3

      Now the only question was where I was going. I had no intention on going to Robbie’s – I couldn’t even remember where his house was, even though his stop was right before mine. I didn’t have anyone else I could go to, and when I thought about it, all of the places I wanted to go to were too far away from my house or would take too much time to get to that, by the time I’d gotten there, I’d have to walk back.

      Could go to the park, I thought. It was a place I’d become familiar with in the past year; whenever I had a good excuse, I’d go there and explore. Granted, it wasn’t a big park, but it was just big enough that it had its odd little nooks and crannies. One time, I’d found an old shed tucked away in a corner of the park with all sorts of things in it; balls, little plastic army men, dolls, you name it. I’d even found a brand new baseball bat and considered taking it home, but that would have had my mom asking where I’d gotten it. I hadn’t been able to keep it, but whenever I got the chance I’d used it to ‘refine my hitting skills’, or so I told myself.

      But one day I’d come to the park and the shed simply wasn’t there anymore, with everything inside it gone. I found the small plot of land it’d stood on as it was mostly just dirt with some trash scattered about, but other than that there’d been no trace of the shed. I figured someone else had found it and decided it should be destroyed, though I couldn’t fathom why. Since then, though, I’d been too discouraged to return to the park.

      Well, now was as good a time as any to go back.

      Thankfully, it was a short walk as the park was pretty close to my house. I’d have to keep track of how long I was in there, though, since Mom wanted me back after a little while – and I really didn’t want her calling Robbie’s place and finding out I hadn’t been there. I didn’t know if she had the number, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

      I strode through the front gate and started whistling, feeling like I was in some movie or something. The path I was on would take me close to the playground and then would loop around the lake and meet at an old memorial. I wasn’t interested in the playground too much, but my mind compelled me to start towards the lake.

      A feeling in the pit of my stomach urged me on, and as I came around a small bend the lake jumped into my view. A sense of dread came over me as my eyes lay upon it, and I had the good sense as to why. The lake was frozen over, and my gut told me that this was where I kept drowning in my dream.

      As long as I don’t walk out on the ice, I’ll be fine. But for some reason I found myself doubting that.