Secrets of the Lake

"Why?" Anna screamed, staring at the lake below. The cool, clear surface rippled. No sign of Iris. No sign of anyone or anything, let alone her sister.

Anna casted her eyes towards the rock on the side of the lake, its gray surface shiny from the ceaseless rain. It was at least ten feet high, towering above Anna's measely five. Iris was that tall, too. How could she have been so stupid, climbing that rock? Near a deeper-than-deep lake, in the middle of a stronger-than-strong thunderstorm?

Anna didn't want to think about what had happened--didn't even want to acknowledge that her sister was gone, never to come back again--and she knew she didn't have to. She could just make up a lie to tell her parents about Iris, one that made Anna seem entirely innocent. She knew she could, and never let her thoughts drift back to the terrible place she had been in moments before. But she couldn't help but think about the awful, unforgettable look on Iris's face seconds before her death--and with it, all her other memories flooded back.

"I want to go to the lake," Iris had told Anna earlier that day. 

"Why?" Anna asked. "You know that was abandoned years ago, right? I even heard it's haunted."

Iris rolled her eyes. "You're not going to believe those silly old rumors, are you, Anna? I truly hope not, because I'm going and you're coming with me."

Anna swallowed hard. She did believe in those "silly old rumors" and was afraid of the lake...but Iris seemed fine with it, right? Besides, she wanted to prove to her sister, once and for all, that she wasn't as much of a scaredy-cat as Iris thought. Sure, she wasn't into zip-lining or roller-skating or cliff-diving like Iris was...but that didn't mean she was terrified of everything. Maybe this was her chance for Iris to realize that.

So she told Iris, "I don't believe the rumors; I was just joking. And of course I'm coming with you."

Satisfied, Iris gave Anna that odd little smile-smirk of hers and said, "Okay, let's go."

"Wait, wait, wait. We're leaving now?" Anna cried. She stared outside nervously; dark, stormy rainclouds were beginning to form in the seconds-ago-blue sky. "It looks like it's going to rain."

"Yeah," Iris said, somehow seeing even more excited than before. "And there's nothing better than seeing the lake in the rain. This cool mist forms; it's incredible."

"Wait a second." Anna's jaw swung open like a door. "You've been to the lake before?"

"Sure I have." Iris shrugged. "Not much else to do in the summer."

Anna realized that all the times Iris had claimed to be out with friends, she had really been at the lake, watching the mist form and creating ripples in the cool water and who knows what else. "What--what have you been doing there, exactly?" She had to ask.

"Oh, talking to the ghosts," Iris responded, completely nochalant. When Anna's face turned as white as a sheet, Iris burst out laughing. "Kidding," she said. "I don't do much. I contemplate things."

"Oh." It was hard for Anna to wrap her mind around Iris ever contemplating anything. Most of the time, she did things without thinking about whether or not they would be good ideas. Anna, on the other hand? Sometimes she thought through things too much--at least according to Iris.

"Don't worry; it's completely safe," Iris told Anna. "Come on, let's go and I'll show you."

Anna begrudgingly followed Iris outside the door and into the woods that snaked behind their house. There was no clear path that led to the lake, so they had to avoid sticks and brambles and spiky leaves to get there. By the time they finally arrived, Anna's legs were all cut up by scratches and bug bites.

Except she didn't care about any of that, or even really register that it was there. Because she was too in awe of the wonder before her to comprehend anything, to tell apart her right from her left, to even remember her name.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Iris asked, coming up behind Anna. She had a strange wistful tone in her voice, as if she wished to disappear under the lake and never return.

Anna nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it really is. I see why you wanted me to come here, Iris."

Iris smiled, wide green eyes blending in with the trees behind her. "I wanted to show this place to my twin."

Anna smiled, too. Iris may have gotten on her nerves most of the time, but she truly was an incredible sister.

Just then, the heavens opened up, rain coming down fast and furious on Anna and Iris. Anna expected to feel terrified, but the only feeling filling her insides was pure elation. She and Iris laughed like they had never laughed before; deep, true belly laughs of happiness and nothing more. They ran around the lake, catching droplets with their tongues, hugging, closer than they ever had been in all their years of life. 

Everything was fun and funny...until it wasn't.

Iris decided to climb a rock standing stark and tall right near the far end of the lake. It was twice her height, and Anna knew it was a bad idea to climb it.

