Ominous Lake

The sky was full of bright shimmering stars that night. The moon lay in hiding, maybe it was an omen of things to come. Then again maybe it was just another starry night on a new moon. The lone cottage sat by the edge of the lake. Maybe the lake was also an omen, for it sat still and calm. No night birds called out, no creature howled at the darkness. Maybe, just maybe, they too were omens. But no one in that little cottage noticed any of them.

"NO!" screamed a girl. "NO! NO! NO!"
"Get back in here young lady!" came the voice of a man.
"Jessica, please. Let us talk about this." sang out a woman. The screech and clack of a screen door and the clunk, clunk, clunk of someone running down wooden steps was the only reply.
"We should go after her." said the woman as she looked out the screen door.
"No, let her cool off." the man spoke as he walked up to the woman, "She'll come back when she's ready to talk."
"I hope so."

Jessica May Simson ran through the dark, following the water. Her long, thick braided red hair slapped against her waist as she ran into the night. Her feet crunched on the gravel along the edge of the lake. None saw the girl running...save for one. The tears that streaked the girl's face, the one saw them too. The harsh words she yelled into the darkness, the one heard them as well. Maybe if someone had seen a sign, a clue as to what was out there that night. Something, anything that showed that all was not quite right with the world. Could have been, should have been. Would have been, might have been. The past is the past, and what's done is done. Right?

As the sun speared its first few rays of light onto the world, it found two people. These two were running all over, searching. Around the little cottage and down to the road. Into the forest and along the water edge. One of them even borrowed a boat and went out onto the lake. But neither could find what they were searching for. By the time the sun had reached noon, the lake and surrounding forest was swarming with people. All looking. All searching. But none finding. They knocked on doors and asked. They stopped some cars and asked. Still nothing. All day they searched. All night they search. Nothing. The two that had started the search cried. Words like "She'll turn up" and "She has to be somewhere" brought no comfort to the two.