Lake Sully

CHAPTER 1 :

THE SURPRISE

Such a day it was! The morning was bright and clear, with no clouds in the sky and just the shiny sun smiling downward at us. Well, it was the last day of school, thus announcing the arrival of the legendary summer vacation. Oh, a vacation that will liberate me for once in my life, not just for a couple of weeks, and then back into the blender again.

It seemed like the day couldn’t get any better. Our last exam was easy, free of tricks and any annoying, frustrating questions that give you the feeling of wanting to tear the exam paper apart. My dad surprisingly came to pick me up from school, although I thought I had told my parents that I would go out with a couple of my friends. So, I started to get a little bit annoyed.

“Dad.... Didn’t I say that I wanted to go out with my friends after school? Why did you come to pick me up, then?” in a sad tone, I said.

“Don’t feel down. I came to give you a surprise!” he said while driving down the road. He handed me a small piece of paper with a fish drawn on it—a clip art fish.

“Really, dad, that’s your special surprise for me! I thought it would be a ticket to travel somewhere, or something.” I said this after seeing the piece of paper that my dad handed me.

“Oh, still with that mind of yours! Grow up a little bit! You and I are going alone on a fishing and camping trip for 5 days in Lake Sully. Surprise!” he said in that joyful tone.

Soon enough, my face lightened, and I grew much happier than ever. My first fishing trip with my father alone, away from my brother and two sisters. Yet, I was a little bit sad that mom couldn’t come over with us. It would have been much more fun with her! But who will watch over my brothers and sisters if mom comes with us?

“Oh my God, Dad, I can’t believe this surprise; I didn’t expect it at all. I mean, you got me in the first half, didn’t you?” I said while turning into such a happy and excited person.

“By the way, I’ve got all your stuff packed in the back; I’ve even got some canned food for emergencies, because we’re going to forage for food in the wilderness, and I have enough water and drinks for the five days, with a large enough tent for both of us to stay in comfortably.

“So, are you ready?” my dad said.

Later, dad handed me some papers, with a schedule for everyday activities, specified with the hours, so that we could take advantage of the whole day.

We started on our road to Lake Sully. It was a wellknown campsite, full of exotic and delicious fish to eat, a variety of other animals to hunt, and a variety of interesting camp-friendly activities.

The journey took 5 hours to reach the gates of Lake Sully. Yet the gates looked broken and shattered into pieces as if something had run over them. It was strange for these wooden gates to be like this; I mean, it is a very well-known place for campers from all over the US to visit.

“Stay in the car! I will go check what’s there, probably that’s just an old gate on the other side of the lake,” dad said in a worried voice. I looked outside at the sides of the forest beside the car and noticed something weird. Some trees were broken; just a small piece of the trunk was visible. As if some extra-large monster crossed this road and destroyed the gates behind it. My dad came inside the car, after investigating a little bit, and took a decision. “Apparently, this is the old gate, which was destroyed years ago. The other new gate is on the other side of the lake, but we can camp on this side of the lake. The Lake isn’t large enough, we can see the other side of the lake. So, let us just continue on our journey,” my father said in an odd voice, frightened, but trying hard not to show it to me.

It was his first time going to Lake Sully, but not his first time camping. He used to go with my grandfather to another lake.

He was driving slowly towards the lake, afraid that something might leap from the nearby forest.

“I will keep an eye on the forest, you just take care of the road ahead, dad. Calm down, please,” I said in a calm voice.

“Ok, but look carefully, I don’t want to have to cancel the trip,” my dad said.

I saw something in the car’s rearview mirrors, but I didn’t tell dad. It seemed as if it were flickering, much like an old light bulb, on a dark, deserted road. Soon came the night, and we couldn’t find an end to that road, it seemed as if we were passing by the same spot repeatedly, although we were just walking in a straight line............