The Lake

Tea Sofia Zybartas

    It was a warm morning in the early autumn. Leaves were falling from the trees and the sun was shining. Susan and her father were leaf- ing through pages in books outside their small wooden cottage. They were sitting cross-legged on the bench opposite the lake. Susan always loved the lake. Sometimes she would only look at it and think. The lake was lovely - grayish as a late night sky. She always had a warm feeling while she sat there enjoying the view.

    Later that day she went for a walk in the park with her good friend Alice. They were talking and laughing at everything. At one point they just lied down under the twisted branches and listened to birds tweeting. Susan was looking at the sky and observing the amounts of birds that were flying above her.

    All of a sudden she received a call from her mom. Without a word to Alice she rushed out of the park flooded with tears. All of her mem- ories flitted around her like all the birds. She was rushing through buildings and narrow streets. A large wave of emotions was forming inside her. She felt a lot but at the same time didn't feel anything. Suddenly she was there. Susan's dad was lying on the hospital bed powerless and very faint looking. Susan and her mother were stand- ing speechless side by side, avoiding looking at each other.

    The next day her dad passed away. Susan felt as if she lost a part of herself forever just like a tree that has its branch broken by a win- ter's storm. She did not go out of the house for a long time. Some- times she wouldn't even leave her room. She barely ate or slept.

    But one day early in the morning she decided to go out. The sun was shining brightly and the weather was very nice. Susan came out of the house so she could sit by the lake. She sat in silence for a long time. She felt like there was something wrong with the lake. She did not have that warm feeling that she used to have. Susan realized that it was not the lake that gave her the warm feeling but the fact that she used to sit by it with her loving father. That love for lake disap- peared like a bobbing little wave in the waters and sank deep into the bottom.

DISCUSSION: Describe a place where you feel really comfortableand you have it connected with a warm memory. 

CREATIVITY: What feeling does this story leave you with? What happened in the story? Write a story about some- body dealing with a difficult situation.