The Lake house

BEFORE THE DAWN 1

Rose hurriedly walked straight to her tent in order to wake up the first four teens from hibernation, that will join her adhoc group that would assist her in making adequate preparations of providing many hot baths meant for the cold boys who were still inside the store house getting some warmth from the bamboo shelter which provided conducive hot atmosphere cozy enough to promote substantial heat to keep their bodies warm and barged into the tent without thinking about the possibility of waking up the sleeping girls from their slumber which in fact, she was going to do the moment she enters the tent. Those that were present in the camp during the afternoon including Rose and Leo, had erected a quasi-section at beside the perimeter using a large white cloth tied to four iron stakes which separated two compartment for both genders meant for taking baths until the end whole vacation to the beach.

Without further delay, she began to tapping and prodding hard on the back of the girl who slept close to the entrance whom she had unintentionally lift her legs up in order to obtain the keys to the store house but received a harsh reply which almost infuriated her.

"Can't you see that I am trying to get some sleep,huh?", The lady snapped at Rose who was taken aback by her unexpected outburst which made her withdrew away from her and stared at her in bewilderment. The lady was irritated by Rose's intrusion of her night dream which had kept her smiling unnecessarily in her slumber ever since she fell asleep before the storm and rolled up the thick blanket to her chest covering her undergarments except her face filled with goose pimples which stare at Rose who stood beside her glaring angrily at the dark-haired female with bulging eyes.

"Yes, I can see that but something urgent came up and I need your sleeping hands to help me solve the problem", Rose retorted feeling infuriated by her reaction to her incessant tapping which spark of her outburst. The other three girls including Emily who had fallen asleep after Rose left the tent earlier to attend to Michael and his cold crew, were woken by the noise inside the tent which interfered with their cozy sleep and stood up behind Rose gazing at the duo with sheer dizziness in order to ascertain what the ruckus is all about which had disruptted their slumber that would have lasted till dawn. The tent brought cozy warmth for the teens inside which soothes their tired nerves after they had properly arranged the store house and made them feel utterly comfortable inside along with the soft mattress which relaxed their fragile bodies except for Emily who passed the night on Rose's hard bed that coarse her body making feel uncomfortable and awake all through the night.

"And what would that be, huh? No one gave you the right to interfere with my sleep", the girl snapped sneering angrily at her underneath the thick blanket which almost ignited a quarrel if not for Emily's timely intervention who came in between the two ladies pushing them apart especially Rose whom she drew backwards that prevented her from landing a hot slap on her opponent's cheek.

"You are sleeping in my tent, dimwit! Which means I have the right to pull you out of my tent!", Rose replied agitatedly as Emily pull her backwards, trying to respond against the teen who seems ready for a face off. The other two teens watched transfixed at the occuring incident which was about to explode into a struggle within the frame tent while Emily tried to calm down the growing tension between the two females and succeeded pacifying the situation that's would woken up the others who were still fast asleep lying comfortably in their tents leaving the belligerent young girl who started the quarrel to retreat to the right corner in order to clad herself in her party outfits which she had neatly arranged beside her head.

"You gonna have to tell us what urgent business that got you really busy this early morning that forced you to disturb our pretty sleep", Another tall female behind Rose said to her folding her arms below her chest waiting for her to explain her actions which looked strange to them.

"Yeah, you better have a good reason for barging in here to pull us away from bed at this time of the night", the other female behind Emily in support of the other tall teen commented brazenly looking at Rose who remained unaffected by her stare. For some minutes, Rose kept them waiting trying to allow her anger to subside which did after a couple of minutes that cleared her mind aiding her to fully concentrate on her explanation of what's happening outside the tent.

"The party led by Michael have already returned back empty-handed from their search but they are completely wet since no shelter was placed over their heads during the storm", Rose said sneering at the lady that almost made her got angry and took her gaze off to Emily including the others who listened spellbound at her.

"Oh my gosh, where are they now?", The warring female named Martha impatiently inquired and walked closer to her in order to get a full grasp of Rose's attention away from the three other teens.

"I took them to the store house since there wasn't any room for them to occupy and they are currently in the storehouse waiting for me to prepare as much hot bath needed for them to get warm", Rose replied staring face to face with Martha who seems to have forgotten their short feud a while ago and was displaying wild interest in what sh was saying to them. Emily was gazing expectantly waiting for to finish up what she wanted to say while the two girls standing beside her peered without any expression on their hard faces with pale makeup.

