The sun was midway overhead as a chill wind blew through the trees. The forest was a riot of gold and red as the leaves changed color in preparation for winter. Heavy showers of brightly colored leaves fell from the trees as the wind snatched them from the branches. The air carried the smell of damp and rotting leaves, familiar odors that brought warm fires and hot cider to mind. However, there was something else to it, something undefinable and mysterious, that signaled great changes were about to happen.
Along the main highway, a bright red convertible mustang, with the top up, was traveling by. The visitor was none other than Megan, a now successful businesswoman who worked for a great firm in the great city. The twenty-two year old brunette was known as a determined woman with a knockout figure. She had successfully fended off the advances of her male colleagues, treating them with a slight derision magnified by her contempt for their pathetic advances. Eventually, it seemed, they had gotten the hint and left her alone. She did not particularly miss them, as she had her work to consume her. Her only friend in the firm was Cindy, a pretty young Asian who worked as a mail-room attendant. Her bubbly personality and cheery outlook on life annoyed Megan sometimes, but Cindy could make her smile on even her darkest days.
It had been a long drive and Megan was very tired. As she made the turn off the highway and onto the road to Red Leaf, her cellphone rang.
"Answer." She says very clearly. The blue tooth computer acknowledges with a light ding.
"Hey girl!" said Cindy, her best friend. "Got some news for you."
"What's up?" asks Megan.
"Well, it seems that big dog daddyo is going to throw a big Halloween party this year. If you are coming back, you're going to need a costume." came the voice.
Megan groaned, just what she needed. She hadn't even wanted to make this stupid trip, but had desperately needed to pick up things from her mother's house. Now she would have to pick up a costume to score points with her infamously ill-tempered, tight-fisted boss.
Like a gift from Heaven, a sign on the right said: Enchanted Threads, next right. That would put it near the lake. However, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. "I'll grab a costume and be there in time for the party." she said.
"All right girl." came the chipper voice on the other end. "Just make sure it's something sea style. Then we can match!"
"Oh, what are you going as?"
"A mermaid. Hey, you should pick up a mermaid costume as well, and we can go as a couple of sirens!"
Megan laughs at her friend's enthusiasm. Agreeing that it would be nice to go together, she says goodbye and orders the car to hang-up. She found her turn and began traveling down a bumpy dirt road. The trees seemed to close in overhead, blocking out what little light came from the sun. A thick carpet of wet leaves coated the road, making driving difficult. She had to concentrate to keep the car from fishtailing. Finally, she came to the end of the road and stopped the car.
Luna Lake stood flat and calm, looking like an enormous mirror. Distantly, she could see the dark grey smudge of the far shore. The lake was one of the largest in the state, shaped much like a kidney as it was wrapped around a burr in the mountain range. The lake, she knew, was fed by several mountain streams from the melting ice on the mountains. It drained down Luna River, which twisted past the town of Red Leaf and meandered back and forth until it reached the distant sea.
Megan spotted a fairly large shack set on some pilings at the edge of the lake. A large parking lot was set up in front of the shop. A little too large, in her opinion. There was only one other vehicle in it, a battered old Ford pickup that looked like it had definitely seen better days. There was so much rust on it that there was no way of knowing what the original paint job had been, one window was covered by plastic and the other ones all had cracks in it. She idly wondered if it could even run. The shop was little better than the pickup. The outside of the shack was old weathered would that desperately needed some fresh paint. The old wooden sign above had been covered up with a banner proclaiming that Enchanted Threads was now open. Some grand opening, she thought, as she opened the door.
