Chapter 1
Ryland was still mad at his mother, even though they left Spokane about five hours ago. They were now just passing Red Rock Point, and they were going to be at Logan Pass in less than thirty minutes. The entire trip Ryland said little to his mother, who seemed to have her mind set, so she didn’t talk to him either. But, even though they were already close to their destination, the teenager still wasn’t giving up and decided to put up another fight in the battle that was long lost.
“Can you tell me again, why do I have to stay with Dad?” asked Ryland, his tone full of resentment towards his mother.
“Because I have to go to Seattle on a very important seminar that I completely forgot about,” said Mrs. Lucas, and her lips got tight. She didn’t like being asked the same question repeatedly, and that’s what Ryland was doing the whole way and he knew he was getting on her nerves. His green eyes sparkled with malice.
“I still don’t understand why I couldn’t just stay home?” he asked again, for the millionth time. His mother’s lips virtually disappeared.
“Because, you’re still too young to be left home alone, and since my seminar is three days long and your dad just started his vacation yesterday. No one will be back home in time before you set the house on fire and I can’t risk that,” said Mrs. Lucas and gave Ryland a side glance. The brown-haired teenager frowned and crossed his hands in front of his chest.
“But I am eighteen–years–old,” he said, putting emphasis on each word as he pronounced it. “I am not a child anymore, Mom.”
“We already discussed this, Ryland,” said Mrs. Lucas again. “You’re just going to have to spend the next three days with your father, and then I’ll come and pick you up.”
Ryland frowned again and pulled out his iPhone from the pocket.
“Oh, great, there’s no reception here!” he said, appalled. “How did you let Dad know I was coming?”
“I didn’t,” said Mrs. Lucas. “You’re going to surprise him.”
“What if he doesn’t want to be surprised?” asked Ryland.
“Ryland, don’t be stupid. Your dad is going to be glad to see you. He even asked you if you wanted to join him before he left, and you refused. It would have saved me so much time now if you just said yes. You used to love going to the Hidden Lake house when you were little. It’s been almost eight years since you’ve been there. You’ll enjoy it.”
“Whatever, Mom,” said Ryland and changed the station. This high in the mountains, even the radio reception was poor. Ryland looked out of the car window. Even though the end of April was approaching, the snow was still heavy on the mountains. The place that he was headed was a house set right on the edge of Hidden Lake in the state of Montana. The lake indeed was hidden, in every sense of the word. It was almost impossible to approach it with a car and it was set deeply between three mountains: Mount Cannon, Reynolds Mountain and Bearhat Mountain. Ryland’s dad had a lake house over there, where he went every once in a while to escape civilization. Ryland used to love going there with him and his mother, but after his mother finished her studies and started working as a doctor, she stopped going. And then eventually, Ryland stopped going too. He wasn’t looking forward to it. Ryland was a senior at Mead High School and he was out of school for two weeks for spring break and “school renovations”, as the principal has said in the announcement on the last day before spring break. Ryland was excited and happy, like everybody else, for getting an extra week of spring break. His happiness deflated when the principal said that they will have to make up for that week at the end of the school year. But now Ryland wasn’t so happy. If he had school, his mom was probably going to let him stay at their family house in Spokane and he could’ve even thrown a party for his teammates.
Ryland was a typical jock type, but he was also smart and had good grades. He was terrified when his parents moved to Spokane two years ago because he was worried he would not fit in. But he became one of the most popular guys at school in no time. That later benefited his best friend Larkin, when he and his mother moved to Spokane as well. Still, he couldn’t get the attention of the girl he liked, Liv, and he hoped that if he threw a party she would come over and that somehow would change.
But, now all of his dreams were crushed, and he was probably going to be cut off from the rest of the world for the next three days. And he resented his mother super bad for that, as she was pulling into the Logan Pass Visitor Center.
“Okay, don’t forget your backpack and your hoodie,” said Mrs. Lucas as she pulled in front of the entrance. Ryland’s eyes opened wide in shock.
