Prologue - Broken Promises
It was a day like any other day. Rena was going for her daily walk with her dog, Annie, down by the lake. Rena was just an average girl, nothing too special. She was 5′2" with long brown hair that she almost always wore in a braid pulled to the side. Her signature look during the summer consisted of jean shorts and crop top t’s. One staple item you could find her wearing all the time is her signature high-top black Converse.
She had just graduated high school and was spending her last summer in her small hometown in the middle of nowhere. She was hoping that her childhood friend would show up, it had been 3 years since she had seen them. If they didn’t show up then she’d leave. She had plans to move to a new city, go to college, and try to make friends. But for now, she was just relaxing by the lake of her childhood that held so many memories.
She let out a soft sigh. This was supposed to be an epic summer. It’s just not the same. Something feels like it’s missing, or maybe it’s someone.
The duo came across a cluster of trees along the bank of the coastline. Annie ran up to the trees and started wagging her tail excitedly.
“What is it, girl?! What’d you find?”
Rena walks up to the treeline and spots a small pathway leading up into the trees. She follows the path and comes to a clearing. In the middle, there was an odd tree. It was thin but the bark was cracked and white. The tree was also covered in strange-looking thorns.
“Hmm. This is weird. It’s got spikes coming out of it. I don’t think this is a tree that normally grows here. What do you think, Annie?”
Rena suddenly had a sense of deja vu but couldn’t quite place why. Why was this tree familiar?
Annie starts sniffing the tree then steps back and starts to dig. Rena crouches down next to Annie.
Annie kept digging until something was shining out of the hole.
“What’s this?” Rena reached in and dusted some dirt off the object. It was a metal box with a lock. It was small but it seemed to be holding something inside. Weird, did someone bury this here?
She flipped it over and saw some markings on the bottom.
“C. E.”
Clark? Did he bury this here? What would he need to hide?
She stood up with the box deciding to take it with her. She looked up and noticed the sun was setting. She whistled for Annie who was off doing doggie things.
“Come on girl. Let’s go home. I need some comfort food and a nap.”
Once she was home, she started moving about the house getting things ready to turn in for the night. She filled up Annie’s food and water bowl and then headed back outside. She began walking towards the backside of the house.
Rena rounds the corner to the back of the house. There was a large oak tree standing tall in the middle of the backyard. Its branches seem to reach the heavens. In the middle of the tree a few yards up sat a treehouse.
Rena climbs to the top of the tree house glancing at a carving that says ‘R&C 4ever’. She sits down and turns towards the skyline viewing the lake, the distant mountains, and the setting sun.
She looked down at the box, trying to remember a time when she saw him with one. Nothing came to mind, just memories of a time she longed for, when he was by her side.
She looked off to the setting sun as a tear slid down her cheek. “Where are you Clark? You said you’d be here. You promised.”
