Lights on the Lake

Alana slammed the front door of her aunt’s house behind her as she heard Mackenzie’s car pull out of the driveway. She didn’t even bother looking back at her to wave like she used to do when they were sixteen, instead she walked quickly into the house without even thinking of looking back. To say that she was angry was an understatement. Who was Leo Cronin to try to pull a stunt like that? And to innocently play it off like he didn’t mean for it to happen. Please.

Since when did everything become so damn difficult? In New York, Alana’s life was relatively fine. She had a good looking boyfriend who treated her like she was the most important thing in the world, a fun best friend, a job she hated but yet got good stories out of… she had a life there.

But ever since she went to Lake Vedleu, everything shifted. Her boyfriend isn’t talking to her, her best friend is still working at the photography studio where Alana should be, people stared and her and talked about her whenever she went out in public, and one of her old good friends just tried to basically catapult her into a lake. None of this was right.
Alana angrily sat down on the tall bar stool in front of the kitchen counter, and winced when her leg started to sting, causing her to groan angrily.

“You okay there?” She heard her aunt Ker say as she made her way into the kitchen from the hallway. She walked toward the kitchen stove and stirred something Alana couldn’t see in a large pot. Steam erupted from the pan and into Ker’s aging face and Alana couldn’t help but stare at her. Was this how Alana was going to be twenty years from now? Forty-years-old, her hair in a bun, cooking over a stove for her four children? When Alana was young, that’s all she ever wanted, but then something changed when Alana started to get in her teens and actually thought about how trapped she’d feel as a housewife. Kissing her husband goodbye as he left for work, sending the kids off to school, cleaning the house and then watching Oprah.

Ker stopped stirring and looked over at Alana, who was now resting her cheek against the cool countertop.

“I assume you didn’t have a good time at the lake,” Ker observed and Alana grunted in response and lifted her head up.

“Well, I slapped Leo in the face,” Alana replied. “That could qualify as a good time.”

“No way?” Ker asked back, a tint of amusement in her voice. “I mean, that’s terrible. Violence is never the answer." Ker paused and laughed. "Sorry, had to say that. Did he cry?”

Alana laughed and looked up at her aunt, whose eyes were somewhat twinkling down at her. Like an aunt to a niece. Like a mother to a daughter.

“I wish,” Alana replied. “It’s fine though, whatever, he can do what he wants, I don’t care. I’m just going to be more than happy to be getting the hell out of here in the morning.”

Alana immediately regretted those words when she saw Ker’s smile drop off of her face. She knew that Ker wanted her to stay for the summer, and she knew that it was obvious that that was the complete opposite of what Alana wanted to do.

There was a hesitant silence between the two as Ker turned back to pour a cup of water and handed it to Alana. She then went back to stirring whatever was in that pot as Alana took a sip.

“Yeah… about that,” Ker said quietly. “I’m not quite sure if that’s the best idea.”

“Ker, you know I’m not going to stay here,” Alana replied firmly and placed the glass down. “I’m sorry, I just… I can’t.”

Ker stopped stirring and turned around to face Alana, her hand resting on her hip. “Well, you see… you kind of have to.”

“Excuse me?” Alana asked, genuinely confused.

“Do you remember that woman I was talking to at your father’s funeral this morning?” Ker asked. Alana nodded. “Well, she was your father’s lawyer. She’s from Des Moines. She helped plan Ned’s will.”

“And?” Alana asked after Ker paused.

“Alana, he gave you his house.”

Alana almost choked on the water that she was drinking again and stared wide-eyed at her aunt.

“Um, what?” Alana asked dumbly.

“He gave you his savings, and he gave you his house. I know you obviously don’t want to live in it, since you live in New York of course, but you might have to stay a few days to find a realtor and figure out what you’re going to do with it. Because you can’t just leave here without settling all of that, you know? He gave Paul and me his shoe shop, which we’re going to turn into an extended shop for his brewery. But the house, well, the house is all up to you.”

Ker’s voice seemed a little too happy telling Alana this news, which made Alana scowl in response.

“And how long did you know that my father left his house to me? It sounds to me like you didn’t just find this out this morning.”

“Ned told me he was going to before he died. He thought that if he left you his house, you’d want to live here.”

“What a stupid idea,” Alana snapped.

“Alana," Ker replied, her eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry, but come on! What did he expect me to do? Find out he gave me my childhood house that I ran the hell away from and then I’d suddenly want to live here again and forget all the reasons I left?”

Ker stayed quiet for a second before speaking. “I guess he did.”

Alana sighed and almost banged her forehead against the countertop.

“How long will figuring this all out take?” She asked, her voice shaking with frustration.

