WILD WATER RIDE

          “What do you mean you’re not going?” Kamy pulled the phone from her ear. “You have to go. It’s the biggest party of the year. All the seniors will be there!”

          “Tawna, stop screaming,” Kamy said. “I told you there is nothing I can do.

          “Listen, do what ever you have to, but get to that party.”

          Kamy sighed into the receiver. “My mom said it’s dangerous at that lake. She’s not the only one. Mrs. Nebert from next door said that is where they found Lesley’s body. I am not so sure it’s the best place to throw the Senior Bash.”

          “Well, K. P. is going to be there and you know it will be open season on him if you're not there.”

          Kamy sighed again. “I know. I hope he wears that new chain I bought him. Don’t worry; I’ll make it there. Are you going to Lesley’s funeral?”

          "No, Mom didn’t really know them that well,” Tawna said.

          “Listen, I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

          The next morning, at the funeral home, Kamy shuddered and wished she'd stayed home. The room was noisy, too noisy. Whispers were drowning out the morbid elevator music piped in through hidden speakers somewhere down the hall. They walked past the closed casket. Kamy stopped to smile at a picture of a bubbly frizzy-haired teen displayed on a small table. Cards and letters surrounded it.

          “It’s not fair, Mom, the whole senior class is going to be there,” Kamy whispered. “I told everyone I would see them at the party, especially K. P. All my chores are done. My homework is finished. Please, Mom, please! You have to let me go."

          "This is not the place to discuss this," Mom whispered. She frowned at Kamy, and then added. “You know the rule, no lake after dark. I told you before it is too dangerous at the lake at that time of night. Three students have mysteriously drowned this year already. That’s eighteen in the last five years. The place is haunted. It is completely out of the question.”

          Kamy folded her arms across her chest and mumbled something as they stepped through the door when they arrived back home. "I am going upstairs to take a nap," she murmured. As she threw herself onto the bed, her mind spun into a dream where she hiked through the woods on the way to the lake party. Suddenly KP stepped out of the trees in front of her and beckoned her to follow, slipping back into the darkness.

          A grandfather clock chimed seven times waking Kamy from her dream filled slumber. Moonlit walks with K.P. and her friends all gathered around a fire at the lake swirled in the back of her mind. It was the only way to escape at times. She looked back from her bedroom window towards the door.

          “Sorry Mom,” she said as she twisted the latch. "I have to see K.P." She lifted the window and squeezed through the opening out into the crisp night air. Kamy gripped the drainpipe as she had done so many times before and shimmied down. She lost her grip five feet from the ground and landed hard on her knees. “Ouch!” she thought out loud, “That’s gonna leave a mark.”

          Pulling herself up she turned and ran down the path. Kamy opened the gate and dashed down the dirt road towards the lake. She hoped KP was still there. She would just die if he had left with someone else.

          After a 15-minute jog, she reached the shore of the dark underworld of fish and seaweed, shells and shellfish. The lake was black as pitch. Kamy walked along the water until she spied the bonfires at the lake's northern border. She heard music, talking and laughter, the typical sounds of her fellow classmates.

          “Kamy, over here,” came a familiar voice. “Didn’t think you were gonna make it.”

          “Yeah, well, you know me. I hate to miss a party.”

          Kamy poured a drink while she searched the crowd.

          “Any sign of KP?” Kamy asked.

          “NOPE!” Tawna responded.

          “I hope he shows up. I really wanted to talk to him. I was hoping to see him over the summer,” Kamy said. A lump grew in her throat. She hoped her escape to the party wouldn't be for nothing. "I'm going to go for a walk. Maybe he's down by the water there."

          She strode along the lake's edge searching about for any signs of life. There was no one in sight. She picked up a smooth flat stone and turned it over several times. It was perfect. She leaned to the side, cocked her arm and let the stone sail. Kamy counted, four, five, six.

          “Wow,” She thought out loud, “That’s the most times . . .” Hot breath blew across her neck. She froze. Something grunted behind her. Kamy turned, and then fell backwards onto her rump.

          A magnificent stallion stood just a foot away from her. Its color matched the bottom
of the lake. The horse flared its nostrils. Kamy rose up, stepped backwards and tripped over her own feet, again. The horse stepped forward and nudged her with its nose, urging her to get up.

          Kamy’s knees were sore and so was her rear, but something about the horse was appealing and Kamy felt like a ride. She grabbed a hold of its mane and pulled herself up onto its bare back.

          The stallion broke into a fast gallop along the lake and headed towards the party. Kamy screamed, while holding on for dear life. The horse was running faster and faster as it circled around the camp.

          Tawna cried out to Kamy, “Get down from off of that thing; you’ll get hurt.”

          Kamy leaned over to jump, but, as she pushed herself up to leap, she felt glued to the charger. Kamy panicked. She screamed! She kicked! She cried! Nothing worked.

          Each time they came about the horse got closer and closer to the water. She sensed eventually the horse would charge straightway into the black icy liquid. She began punching the horse with her free hand.

          “Stop, I said, please let me go!”

          As they passed the water the fourth time Kamy peered out over the water. She could feel the icy finger of death. It was pointing directly at her from over the lake. Kamy nearly fainted. It was Lesley. She hovered over the water in a long black dress. Her face all gray and wrinkled, her expression blank. Her words wispy and ghostlike drifted towards her.

          “I am trapped here until he brings another! Come! Come! So that I may be released.”

          The horse galloped faster, snorting louder and louder. Kamy felt the horse was actually enjoying this. She pulled his hair and groped his mane for something to help.

          The horse turned on this last round and headed straight for the water at full gallop. Kamy couldn’t breathe. Her heart pounded right out of her chest. As the horse broke into the water the moonlight reflected on something sticking out from under the matted sweat-soaked mane. It shone golden and Kamy grabbed at it. It was a chain, a golden chain. She pulled hard left as the horse tried to dive into the deep water. The stallion’s head jerked violently and so did its body. Then he pulled back for the deep waters again. This time she pulled hard right and leaned back to force him away from his intended location.

          The steed snorted as it nearly flipped itself over. Kamy pulled harder and harder and screamed commands to the horse until it had no choice but to follow her lead. She led the two back up to the shore. She leaned forward and whispered softly in the horse’s ear begging him to let her go. She told him of her love for a boy, her love for K.P., a boy she must see tonight or it would break her heart.

          The stallion trotted to the farthest side of the lake and released her from his magical prison. She bent down to kiss him on his forehead and turned toward the fires.

          Kamy reached the fire and sat down next to Tawna. She was soaked from her recent water escapade.
The heat from the flames felt good.

          K.P. came out from behind the bushes.

          “You made it!” she shouted as she stretched her arms around his neck and stared deep into his wild spirited eyes.

          “K.P. you're all wet.” Kamy spoke softly. Her mind drifted towards a sweeter evening spent by the fire.

          He smiled and whispered, “Yeah, I started to go for a midnight swim, but changed my mind!”