Chapter Sixsteen : The Lake

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Ashley and Celine got to Mountain House before the rest of the group. They hung out in the living room on the couch while they had some tea. Celine noticed her friend was spacing out and asked, "Are you excited to meet your brother?"

Ashley looked at her and gave a faint smile, rubbing her hands together. Then she sighed and stared at the floor. "I'm just surprised and confused, to be honest. I don't know how to react when I see him. I feel like I'm meeting him for the first time, even though we spent some fun time together as friends."

She looked up at Celine and smiled as she continued, "And yeah, I want to get to know him better."

"Your mom made a good decision by gathering you in such a beautiful place," Celine said, smiling. Catherine was the only one who knew the truth, and she promised Veronica not to say anything so as not to make them worry or afraid.

Ashley nodded, and then the door opened. Catherine was the first to enter, and she stretched her arms up. "I'm so tired of driving!"

The two girls stood up when they saw her, and she rushed over to hug them. "We're going to have so much fun together!" she said.

Then, Aiden came in while still holding Taylor's arm to force him inside, and as soon as he was inside, Aiden let go of him and walked to his fiancée. He looked her in the eye and said, "You must be tired."

Catherine shot them a look from the corner of her eye and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. Then, Ashley looked at Taylor, who was looking all around, clearly impressed by how nice the house was. He said, putting his hands in his jacket pockets, "Wow, rich."

Ashley waved at him as she approached, but he just stood there, not saying a word. They were both silent and awkward, like they were shy around each other.

"Hey, again," she said, smiling a little. He smiled back and nodded, then looked away. Then he said, "I think I got fooled. The ride that Aiden told me about seems to be so long."

"I don't mind it," she replied, still smiling. Then he looked into her eyes and felt so calm that he felt like he really needed a vacation, even though he still had a hard time accepting everything that had happened.

 "Ashley," he said. She raised her eyebrows while she waited for him to talk. He looked nervous as he bit his lower lip, then he said, "It'll be more comfortable if you keep treating me just like the first time we met."

She fell silent for a moment before they both flinched when Catherine called everyone from the kitchen, "I'll make a nice dinner for us. Keep chatting or take a breather until I'm done!"

Celine went into the kitchen to help her, but Catherine pushed her out the door. "I can do it alone!" she said.

"But," Celine started to object, but Catherine cut her off and shut the door in her face. She leaned her back against it, took her phone out of her jeans pocket, and sent a message to Veronica.

(Good afternoon, Madam Garcia. The kids are safe.)

She smiled and took a deep breath. "If I knew that secret missions would make me super rich, I would choose to work as a spy from the beginning."

She grabbed an elastic band from her pocket and tied her hair up. Then she put on a kitchen apron and put her hands on her waist, thinking, "What should I make?" 

"Wow, this looks really good," said Ashley as she took a seat, and then the others joined the dinner table.

"Thanks, Catherine. That was really nice of you." Celine said, making Catherine blush. She waved the spoon back and forth while putting her hand over her mouth, hiding her proud smile. She said after sitting down, "I got my love and skill for cooking from my dad. He was a great chef, you know."

Her smile faded, and she looked down, staring at her empty plate, and everyone went quiet. Then Ashley patted her on the shoulder, trying to make the atmosphere nice again.

"Let's enjoy the dinner together!" she said.

Catherine shook her head and smiled widely before standing up and happily helping to fill everyone's plates.

"Wait, where's Taylor?" Catherine asked, looking between her friends' faces with her eyebrows furrowed, and then Ashley replied before putting a huge spoonful of rice in her mouth. "He hasn't said a word since we got here, and he didn't want to join us at the table no matter how much I insisted."

She put the spoon down on the table and let out a long breath. "I feel like he'll never be okay with us being in his life. We're the only ones having fun, even though the plan was to make him happy."

Aiden opened his eyes really wide and said, "What if he left without us realizing it?"

They looked at each other for a second, and then Aiden jumped up from his chair and asked Ashley and Catherine, "Do you have your car keys with you?"

The two of them went quiet for a sec, then hurried off to their rooms. They came back to the hall and said the keys were in their places.

"Where's he?" Aiden wondered, rubbing the back of his head. He looked outside. It was really dark, and no one could risk getting out without knowing the road. Plus, the house was near the forest, which was full of dangerous animals.

They started searching for him inside the house, but there was no sign of him. Then, they stood up near the house door, and everyone was holding a flashlight. Aiden addressed them, "I'm going to the east with Ashley, and you two go to the west, but don't go too far. If you see something strange or dangerous, call me immediately, okay?"

They nodded and left, and they kept calling for Taylor for about ten minutes, but he never answered, which made them more and more worried. Then, Catherine suddenly stopped near a lake and narrowed her eyebrows while pointing the flashlight at something strange that was floating on the water's surface.

"What's wrong?" Celine stood beside her while trying to see where Catherine was looking, and then Catherine screamed and threw the flashlight on the ground before running really fast towards the lake.

"No, please!" Her voice was shaking, and she dove into the cold water. She swam quickly toward something. When she touched it, she realized it was just a tree branch.

"Shit!" She slammed the water surface and clung to the branch with both hands. She was breathing fast, and all of her body was shaking. She closed her eyes and felt like she was going back to that day when she found her sister's body floating on the water. It was too late to save her.

She was completely overwhelmed, to the point where she didn't hear her friend calling her when she was in the middle of her dark abyss. She was extremely afraid, and suddenly she forgot how to swim back to the ground. But then, out of nowhere, she felt fingers wrapping around her arm. He pulled her body toward him and started swimming until they both were on the grass.

She was on her knees, looking down at her hands, which were on the ground. She felt a tear fall down her cheek. She heard Taylor's voice, and he sounded more worried than she was. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She looked up at him, and he was staring at her with wide eyes. He was completely wet, and his breathing was loud. Suddenly, she felt a huge urge to give in to the tears. She started crying loudly while pushing him with both hands, which surprised him. She yelled, "You idiot!"

She didn't stop until he grabbed her wrists, then he pulled her towards him, hugged her tight while gently stroking her back, and said calmly, "It's okay; don't cry."

He gave Celine a nod, letting her know her friend was going to be okay. She was having a panic attack. When Catherine finally calmed down, she moved away from him quickly, turned her head, and ran her fingers through her wet hair. "Oh my god, that was embarrassing," she muttered.

"Let me help you up," he said and was about to touch her, but she slapped his hand and said, frowning, "No, thank you."

She started to walk away, and he looked at Celine with raised eyebrows. She smiled a little and said, "Everyone's looking for you. Let them know you're safe."

"What? Why?" he said, surprised, and then he hurried over to Celine when she'd already walked away.

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