Still, though, she didn't say anything. Today, she had finally proved to Iris that she was brave. She didn't want Iris to change her mind. And besides, Iris had done lots of daring things and never gotten hurt before. What harm could this do?

Before Anna knew it, Iris was hoisting herself up onto that rock, muddy white Converse sliding against its slippery surface. At one point, she nearly tripped and fell--and Anna nearly had a heart attack--but then quickly regained her balance. When Iris reached the top, she stood up, beamed triumphantly, and called out, "I am queen of the world!"

At that second, thunder lit up the world, turning everything a dazzling white. 

Still, Iris remained on that rock, grinning, hands on her hips.

Anna knew Iris shouldn't be standing at the top of a rock in the middle of a thunderstorm, but Anna still didn't tell her to come down. If she did, she knew Iris would just laugh and call her a scaredy-cat, so it would have done absolutely nothing anyway.

"Anna, wanna join me?" Iris called.

"Um...no," Anna said immediately. Even with her new brave personality, she wasn't about to do something as stupid as that.

"What? You should--"

Lightning struck the sky once again, cutting off Iris's sentence. It also made her lose her balance, or something like that, because the next moment...

Iris
    was
           teetering
                         and tripping
                                             and falling
                                                             down
                                                             down
                                                            down
                                                                    into
                                                                          the
                                                                               lake.

Anna gasped, fear igniting everything just as the lightning had. "I'll save you, Iris, I will!" she cried. But staring down at the menacing, gray lake, the wrath of the storm pounding down onto it, she knew it was already too late.

Iris was gone.

If not from drowning, she must have hit her head on a rock and died that way. Besides, if Anna had tried to save her, she was sure she'd end up with the same fate as her sister.

"I'm sorry, Iris," she sobbed, crouching down next to the lake. "I'm sorry I can't save you."

Guilt spread over Anna as she realized that she could have prevented this. If she had told Iris to climb down from the rock enough times, or told her not to climb it at all, Iris would have listened. She would have come down. Anna's sister had been in grave danger, and Anna had let it all unfold.

"Why?" Anna screamed at the lake, angry at Iris, but more than that, angry at herself.

Angry for not preventing her sister's death simply because she wanted Iris to take her seriously. Angry for taking Iris for granted when she was alive. When had Anna last told Iris she loved her? She couldn't remember when. Years ago, maybe.

Suddenly, a warm feeling swept over Anna. She had no idea where it came from--she surely didn't have any warm feelings of any kind inside of her. So what could it be?

And then she heard a voice. A voice that sounded a little like her sister's, yet different in a way she couldn't quite place. 

And it was calling her name.

"Anna...Anna...Anna..."

"Who are you?" Anna called, terrified out of her mind.

"It's me. Iris." Right before her eyes, a girl swam up to where Anna was sitting beside the lake. She looked like her sister, yet enhanced somehow. Her eyes were a brighter green, her hair a deeper brown. What was happening?

"Iris! You're alive!" Anna cried, praying for it to be true.

The girl--Iris--shrugged. "In a way."

"Come on, let's go home," Anna begged, relief sweeping over her.

"No. I can't come with you. I beong to the lake now."

"What?" Anna screamed. Please don't let this be true--please please please. "So the rumors are...true? This place is haunted?"

"I'm not a ghost, exactly. More of a lake spirit."

That was such an Iris thing to say. Anna smiled against her will. "I'll stay here with you."

"Don't," Iris told her. "You must live your own life, without me."

"But--but I can't!" Anna cried. "You're all I know, Iris, my entire life. I can't live without you, I can't!"

"Yes, you can," Iris said softly. "I'm sorry, but I cannot return to the world with you. You must do it on your own."

"I'll miss you." Sobs shook Anna's body, flowing into the lake in sync with the pounding rain. "And I love you. So, so much."

"I love you too," Iris said softly, reaching up and touching a watery hand to Anna's cheek. 

Anna stood up slowly, her heart heavy in her chest. She didn't want to leave Iris, but she knew she had to.

She turned around, heading for home, when she heard a splash behind her.

She whirled around. Iris was staring at her intently.

"What?" she asked.

"Promise you'll visit?" Iris asked in a small voice.

Anna grinned widely. This was one question she knew she had the answer to.

"Of course I will."