"So, that's why you needed us to assist you with the preparations, right?", Emily questioned looking serious at Rose who was still unshaken by her plain attitude.

"Exactly but it seems some of you prefer to keep on sleeping inside when the boys out there are freezing themselves out. Who knows what happened to the other party led by Jake?", Rose asked hissing with frustration at the thought of having a lot of things to handle alone without the help of the other females and stared at Martha who avoided her eyes looking sidesway away from her hard stare after realizing her mistake but the other two didn't show concerned about anything she utter to them.

"But you shouldn't have just barge in just like that and wake us up from our beauty sleep", the tall one said trying hard to maintain her pride which had fell apart the moment she heard what happened to the search party while the bunty lady beside her held her hand in order for her not to squeal out which would have cost her greatly.

"If you feel that I have offended you by barging into my own tent which I allowed you to spend the night because of the storm, I won't......", Rose was about to burst out in anger before Emily interrupted her yet again which made her hold back her anger once more.

"Rose, please I know that you are upset about what she and I apologize for her attitude but we don't have much time to waste here quarrelling amongst ourselves. What we should be doing is preparing some hot bath for the boys", Emily intruded which placate the tension amongst them. Rose decided to remained calm and chose not to speak up which indicated her sheer disappointment in herself for allowing the young teens to treat her with contempt.

"Okay now, how do we get enough water that would be sufficient for the boys inside the store house because I think there isn't any water in the camp?", Emily said trying to get Rose to speak up and prod her abdomen in a funny way in order to make her laugh which worked as Rose responded giggling loudly.

"Isn't there a tank or something that contains water in the camp", Martha asked timidly looking at her.

"Yes, there is a tank at the back of the camp but it isn't going to be sufficient enough for the boys right now", Rose replied looking at them.

"That leaves the ocean at the beach. Isn't there a pail for us to use?", Martha suggested looking ecstatic to be useful.

"Alright fine, Emily and.... Martha, right?", Rose asked,

"Yeah, that's my name", Martha replied looking a bit different from her previous demeanor.

"Both of you should come with me while the two of you should go and wake up some of the other girls in the tents", Rose said and walked outside with Emily and Martha leaving the two girls to dress up before carrying out their orders. The trios went back to the store house where Michael was still inside trying to figure out who was missing from their group in order to ensure that they are accountable for the missing individuals whom they will look for during the next day and knocked at the locked door of the storehouse which Max opened allowing them inside.

"Is the hot bath ready?", Michael asked Rose immediately after he caught sight of her standing beside him with the two females inside the room.

"Not yet but we are here to fetch some buckets that will help us get more water from the ocean and from the small tank behind the camp", Rose replied staring at the pale faces of the wet teenagers who folded up together at one side of the small room and noticed that there were fewer than before when they began the search into the forest but she said nothing about it choosing to ignore it.

"Okay but you gotta hurry up. The boys are really freezing in here which isn't enough to keep warm", Michael said and beckoned at Max to get three pail but Rose told him five instead. Max gave them the buckets and accompanied them to the door leaving behind Michael who stared at their backs as walked up to the exit.

" Please don't lock the door, some of the female teenagers would soon come over to get some buckets to make our work more faster", Rose said to Max who nodded and left with the two girls behind her allowing Max to shut the door but didn't locked it as directed by Rose. Max went back to Micheal drawing himself closer behind as he watched him resuming his earlier count of the boys who were with him inside the store house.

"So how many of our boys got lost in forest?", Max asked Michael after he had finished counting up the figures of the teens in front of him and drew him aside away from the boys.

"We lost ten boys including Julian and Teddy", Michael said puffing out dry air from his mouth which caresses his mustache.

"And what do we do about that?", Max asked waiting to hear from him,

"I don't know man, but I guess we will have to look for them when it's daylight", Michael replied feeling tired and frustrated with himself as he rested his back on the bamboo wall.

"That's true but I think Rose might be aware of it too", Max whispered peering at the boys who sat down on the dry floor in order rest off their tired feet.

"Aware of what?", Michael asked removing his head from his hands and curiously stare at Max.

"That we ain't complete and that some of us didn't make it out", Max replied looking at him. He had noticed Rose observing the small crowd in front of her and that she decided not to say anything about it before leaving the room.

