauty parlor. My sister Guess, simutaniously, on the phone with friends, in an internet chatroom with friends and occasionally anwering the door, to more friends who would drop by. My step sisters Cary and Caitlin doin' the same. On the phone with friends and loudly playing music of their favorite bands. Me on the other hand could not find any silence. With all my sisters coming in and out of my room to plug in cellphones, laptops of more phone lines, noise was inescapable. So i just hid in my walk in closet, silently reading books.
The unsuall thing I noticed was everytime my sister was invited to a friends house that night, she would say no. Stating she had other plans. That's not like her to do. Usually she ALWAYS overbooks herself. This is a MAJOR sign somethings up.
It had to be around 9:30 that night when my sister left the house, but no one seemed to mind this. My stepdad was also out, somewhere at the local bar with his friends. My stepmom, passed out on the couch after one to many zinfadels. All my stepsisters went to bed early, they had cheerleading the next day which was pretty much the center of their attention.
When she came back, I remember her sitting by my side until I fell asleep. I couldn't really avoid the drowsiness...... rain and finally some peace and quiet called for a good sleep. Maybe fifteen minutes later I woke up to the screen door slighty slamming shut. As I quietly got out of my bed, I over heard a man's voice......the same man that was with my sister that one night. This time I had a great view of him from the kitchen window.
He had nice looks. Tall, dressed in a crisp grey and black pin stripe suit and as the back porch light shined off of him I noticed he had strange features. His hair was spiked grey, with red tips. Sharp facial features and from what I could tell, dark red eyes. Never before had I seen someone with such features.....Strangely he had this aggressive aura about him, one I could even feel to this day.
They were talking about..... strangley about a child, a household and a certain shift my sister was supposed to be working at a place called the "Peak". I've never heard of this "Peak" place, and a child..... my sister had no children, and what I felt when I was near him..... I've never felt such an agressive or mean feeling coming from someone ever before like that. I just hoped my sister knew what she was doing, hoped that she was safe and knew this guy well enough to be going with him by herself.
As they walked toward the pond... I could tell something was wrong. They were arguing. What was I supposed to do? I'm just seven... a seven year old girl trying to stop a man from hurting my sister. I didn't do anything yet, just quietly came on the back porch. The next thing I saw... was unbelievable. He pulled some sort of weapon out, that's when I ran towards them. Yelling "stop", never seemed to affect him. When I finally came to..... making eye contact with him and being in his presence scared me. Putting, what now I found was a knife, back into his jacket... reaching for my face I flinched. He held the side of my face, affectionatey, as if I was his child. When our eyes met, it was as if he was staring straight into my soul.... probing, searching... for something. What? I did not know. His hand on my face was cold, his gazing at me, yet, was some what familiar..... kind, as if he knew me from somewhere. The next, by how he looked at me, I thought would never happen.
He slapped me. With my face being very cold anyways made it hurt even worst. Guess, who reached for his arm to stop the second strike, yelled something I could never forget...... "She is your daughter"......
Daughter, the word ran through my head before I noticed he was helping me up. He dusted me off and whispered in my ear that "There will be a time for us later".... Something I didn't understand. His daughter? A time for us later? This was all too soon for me to contemplate. He then backed away from me, grabbed my sister's arm and pulled her toward the pond, but I ran infront of him.
Demanding where he was taking my sister as loud as I could......his simple reply was.... "Back home". Where was home? Not my sister, her home is here, with me, not with some man who claims to be my father. I began to tear up and I guessed it caught his eye because he let go of Guess and knelt down infront of me.
"My child," he stated, "why are you crying?" With a loving smile he waited for my reply.
"My sister," I said trying to fight back tears, "why does she have to go? I want to come too.Please, let me come!" Hoping he would say yes, I waited as he looked to Guess, then to me.
"Lyrich, you can not come with us," With a fatherly smile he continued. "Guess and I have things to take care of. Don't fret, love, I will be back for you soon. For you are my property. You and Guess are my property. You have to believe that you daddy loves you and will see you soon. Here, take this," He said as he pulled a gold and ruby locket out from his suit and put it around my neck. "You are my only daughter. You are my world. I care for you with the greatest concern and I will be back soon,"
He must have known something was wrong, seeing the confused look on my face. He turned to my sister and said in an angry but clam voice,
"Why does she not know about me Geuss?! You haven't told our daughter about me!" And with that he stood and walked swiftly toward Guess.
"You fool!" He said with his hand raised in anger, he struck her. Guess who fell to the ground put her arms up in defense.
"Lyrich, come here," He said as he turned back to me. "Lyrich? Did you hear me?"
"I'm not Lyrich," I quietly said, "My name is Annaliese." I then saw him turn livid. Agrier than ever, but for what reason I couldn't tell.
"You stupid fool!!" with a swift swing he struck her once more, "You never even told her her real name!"