“Not long, a week or so,” Ker replied. “You have to clear all the stuff out of the house and figure out what to do with it, and then find a realtor and everything.”

“Can’t you just do it?” Alana asked. Ker shot her a look, as if saying ‘Bitch, I just planned the whole funeral..

“No,” Ker replied flatly. Alana sighed and Ker walked over toward her and placed her and on Alana’s head, running her thumb through her hair. “Looks like you’ll be staying longer than you thought, huh?”



“The flight I’m supposed to be on is leaving right now,” Alana muttered in a melancholy sing-song voice as her hand gripped the steering wheel of her aunt’s old truck that she let her use to drive to her old house across the town. “But now it’s flying, oh so far away, without me in it.”

Alana could see thunder clouds in the short distance and she knew it was going to rain any second. So much for summer, she thought, as she looked up and saw the deep gray clouds etch themselves over the large lake surrounded by the mountains. If Alana wasn’t so cynical about this town, she would have thought that it was beautiful. Everyone thought this town was beautiful, but Alana was the only one that could see through it’s beauty. Nothing that looks so perfect could actually be perfect, and Alana knew that first-hand.

Suddenly, a huge flash lit up the sky and then rain came crashing down on the truck’s windshield almost immediately, and with force. The windshield wipers were absolutely terrible and made her vision even worse as she tried to navigate herself through the storm, trying to get to her old house that was only a few miles away. She turned on the headlights which did absolutely nothing and leaned forward, trying to get somewhat of a better few. The rain wasn’t letting up and she frustratingly pounded her fist on the wheel. And then, as if someone high up had a grudge against her, the car made the most disgusting noise Alana had ever heard, almost like a loud fart. The engine roared and then… completely stopped, in the middle of the road.

Alana sat there for a second, completely in shock.

“Are you kidding me?” Alana said sharply and tried to turn the key in the ignition, the car made a whining noise and Alana angrily put it in neutral and got it to cruise to the side of the road, where it was then in a huge puddle of wet mud. Alana stopped the car and leaned her head back against the back of the seat, feeling angrier every second. She reached into her pocket and grabbed her cell phone.

No reception. Awesome.

“Could this get any worse!” Alana yelled out, very aware of the fact that she was talking to herself. Cars whizzed passed her on the road and she stared at them as they all passed by, mad that they didn’t even stop to help a poor girl stuck in the rain in the mud in a truck that was old enough for her great grandfather to drive.

After about ten minutes of sulking and debating walking in the rain or hitchiking, Alana saw two beaming lights shine through the back window of the truck and looked in the rearview mirror to see a tow truck parked right behind her. She excitedly took off her seatbelt and rolled down her window. How convenient was it that a tow truck was driving down the same road she was! Maybe her luck was turning around.

But, then her face dropped when she saw Leo Cronin’s face staring right back at her through the pouring rain. Her mouth dropped and so did his as he stood next to her window.

“Wow, God must have a sense of humor,” Alana said bitterly as Leo pulled off the hood of his jacket. Of course it would be Leo. His dad owned one of the only auto and tow shops in town, Leo was here for the summer working for him. Leo, being the oh so nice guy he is, saw someone in trouble and pulled over to help.

“I saw the truck and thought it was your aunt,” Leo said as thunder roared above them.

“Well, it’s not,” Alana said, glaring at him.

“Hey look, I’m the one with the tow truck here, do you really want to get sassy with me?” Leo asked, a smile on his face as the rain soaked his jacket and soon enough his hood was pointless.

“I deserve to show some sass to a guy who almost tried to kill me yesterday,” Alana yelled over even more thunder.

“I guess that’s slightly correct,” Leo said with a sigh. “Look just get in the tow truck and I’ll drop you off wherever you need to go and come back to get your car to take to the shop.”

“No,” Alana replied.

“No?” Leo asked incredulously.

“Yes, no,” Alana stated. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“So you’d rather just… stay here, in your aunt’s old broken down truck... in the rain.”

“I’d rather eat worms than be in the same vehicle with you, Leo,” Alana replied.

“Okay, wow, so you’re in fourth grade now?” Leo asked. “Just get in the truck.”

“No.”

“Fine, suit yourself,” Leo replied and started to walk back to his truck., Alana watched him walk back before turning back in her seat angrily. She looked down at her cell phone and saw that it still didn’t have reception and then looked up at the sky through the barely visible windshield and saw nothing but almost black clouds. She sighed, defeated and grabbed the keys from the ignition and put the hood of her jacket on her head before opening the car door and running out in the pouring rain. Leo’s truck was already started and he was ready to leave when she ran over to the passenger’s side and opened the door. “Glad you came to your senses,” He said as Alana sat on the cloth seat, her jeans sticking to the material and a frown clearly on her face.

