Lake Eppalock

• Caitlin Mcbride, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2008

I wound down the car window and stared outside. We were just arriving at Lake Eppalock. We go there every year with my Dads friends who's kids were my age and my friends. The wind outside was icey cold but I was still excited!
"Hey Ebony! Look! you can see the lake from here!" called my brother Josh.
" I think I know that! I've got eyes to you know!" I replied. I don't know why I was so mean, but I think I was paying him back for the long ANOYING trip.
"Hey! Do you guys want to hear the ghost story of Lake Eppalock?" asked my Mum.
"YES!" Josh and I said. I love ghost stories!
"Well," started my Mum." It goes like this: hundreds of years ago a whole village lived where the lake is. But one day they wanted to become a country and wanted to rebel against the government so the government flooded them in. So to this day their body less spirits flout around the lake."
"WOW!" exclaimed Josh. I felt a shiver go up my spine. I stared into the lake, WAIT! Did I just see a face in the water? Nah. probably just a ripple from the waves.

We stepped out of the car with the icey breeze wiping at our faces. Then I saw my friends Ellie(Elizabeth) and Minnie(Minnervera) running to greet me.
"It's about time you turned up!" said Minnie with a smile.
"Hey do you guys want to go down to the old bridge? It's said to be haunted! It'd be the perfect place for a welcome party!" giggled Ellie.
" I don't know guys. It sounds kinda c-c-creepy!" gulped my brother.
"Why?" asked Ellie. "Are you CHICKEN?!?"
"I AM NOT CHICKEN!" yelled josh.
"BUCK-BLUCK BUGERK!" clucked Minnie
anyone wh called josh a chicken would either get him to do what you want or you get a blood nose.
"FINE!" he said, "But only if Ebony goes." He glared at me. He does that so much I think it's his hobby!

We quickly gulped down a lunch of
noodles and lemonade and got on our bikes. We rode the way we normaly rode in, Josh was riding way in front doing burn-outs and skids as usual, then there was Ellie she is really fit and pretty with her long blonde curls of hair flying behind her, I'm after her, then there's Minnie she's last because she's a bit chubby and unfit. We were going past a tiny canyon when we came to a sudden stop.
"Why did we stop?" panted Minnie with her short brown hair drenched in sweat, "I was finnaly starting to get into a rythm!"
"We have decided to go the long way!" said my brother pointing towards the minniture canyon.
"C'mon! It'll be fun!" cried Ellie.
"Okay!" I replied.
"FINE!" panted Minnie.
I had no idea what was about to unfold in the next hour.

"C'mon Ebony you go first!" dared Minnie with a wicked smile across her face, "Your the bravest!" We were staring into a dark patch in the ground, and we all knew what it was: It was THICK oozing mud. I stared at my brown flip-flops and then at the mud. My flip-flops were the exact same colour as the mud and I knew if I lost one in there I would probably never see it again.
"NO WAY!" I yelled at them.
I'll be your slave for the rest of the month!" Josh offered.
No way could I say no to THAT!
"Okay, I'll do it." I sighed. Why couldn't I worn runners like every body else! I thought to myself. And in a few quick movements I was on the other side!
"Yippee! I made it!" I cried. I turned to the other side of the mud. They weren’t there! my foot started to itch so I started to itch it when I felt something oozing down my leg. I looked down at my foot bare and muddy! It looked like I'd stepped in dog poo! I heard laughing and turned to see my friends and my brother laughing at me. I blushed.
"YOU WENT THE LONG WAY! THERE WAS A SHORT-CUT!!" they chanted. That was sop embarrassing! We looked over the hill.
“There’s the old “haunted” bridge.” Said Ellie. It almost looked like she was crying!
“Race you guys to the other side!” called my brother.
We all started to sprint across to the side. I was coming first when I felt a sharp stab in my foot. I had stepped on a loose nail. I grasped my foot and wailed in pain blood every where. But wait, Mum & Dad gave Minnie the first aid box and she was about to run past me.
“HELP!” I cried. It was obvious to tell I was hurt. I couldn’t see were the others had gone. Minnie came racing up to me. I was surprised at how fast she was going! And just when I thought there was hope, she pushed me off the bridge!

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” I screamed. As I fell I saw her look down on me, I saw an evil smile spread across her face. The last words I heard her say were: “Come back to us.”
SPLAASH! I sucked a last few breaths of air and then dived under. The pain was unbearable! There was blood every where! I swam on. OW! Something just hit my foot. I turned around and saw an ancient teddy bear floating in the water. I shivered. NO! I Ebony loosening will not be scared! I kept swimming. I saw an under water grave-yard. I swam closer. This must have been from when they were ubove water. I was running out air. I read the first three graves. The first read:
Minervera Macnosa
1818-1881
R.I.P.
I would have screamed if I had of been above water for the nex read:
Elizabeth Jane
1818-1882
R.I.P.
But I nearly faitned when I read the next. It read:
Ebony Loosening
1818-1886
R.I.P.
My head was spinning. This can't be true! Surely this is just a joke. I felt myself float up to the surrface of the water and there were my family and friends, floating above the water.
"It's the trueth," said my dead mother."We had to let you know!"
"C'mon join us! This is your home! You can't fight it!" said my brother.
So I joined them. It wasn't that bad there!
R.I.P.