The Stranger by the Lake

Chapter 1

3.12 AM

Syra looked at her bedside clock and sighed. 

Only 2 more hours until I have to get up and get going.

Although she was all packed and ready to go, she had a nagging feeling of having left something behind. Ever since she was old enough to pack on her own, she had always felt this anxiety before a trip, the feeling of not having packed everything needed, the feeling of something left behind. It got worse since last year, when that happened. She made a mental list of everything she needed for this trip to her parents' house for the summer. Checking everything she reasoned that she could always buy any stuff she chanced to miss.

Syra was from a typical american family, and her parents doted on her, their only child. Her Dad, Daniel Jennings, was a civil engineer and had to constantly travel because of his job. He had to move wherever his company started a new project. As a consequence, she had changed 7 schools before graduating and before she finally got into college and into a dorm. Her Mom, Sarah, on the other hand, was a stay-at-home mother, always putting everyone ahead of her own and her career. She had given up a career in marketing to raise Syra. Whenever Syra would ask her, if she regretted giving up her job to spend time with Syra, she would smile and say, "A job can come any time I want, maybe after a bit of a struggle and at a lower pay, but it would. But what would never come back is your childhood, and the time I am getting to spend with you".

Thinking about her Mom brought a smile to her face. Most of her friends could barely stand staying in the same room as their mothers, but not her. To her, Sarah was more than someone who had just given her her life, she was someone who taught Syra how to live it. She fondly remembered all those times she and her Mom would sit out on the porch, waiting for her Dad to come back home from work just sitting, playing silly games and singing songs. Now that she thought back to those times, she felt a surge of pride when realized, that those were not just silly games, like she had thought they were, but her Mom teaching her the way of life. Wise woman, her mother was, still is. A lot older and a little worn out, but wise, nevertheless.

Sarah had been hounding her since the last couple of months for a visit, but she had been so busy trapped in her own world of self-pity and mourning, that she had continually ignored her, stopped answering every other call. But maybe, just maybe, this is what she needed, a break, a breather, to start her life all over again. To pick up pieces of her life, and put them back together again. With that firm resolution in mind, she had gotten up and gone to office that day to put in her resignation. 

A job can come any time I want, maybe after a bit of a struggle and at a lower pay, but it would. 

The thought had made her smile for the first time in so many months. Her boss had thought she had gone crazy.

"Syra, I want you to take just another day to think this through", Vivianna had said, "I know you have had a rough couple of months. What happened to you was crazy and I understand this seems like what you need right now, but trust me, you will feel like you made a mistake soon. I would suggest that rather than just ending things, you take a sabbatical for a few months, stay for as long as you need to and your job will pick up from where you left when you're back". 

Needless to say, Syra had jumped at the opportunity. When Vivianna Durban offers you an opportunity, no strings attached, you take it. Honestly I do feel so much lighter knowing I can come back any time I want, she thought.

All her friends had grown tired of her miserable state. They tried so hard to fix her, but nothing would work. Well maybe, she just needed a bit of mom-therapy. She did miss her parents a lot. And she did feel a pang of guilt for being so consumed in her own life to be there for the ones who've always been there for her.

Add to that, the new house that the company had given her Dad while he was working on the current project. Idyllic. That was the only word Syra could think of while picturing it. Once they moved, Mom had blasted her phone with picture after picture of the beautiful house. In each phone call, she couldn't stop gushing over how perfect this house was for them to retire in. With the town just a 20 minute drive from the house, it couldn't get any better.

Located just at the edge of the woods, the house was surrounded by trees. The cobbled pathway to the entrance was lined by beautiful bushes, in every shade of green conceivable. It was a five bedroom spacious house, from what her mother had let her know, and she couldn't wait to see it in person.

Not a bad way to spend the summer, she smiled.

She already had a plan on how she will be spending the next few months.

Discipline and routine. That's what Mom always said works when you're down in the dumps. Also she needed to reduce the inches she had put on her body seeking comfort from those late night Ben & Jerry's.

So, discipline, routine, exercise- yoga, maybe? (she did pack her yoga mat with her just in case), and a lot of de-stressing with nature.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The beeping drew her out from her thoughts and back towards the alarm clock on the table.

5:00 AM

Time to go catch a flight!