Eden Lake

Chapter 1

"What the hell are you doing here, Maysa?" Brett stops in front of me, shoving me backwards, "get the fuck out of here, you little shit."

I stay silent as I stumble backwards, trying to regain my balance, feeling too afraid to speak or even look at him. Brett is considered the leader of the 'gang' and he always wants to control everything and feel dominant and superior to everyone.

"What? Are you mute now?" He turns towards his friends, who are standing a little behind him, all of them laughing loud.

"I- I-" my voice fails me as I try to speak, panic starting to rise within me upon realizing how afraid I must look to them. Not knowing how to handle the situation without making myself look like a complete fool, I whirl around in order to rush away from them and leave the beach. But before I've even fully turned around, I feel a hand grabbing onto one of my shoulders. I'm turned around roughly and come face to face with Brett. I start to rapidly blink my eyes to keep the threatening tears from falling, as he digs his fingers into my skin, nearly causing me to yelp in pain.

"You really thought you could get away from us that easy?" He has a sick grin spread across his face and I shrink.

"P- please, let go of me.." My voice once again trembles when I speak, giving away how terrified I'm actually feeling. Surprisingly, he lets go of my shoulders, "off you go then."

His words catch me off guard and I hesitantly turn around, not believing for one second that they will actually let me get away from them so easily. Despite knowing they won't let me off the hook, I start walking away fast, only to trip and fall onto the sand as Ricky lets me stumble. The sound of laughter fills the air as I pick myself off of the ground and wipe the sand off of my clothes, tears brimming in my eyes. The four boys stand around me and I rush past them in a hurry, not daring to spare any of them a glance, my face heating up in embarrassment.

Without looking behind, I rush off of the beach and disappear into the trees, my heart beating fast in fear that they might be following me. When I realize they don't, I finally convince myself to look back at the beach, which is still visible from where I am located.

I see Brett, Ricky and Cooper goofing around, as I see Harry looking in my direction. It almost looks like he is sending me an apologetic smile, before he turns his attention back to his friends. Turning my back towards them, I shrug it off, silently convincing myself that it was nothing but a fragment of my own imagination. I hurry off deeper into the forest, starting to walk back home.

I am a little further away from the beach now, but can still hear the boys laugh and shout in the distance.

Ricky is the eldest, being nineteen years old. Brett and Mark are both eighteen, Cooper is sixteen, Harry and Paige (the only female member of the group) are seventeen, as am I.

I stop walking when I spot Adam in the distance, who is sitting on the ground. He is holding a jar of glass in his hands, a caterpillar crawling around inside of it. "Stay away from the beach." I warn him, causing him to look up at me.

He simply nods his head in return, letting me know he has heard me and understands. I never really speak much to him, but I've noticed that he also is being bullied by them quite frequently.

A soft sigh escapes from between my lips as I continue to go on my way, still having to cover a lot of ground before I'll reach my home, where I live with my mother. My mother is very polite and gregarious, because unlike me, she loves spending time with other people. She is the only one I have since my father has passed away when I was only three years old. I only know him from pictures and stories my mother used to tell me about him. According to her, he was a very friendly and generous person. She would always tell me that he had a 'magic' effect that made people like him.

****

My mother's voice echoes from the kitchen before I've even closed the door behind me, "you're just in time for dinner."

A smile finds its way onto my face as I walk into the kitchen, sitting down at the table. She places a plate of lasagna in front of me, before sitting down across from me. "You're out a lot these days, didn't know this village could be that interesting?" She laughs, taking a bite.

I chuckle, "it isn't really, I'm just really starting to enjoy spending time outside." I say, not mentioning the woods or the lake, since no one is supposed to actually go there.

After I finish dinner, I go straight up to my room. I stand in front of the mirror after I have changed into my pyjamas, my smile now gone. My mother always tells me to smile and be happy. But it is starting to drain my energy. She thinks I'm a very happy person, which is a completely different story in reality. Yet, I refuse to let her know otherwise.

I don't really know why, but as I continue to stare at my reflection in the mirror, I curve my pointer fingers. I slowly put them into my mouth and force a stretched out smile on my face. I continue to stare at myself, starting to feel crazy. Sighing in defeat, I let myself fall onto the bed and cover myself with a blanket. I close my eyes and after tossing and turning for some time, I finally allow my muscles to relax. I slowly feel myself starting to drift off to sleep, only one thought crossing my mind; I'll either become stronger, or they will break me into nothing.