"It doesn't matter if she knew about or not beside she understands that the storm must have separated us which it did. So, it doesn't pose any........", Michael hardly completed his statement when they heard a loud bang which shook the forest and emitted a bright light which stretched upwards towards the pale sky leaving them aghast and dumbfounded. They including the wet teens instantly got up from the ground and peered through the small holes of the house gazing at a bright light stretching upwards towards the heavens from the northeastern area of the forest, which remained still for several minutes leaving them bewildered in shock and as well for the savage watchmen to see at the western region of the forest which had luckily save the life of Teddy from getting burned to ashes, who they had tied to a stake after a patrol guard had caught him in an underground cell lying unconscious beside an old prisoner while they were having their cha-cha dance around a small bonfire to celebrate the approaching dawn as part of their weird custom they usually perform before every sunrise as a mark of a new beginning. The blast created a white aura which spread across the whole forest engulfing tiny creatures including the humans that were standing outside the camp as well as sending a huge surge of strong wind which blow away fragile branches of the trees leaving few remnant of leaves hanging on the trees totally and spread around the landmass with force which toss away the savage executioner in front of Teddy who remained unshaken because of the wooden stake which stood on an arranged pile of woods gotten from tree branche. The savage watchman had seen the blast occurred several miles after a small lake which was surrounded by the trees but had failed to notify their chief and whole villagers who were waiting for the execution to begin because he was enthralled by the sudden explosion which surprisingly didn't affect the stonehouse except the lake and the surrounding trees that encircled the lake

and the surrounding trees that encircled the lake including the watchman gazing transfixed at the stonehouse above his wooden watchtower where he fell off dead on the ground after hitting his head on a stone as the passing wind thrust every human in sight except for Teddy who remained stuck on the wood having being tied with a strong rope around his body.

Teddy remained quiet for some time and open his eyes as he heaved a huge sign of relief panting heavily after surviving the great surge of white wind which blew past them leaving a heap of scattered humans lying helplessly on the rough ground at different areas of the hideout. Some were ghastly wounded by hard tree barks that didn't get blown away by the wind while others were lying at a farther distance with superficial bruises on their exposed bodies but few including the watchman and the executioners were left dead by the raging wind that ended at the ocean.

He tried to wrench the rope away from his body but failed to remove the tight rope which strap him against the wood and peered at the bottom ground in order to ascertain if anyone else was watching him but saw no one watching and tried once more pulling it hard away from his body after succeeding in twisting his hands to the front his body using his a lot of strength which also turn out in utter failure since the rope was fasten tightly entangling his body with the tall wooden skake. He gave up trying to free himself from the strong rope and gaze upwards to the sky which looked pale with a white aura mixed with the disappearing aurora australis which was brought back by the eerie blast of white energy into the ionosphere forming deep tones mixed with a bright white light which painted the pale sky in beautiful hues across the atmosphere before the birth of a new indian summer which will occur after dawn and wondered what really generated that massive energy enough to thrust the tribesmen beneath him sailing them in mid air away without control towards the coarse ground as well as the trees making the impact stronger than usual which left some of them to sustain broken bones and ribs but not fatal enough to damage their vital organs. After the blast had fade off, their chief who lay flat on the ground with his head on the ground covered by a queer hat made of peacock feathers, got up from the damp soil with his wrinkled face covered in sheer mud and glared at Teddy on the top of a huge pile of wood tied to a stake that held him above his bamboo hut but not above the tall trees behind the hut which held wooden pathways on its branches that ran from the bamboo hut to other parts of the hideout. The chief called out to one of the warriors that was lying afar using his native dialect which Teddy couldn't comprehend but only deduce their actions using his mind ever since he was brought to stand before the chief and their elders who sentence him to death while he was completely oblivious to their native tongue which sounded unintelligible to him when he was asking him who Teddy but he was unable to reply since he couldn't understand what they were saying. Seeing that he couldn't respond, they saw it as an insult to their chief and suggested that he should be put to death and a plebiscite was carried out amongst the indigenes who were gathered around the elders including his chief after the dance was interrupted by the patrol guard who dragged out Teddy from the underground dungeon, in order to see if he should be sentence to death. Unfortunately for Teddy, majority of the people voted for him to be executed to serve as a deterrent for the others and he was handed over to the warriors in order for him to be burned alive tied to a stake in front of their bamboo hut