The Lake House

“By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” Everything by the lake house was on fire. The wooden chairs on the stairs and some boxes with old stuff in them.  I called out for John to come and help me extinguish the fire. We went running with buckets of water from the lake and used the hose. After an hour we had managed to stop the fire from spreading. The lake house was not damaged that much it only got to the stairs. John was looking around. He said we should rest and that we would check it in the morning. I hugged him and went back to sleep. I was too sleepy to ask him questions. So I listened to him.

It was 7:00am and I woke up and saw that he wasn’t beside me. I called out to him and there was no response, I got worried for a while. I checked the entire house and didn’t find him. Until I heard something being thrown in a stack. I looked out the window and there he was cleaning up the burned boards. I went and asked him what he thought about what had happened to the lake house. How could it get on fire if we had no fire even close to it? We didn’t understand at all. Something was out of place and he told me that someone had planned this.

There were footprints on the floor on the other side of the lake house and also a strong smell of gasoline. We couldn’t tell where the smell came from but it definitely meant that someone did this.  We were glad that it only got to the stairs and not the house so we only had to fix the stairs. 

We had no idea who could have done this. It was a mystery. There was no one until we thought for a moment. We came to the conclusion that it was only the house they went after and not us. We were confused for a while and we both knew what we had to do. We looked for information about the lake house and we found that the house was registered with John's name. We tried to remember that at our wedding his father Mitch gifted us the lake house and Rebeca his stepmother wasn't happy about it. She was the only one who wanted possession of that house because she knew the value of it. I knew this because on the night of my marriage she told me that if we were going to sell it that she would take it. 

She told me when I was alone so I found that really weird. I told John I needed to speak with him about something important. He didn’t hesitate to come with me and asked if everything was okay. After I told him what she said. I told John that we should be careful with her in the future. John looked concerned he knew that she didn’t even speak to us at all. Since she got married to Mitch she only said a few words, never a conversation. 

     We are going to meet his father this weekend and have dinner. We left at 7:00pm to get there we had to drive for 2 hours. We were exhausted but we finally got there. Mitch and Rebeca received us with a warm welcome. We both saw how Rebeca looked dissatisfied. We both knew that she didn’t want us there. But she had to agree to John's father. John's brother was also there he was in his office. John went to go see him since it been a really long time since they saw each other. Willam was John's younger brother they were really close but  Rebeca is only William's mother so she did most things only for him and didn’t treat the brothers equally when they were younger.

After a while, we made our way to the living room and I started to chat with John's father and his stepmother remained silent. She had a glass of wine in her hand. His father asked when was he going to have a grandchild. He laughed and said that he is growing old and that he would love to have one soon. I laughed and I told him that probably in a year, after all, me and John just got married a couple of months ago. I told him that I discussed it with John and we really aren't sure if we should wait after our first year of marriage and then we would have a child. We both agreed to it and everything was right on track because we didn’t want to go fast in our mirage. We are new at this and we want to take it slow. 

After a really long time of speaking with John's father, I told him that John was taking a really long time and that I should check on him. He said that they were probably just catching up. We all heard the laughs coming from the hallway,  it was them John and William. We all turned and looked at them and I asked if they were okay with a smile. William just said that they were catching up. We were advised by the servants that dinner was ready. We made our way into the dining room. We were all enjoying the time until I told John's father that we had something to tell him. He looked surprised. His wife didn’t stop cutting her stake. Until I said the following words. Something happened to the lake house. Rebeca looked up right away. John looked closely at her reaction. She then took a drink of her wine and stayed silent. John's father asked what had happened to it. He looked concerned. John told him that there was nothing to worry about. The fire didn't cause major damage, only the stairs needed to be fixed. Rebeca looked disappointed. She spoke and said that she is glad that everything was fine and that it didn’t lead to major events. William looked at john and asked if we didn’t get hurt. We told him that we didn’t get hurt and everything was under control. We Mitch that he shouldn't worry about it. He asked if he could help pay for the damages. Rebeca looked right at him. John told him that it was okay that he would handle it but he still thanked his father. 

It was getting really late so we told Mitch that we had to leave. He said nonsense yall should spend the night here. William told the servants to prepare a bedroom. Mitch was happy to know that they wouldn't have to drive at night. We agreed to stay the night we saw that Rebeca had an indifferent expression. She left her room and we didn’t hear from her. Mitch's father told us to excuse her. She is always like that. We all knew that she wasn’t like that with everyone but it didn’t really matter to me and Mitch. 

