Our Mother in the Lake: A Novel by Abe Moss

Author:Abe Moss [Moss, Abe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grim Heart Publishing
Published: 2023-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

16

The Manipulator

The light coming through the cabin window was dull and gray when Isaac opened his eyes, but well beyond that of early morning. He’d slept in later than he intended. As he lay blinking, he felt the subtle throb of a headache. Or a migraine. Sometimes he forgot which was which.

The previous night came to him in a rush. Their mother’s journey. The fireflies. The whirlwind of emotions that followed. He’d never felt so swept up in something before. Like something in the universe was finally aligning for his sake.

And then he remembered his fight with Drew.

He rolled over to face her cot, and frowned upon seeing it empty and unmade. Weird, he thought. She almost never woke earlier than he did. He glanced to the floor beside her bed and noticed something else. Or rather, a lack of something else. Her things were missing. Her clothes, her bag. All of it.

Drew was gone.

He slipped toward the edge of his bed, and reached for his own bag on the floor underneath. Still there. Hanging awkwardly off his cot, he rummaged through it, through his remaining clothes, until he found the pistol nestled inside. Why he needed it now, he wasn’t sure—but some part of him had to check, had to know.

It won’t matter much longer, will it?

A cold pang of fear went through him at the thought. To rid himself of it, he climbed out of bed and got dressed. He did another cursory check around Drew’s bed to make sure he was right, that all her things were gone, and confirmed it. Perhaps she’d requested another cabin, unable to sleep in the same room as him.

Stepping outside, the overcast sky greeted him with its gloomy kindness, gentle on his aching gaze.

“Morning!”

He hardly made it two steps from his cabin before he was greeted by Sherry—like she was waiting for him to rise.

“Morning,” he said, his voice still croaky with sleep. “Hey… you haven’t seen Drew this morning, have you?”

Sherry cocked her head like a floppy-eared dog. “Drew? No. She’s not in bed?”

Isaac shook his head glumly, then forced a half-smile and said, “What about Blaine?”

Sherry pointed toward Blaine’s cabin around the curve of the lake.

“He’s waiting for you at his place,” she said. “He asked me to tell you when you got up.”

“Oh. Okay, thanks.”

Somehow in talking with Sherry his headache had become worse—the impact of each footfall sending a faint throb along the top of his skull. Probably dehydrated, he thought.

When he arrived at Blaine’s cabin, the door opened before he could even consider knocking. Blaine emerged, his red hair loose around his face instead of pulled back in its usual bun.

“Isaac!” he said jovially. “I was hoping you’d swing by soon.”

Isaac squeezed his eyes shut, a very slow blink, trying to clear the fog from his mind as he skipped the niceties and said, “Yeah. Hey… have you seen Drew this morning?”

When he opened his eyes, he found Blaine watching him with a furrowed brow. Confused.

“Oh,” Blaine said.

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