“Wait, you will not drive me there?” he asked her, his voice a few octaves higher.
“Keep your voice down,” said Mrs. Lucas as she was handing him the hoodie from the back seat. “And no, because I checked it online and the Glacier Route is not open for vehicles. You’ll have to take the Hidden Lake Trail by foot.” She looked apologetic, but Ryland knew she was enjoying this and was probably trying to teach him a lesson.
“Fine,” he muttered, and he grabbed his green Mead High School hoodie from her hands. “See you,” he said as he stepped out of the car.
“I’m sorry Ryland, but your birthday was last week and you will always be my baby,” she said. But Ryland didn’t want to listen, so he just closed the door on her. Mrs. Lucas rolled down the window. “I love you,” she shouted and drove off.
Ryland put his hoodie over his black t-shirt because the air was chilly up here in the mountains, and he put his backpack over his broad shoulders. He went inside the Visitor Center.
“Hello, welcome to the Glacier National Park,” said a twenty-something year old girl with blond hair. She was petite, and she looked super cute in her uniform. Ryland used his flirting super-powers on her.
“Hey, Simone,” he said, reading her name-tag and giving her one of his most disarming smiles. “So, I just got told that the Glacier Route that goes towards Hidden Lake is closed.”
“Oh, yes, sir,” said Simone and smiled back, the blood rushing in her cheeks and she automatically put an invisible piece of hair behind her right ear and pretended to look in the computer just so she can avoid Ryland’s penetrating gaze. “The only way down to Hidden Lake is if you take the Trail down to the Hidden Lake Overlook. It shouldn’t take you over 40 minutes.”
“Aw, that’s a bummer,” said Ryland, looking disappointed. “I was hoping to make it down there faster. My dad owns one of the houses down there by Hidden Lake, and even when I get to Hidden Lake Overlook, I’m still going to have to hike for another 35-40 minutes until I reach the house.” He stared her directly into the eyes until Simone blinked a little too many times and then stared at the computer again.
“Oh, well, let me see if I can do something about it,” said Simone and went back.
“I appreciate that, Simone,” said Ryland after her, still smiling.
Simone came back three minutes later with a guy named Bob. Bob asked if he was Mr. Lucas’ son and who said that he was going to give him a ride on his ATV to Hidden Lake Overlook, but that he will have to walk from that point on because it was getting late and he had to get back home to his missus. Ryland didn’t really care, as long as Bob gave him a ride at least half-way there, so he thanked Simone and followed Bob outside. They got to Hidden Lake Overlook in only five minutes, and then Bob bid him farewell and asked Ryland to give his father his regards. Ryland promised he would and started walking towards the lake house. He had lied to Simone. There were only twenty minutes left hiking, but the sun wasn’t visible anymore and by the time he got to the house he knew it was going to be full dark, even though it was only going to be a couple of minutes after six o’clock. There were a few lake houses, but they were all suitable distance from each other.
Their lake house was the biggest one and the only one that had the lights on inside. As Ryland approached it, he couldn’t wait to surprise his dad. He and his dad used to be really close when Ryland was a toddler, but they started drifting apart once he started hitting puberty and became a teenager. Ryland never knew what the reason for that was. He was impulsive, and he often said things that he didn’t mean, but he had always looked up to his father. His dad, Victor Lucas, was a famous engineer and a former football athlete, just like Ryland was now. As he was climbing up the stairs that were leading towards the front door of the lake house, Ryland thought that maybe the next three days would not be too bad. That maybe he could reconnect with his father and fix their relationship that got broken throughout the years.
He came to the door and entered, and he was just going to say “hi, Dad” when he spotted his father and froze in his tracks. His father was standing stark naked in front of the lit fireplace, his butt-cheeks clenched as he was beating his member, while two lesbians were eating each other out on the television hanging over the fireplace. His dad turned towards the door in shock. And then he came all over the couch, while looking at his son’s shocked face, while his face showed total and utter embarrassment.
“Ryland!”