William showed us our room and we made ourselves comfortable and we started to talk about how we should find the truth. We needed to make a plan. We stayed up late and figured out how to make her confess she was behind it. 

We went to the kitchen and had breakfast with John's father, he told us that William had something urgent to attend to. We asked where Rebeca was. Mitch told us that she had gone out with her friends. To me, she looked like an unsociable person who hates everyone.

We were really surprised to know that they were both not home. I started suspecting William something was off, something really changed in him but I couldn’t tell what it was. 

I wasn’t that close to him so maybe John caught it. He never told me anything about it but I knew he was thinking the same thing as I was. After we had breakfast we went to the garden John's mother used to tell him stories there. There was a swing there with so many different kinds of flowers. John told me to sit on the swing. I laughed and told him that if he pushed me off I would make him pay. He smiled and said to trust him. I said alright. He was pushing me slowly and everything around us was so peaceful and beautiful at the same time. It was a moment to cherish. But it only lasted for a few minutes until I saw someone on the second floor looking through the window. It was Rebeca she closed the curtains and acted like she wasn't spying on me and john. I thought wasn't she home. John asked what I saw. I told him that I saw someone watching us. He knew who that person was even though I didn’t need to tell him.

We were on our way to tell Mitch that it was time for us to leave. As soon as we opened the door Rebeca told us that she thought that we had already left. John told her that we were only going to say goodbye to his father. She let us through and we made our way to find Mitch. We found him in his study reading a newspaper. We entered and told him that we would be on our way now. He told us why so fast you barely come to visit me. Stay for a little more. Stay for the rest of the week I would like to spend some more time with both of you.

I knew that things were not going to be easy if we stayed for a longer time. I looked at John and smiled at him. He knew what I had meant with that smile. He took my hand and told his father that we would stay. 

We were happy to spend time together with him after all we didn't see him after the wedding.

We had dinner once again but Rebeca wasn’t there. William told us to excuse her because she wasn’t feeling good. I tried to keep myself from asking further questions but I couldn't help it. I asked if she was alright and was there anything I could do to help her. Mitch said that the servants were helping her; it was nothing to worry about. 

After a while, we had all finished dinner and we excused ourselves from Mitch, and William and l went to our bedroom. I talked to John and everything was out of place and nothing made sense to us. 

The next day I heard someone speaking in the study. I heard a woman's voice and a man's voice clearly. It was Rebeca and William. They were telling another person on the phone that me and John were going to stay for an entire week here with them. The job should be done and no one would find out. I thought for a minute “the lake house” came to my mind.

So I really found out who is really behind all this. I slipped and made something fall. I didn’t have heels on so I went running to the closet. I closed it carefully. It was a close one and they almost caught me. I heard someone is coming just to get the job done in 3 days. 

I waited for a long time until I didn't hear any noise. I came out and I saw John really worried about me.  I asked him what was wrong and he said that everyone was looking for me for the past hour. I looked at him with confusion. I couldn’t believe it I was in that closet for an entire hour. I quickly made something in my mind because everyone was literally staring at me. I said that I just went walking by the woods by the lake and got a little lost after but finally made my way back into the correct direction to the house. I told them I was fine. Mitch and John looked really worried. John said to not wonder or like that again he thought that something happened to me. He hugged me tightly. I could feel like he was looking at Rebeca. 

I told John that I needed to rest. So that I could get some alone time with him to tell him what I discovered. He agreed and took me back to our room. I told him that I needed to tell him something. He said take a shower first so you can rest better. I listened to him and when I finished showering I saw him in the bed asleep. He was probably really tired after looking for me for an hour. I felt really bad but I had a really good excuse. I finally found out who set fire to the lake house. Now I just needed to find out why they did it. 

I went to sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow. I woke up and I saw that John wasn’t there. I got dressed and went to look for him. I asked William for his brother; he told me he was with his father in the garden. I went to go tell him why I had disappeared and what I found out. As I saw John and Mitch having a Father and son moment in a place with it was really special to them I couldn’t interfere with that. I realized that I needed to not say anything to him not until he was alone.