The Lake House.
As he was packing away his one bedroom condo living into Rubbermaid tubs and a Uhaul, an old photobook poked out from under his box with "Memories" scribbled on it in black Sharpie.
The title, slowly fading , read Erie and he sat in his easy chair and began to flip the pages carefully.
The first few photos was of the house itself : the date was June 1, 1974--the boy's 7th birthday. His parents had bought him this special house to make his secret territory, allowing him to have free reign away from the structured 9 to 5 world they so deeply struggled with.
The more pages he flipped, the more the memories began to flood in. From his first scraped knee out on the porch to the large bass he caught all by himself to his first kiss under the dim moonlight, he could not help but begin to weep remembering how he had bitterly left such an impressioned piece of his past behind without any second thoughts about it. He remember that raw, painful memory as if it had happened yesterday. It was November 15, 1997. He had just come in from a long day of working a double in the cardiac unit at Soma Humanitarian when he walked in to find a note from his fiancee and the engagement ring he had gotten for her. The note read :
Clark,
You know that I love you more than anything in this entire universe. But, I have not truthful with you. I realized that though I love you, my heart belongs to another. I just could not bring myself to marry a person that I knew I could never make completely happy. I felt wrong for trying to force us to live this fantasy life instead of being true to who we really are . I didn't choose to leave to hurt you or cause pain; I did it to save you from a life of hell that not even someone as strong as you could endure. You may not feel like it now, but one day when your perfect girl comes along, you'll thank me. I love you always, Delaney
He was crushed ....no, devastated that his world had shattered in a matter of minutes and mere words. He threw her ring into the lake near the house and left in an angry huff, vowing to never return to the house again.
He knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath, dropped everything and raced out to the old blue lake house just to see its magnificent beauty one last time. He stepped out of his silver Honda Accord, awestruck that it was still standing practically in pristine condition. As he walked onto the porch, almost tripping over the loosened board that was all too familiar. He stepped inside to find all of the furniture, pictures , even the slightly sweet & salty smell from the lake remained intact. His heart began to flutter with joy and happiness that the old lake house was his one piece of nostalgia that had remained. In fact, he was so overjoyed that he decided to pass it on...to everyone. He had the house turned into a rec facility for elementary kids, Erie Seven, so that he could spread his nostalgia with all children searching for a slice of escapeism from the real world.
The title, slowly fading , read Erie and he sat in his easy chair and began to flip the pages carefully.
The first few photos was of the house itself : the date was June 1, 1974--the boy's 7th birthday. His parents had bought him this special house to make his secret territory, allowing him to have free reign away from the structured 9 to 5 world they so deeply struggled with.
The more pages he flipped, the more the memories began to flood in. From his first scraped knee out on the porch to the large bass he caught all by himself to his first kiss under the dim moonlight, he could not help but begin to weep remembering how he had bitterly left such an impressioned piece of his past behind without any second thoughts about it. He remember that raw, painful memory as if it had happened yesterday. It was November 15, 1997. He had just come in from a long day of working a double in the cardiac unit at Soma Humanitarian when he walked in to find a note from his fiancee and the engagement ring he had gotten for her. The note read :
Clark,
You know that I love you more than anything in this entire universe. But, I have not truthful with you. I realized that though I love you, my heart belongs to another. I just could not bring myself to marry a person that I knew I could never make completely happy. I felt wrong for trying to force us to live this fantasy life instead of being true to who we really are . I didn't choose to leave to hurt you or cause pain; I did it to save you from a life of hell that not even someone as strong as you could endure. You may not feel like it now, but one day when your perfect girl comes along, you'll thank me. I love you always, Delaney
He was crushed ....no, devastated that his world had shattered in a matter of minutes and mere words. He threw her ring into the lake near the house and left in an angry huff, vowing to never return to the house again.
He knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath, dropped everything and raced out to the old blue lake house just to see its magnificent beauty one last time. He stepped out of his silver Honda Accord, awestruck that it was still standing practically in pristine condition. As he walked onto the porch, almost tripping over the loosened board that was all too familiar. He stepped inside to find all of the furniture, pictures , even the slightly sweet & salty smell from the lake remained intact. His heart began to flutter with joy and happiness that the old lake house was his one piece of nostalgia that had remained. In fact, he was so overjoyed that he decided to pass it on...to everyone. He had the house turned into a rec facility for elementary kids, Erie Seven, so that he could spread his nostalgia with all children searching for a slice of escapeism from the real world.
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