“Just take me to my old house,” Alana muttered.

“Your old house?” Leo asked, as if he was somewhat surprised that Alana was even going there.

Alana didn’t say anything in response, but instead stared out of her window as they made the couple mile drive to her old house. They pulled up the driveway and she felt a weird nostalgic feeling in the pit of her stomach as she saw the cabin style house her grandfather built, the cabin style house that she grew up in and left almost the day she turned eighteen.

Leo stopped the car and there was a thick silence between both of them as Alana just stared at her old house. The house that she now owned. The thought of her selling it and some other family living in it felt like such a strange thought in her mind and what felt even stranger was her going back in it and packing up her father’s things.

“I’ll walk you in,” Leo said and before Alana could refuse, he was already out of the tow truck. She begrudgedly opened the door and let herself out as the two walked toward the large front porch. Once they got to the door, she fumbled with her keychain, knowing just as well that she still had her house key attached to it from before she left town. The door unlocked and both of them made their way inside.

It was pitch black and Alana instinctively reached over to her right and tried to turn the light switch on. Nothing happened and Alana groaned. Her aunt told her the electricity would still be on for another week!

“It must be the storm,” Leo said as their eyes adjusted to the dark. Alana used her cell phone as a flash light and made her way to the kitchen where she remembered her father having some candles. She grabbed them from a drawer and placed them on the coffee table in the living room and lit about five of them, allowing glowing light to fill the room as Leo opened up the curtains.

Soon enough, they could see each other, and neither of them said anything as they stood on opposite sides of the living room.

“I remember all those nights we used to sneak you back into this house,” Leo said quietly with his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, through the window in the basement,” Alana replied.

“That technique lasted about a few months before you got stuck in the window and Abigail started crying and woke up your dad to help you out of it.”

Alana almost smiled at the memory, but her animosity toward Leo still overflowed her emotions, so instead she just stared back at him. His handsome face was stained wet from the rain and both of their clothing was drenched from head to toe.

“That was a long time ago,” Alana said and grabbed some firewood that was lying next to the fireplace in the middle of the living room. Leo walked forward to help her place it in the fireplace and grabbed the lighter she used for the candles to start the fire, causing the room to light up even more. Alana took off her wet jacket and laid it down on the floor and looked around her old house, almost feeling like she could cry. She didn't even want to imagine walking down that hallway to her old room. Her father probably packed up the rest of her things that she left and put it in the basement. It was probably empty, and hollow, just like her chest as she looked around at the house she grew up in.

“We had a good time back then, didn’t we?” Leo asked next to her as they sat in front of the fire. Alana looked over at him and his eyes locked on hers. They looked at one another for a few seconds before her body stiffened and she stood up immediately.

“I think you should go,” She said sternly. Leo looked up at her and let out a sigh.

"You're probably right," He replied and stood up. They both stood in front of one another, the fireplace’s golden light reflecting on both of their faces. She suddenly felt like she was fourteen again, staring at Leo from across the classroom, but now he was older, taller, and instead of being across the room, not even acknowledging her, he was standing in front of her, looking right at her.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay here?” Leo asked. “With the lights out and everything.”

“Ha,” Alana said bitterly. “Now you worry about my safety.”

“Look Alana-“ Leo began, but her phone suddenly buzzed loudly in her jacket pocket. Her body jumped from the noise as she quickly leaned down and grabbed her jacket off the floor. She grabbed her cell phone and they both looked at the screen.

Trey<3 calling

Alana felt a lump in her throat and immediately pressed accept.

“Hi,” She said and turned her back away from Leo. Her voice was shaking and she realized she had been wanting to hear Trey’s voice more than anything in the world. She hadn’t even heard a word from him since he stormed out of her apartment when he was angry at her for basically lying to him about many things that happened in her past. She didn't expect him to call, but she couldn't help but feel so happy that he did.

“Hi,” His deep voice said on the other line and Alana closed her eyes. "I miss you.”

Alana smiled. “Really?” She asked.

“Yes, really," He replied. "Are you still in Vedleu?

“Yeah, actually,” Alana started to reply while turning back around. She was going to finish her sentence when she saw that Leo was already walking back to the front door to leave.

"When are you coming home?" Trey asked.

Alana walked toward the front window after he closed the door behind him and watched Leo walk through the rain. He glanced back at her as he got back into his tow truck.

"Alana? You there?" Trey asked on the other line and Alana snapped out of her daze.

"Yes, I'm here, sorry," She responded quickly, but was still watching Leo as he pulled the truck out of the driveway. He gave her a small wave before turning the wheels of the truck and driving back into the storm.