"Dad, the sink is stopped up again!" Avery poked her head around the door, a smile on her face. For a ten year old, she was sometimes more mature than he was. "I think we should really call a plumber this time."
Frank looked up from the small kitchenette with his mug lifted half-way to his lips, reading the morning paper. He set it down with a frown.
"I could take another look at it, first. It's probably just, uh, some kind of block in the pipes. Nothing another snake won't fix."
Avery raised an eyebrow at him and came padding down the hallway with her toothbrush in hand.
"Dad, you have no idea what you're talking about, do you?" His frown broke into a sheepish grin.
"Not a clue, pumpkin."
"Don't worry, Dad, I'll call a plumber. I know you hate the phone."
"Come on, at least let your old man do some things. You're growing up too fast," Frank grumbled as he sipped at his coffee. Behind his mug, he was hiding a proud smile. Sometimes his daughter surprised him with her kindness.
Avery leaned over him and slumped against his shoulder with a dramatic sigh. "I know. Pretty soon I'll be old like you."
Frank snorted and picked his daughter up without warning, causing her to shriek and giggle. "Daddy! Put me down!"
"Only if you take that back, missy. I'm not old yet!" He spun her around a few times before setting her down, hiding the twinge in his back behind a cough. Maybe he was getting a little old. "Well, I better go take a look at that sink. If I can't get it fixed by tomorrow, we'll call a plumber. Deal?"
"Deal."
A knock at the door made her brighten up.
"Teo! Dad, can I-?"
"Yeah, go ahead," he interrupted with a wave of his hand. "You kids go play."
Avery hugged him before running to the front door. She threw it open to greet her neighbor, Theodore. "Teo, wanna go play on the docks?"
"Sure! I brought the water guns, we can feel them up in the water. I'm going to beat you this time, though!"
"No, you aren't! You're too slow," Avery reminded him. "I'll win because I'm taller and faster than you."
"Just you wait, one day I'll be bigger than you and you can't bully me anymore," Theo said with his arms crossed, pouting.
"Tiny Teo is never gonna outgrow me," she teased, standing tall with her chin up and chest out, proud. "I'll just grow taller if he tries."
"Nuh-uh! Pretty soon I'll hit another growth spurt and be twice as tall as you," Theo shouted.
"No, you won't!"
"I will!"
"You're gonna be short forever and everyone will point and say, 'look at Tiny Teo, he still looks like a baby.'" Theo opened his mouth and before the fight could dissolve into insults, Frank intervened.
"Alright, alright, that's enough. Avery, no one is going to call Theodore a baby. I swear, you two fight more than any friends I've ever seen."
"Sorry, dad."
"Sorry, Mr Gossman."
They ran through the house towards the back door, seemingly over their little fight, and Frank shook his head at their antics.
"You two be careful on those docks. And stay out of the lake, it's fixing to storm," Frank called, leaving the back door slid open to have a better view of the kids as they played. The lake may not be as deep near the house like some parts further out, but all water was dangerous. Besides, that lake had claimed its share of victims over the years.
There was indeed a storm rolling in, so the two didn't get to play for very long before they were called back inside. Frank sent Theo home with a stern warning to go straight to his house and stay safe. Avery made silly faces standing behind her dad while he was talking, which Theo did his best not to giggle at.
"I'll be careful, Mr Gossman," Theo promised.
Once he was out the door, Frank went back to working on the sink in the bathroom. The stoppage ran deeper than he expected.
He got lost in the task and before he knew it, half an hour had passed. The sink was draining again, though, and he was proud of himself.
"Looks like we're not calling a plumber after all! I guess your old man isn't so clueless," he shouted when the hall to Avery. When he didn't get an answer, he stepped out into the hallway. Avery's bedroom was empty and she wasn't in the living room. "Avery?"
One of Theo's water guns was on the table and the back door was open. Frank was immediately struck with a sick sinking dread as he crossed the room and looked outside. It must have been left open awhile, the rain had left a puddle on the floor.
He didn't see Avery, but he could see a bright neon orange toy floating at the end of the dock as well as one of her slippers.
Donna and William Hart were washing dishes after breakfast when William jumped and almost dropped the bowl in his hands. He set it down and shot a worried look at the window.
"I'm going to go check on Frank and Avery. I think I heard something. Sounded like shouting." Theo looked up from the table where he was scribbling in his notebook, confused.
"I just left there, though."
"Honey, it was probably just the storm." Despite Donna's reassurances, William kissed his wife on the cheek before leaving the room. He slid his shoes on at the door in a hurry.
Theo looked on suspiciously as his dad forgot his jacket and hurried out the door. It was raining really hard, now. Weird...
William was gone for nearly an hour and Donna was getting worried, even if she hid it well. Just when she was gearing up to go check herself, the door opened and William came inside. He seen Donna hovering and went to her side with slumped shoulders.
"It's Avery," he whispered, voice cracking. "S- we think she fell in the lake and we couldn't find her. We called the cops and they sent someone out to the house, but search and rescue said no one is going out on that lake until the storm blows over. Officialy she's missing, but..."
They both looked up as the stairs creaked, Donna gasping. Theo's eyes were red, his bottom lip trembling.
"What are you talking about," he demanded.
"Theo-"
"Avery is fine! She isn't-! She can't be-!" He turned and ran out with a sob, the front door slamming behind him. It didn't take a genius to guess where he was heading.
William was after him in an instant. "Theo, wait!"
The woods passed in a blur and Theo didn't feel the sting of the torrential rain on his skin or the bite of sticks under his bare feet. When he got to the end of the trail, he darted around the house to get to the back porch.
"Avery! AVERY!" Theo darted down the dock with his feet slipping and sliding on the wet wooden boards, consumed with one goal; find Avery.
Before he could reach the water, strong arms wrapped around him. It wasn't his father who had caught him, though. It wasn't his father that sank down to his knees and held him in his lap, keeping him away from the water.
"She's gone, Theodore," Frank croaked. "She's gone."
Theo couldn't tell which of them was crying more, or which drops were tears or rain.
Theo heard his dad just a few feet away, breathing hard from the sprint through the woods. He didn't speak, giving them both space until Frank stood up and tugged Theo with him.
"You should go home, kiddo," the man rasped. He gave William a brief glance before dragging himself back into his house. Theo noticed through his blurry vision that Mr Gossman didn't close the back door.
William gently grabbed Theo and dragged him into a hug.
"Come on, let's get you home."
Three days later, William and Donna Hart were sitting in their kitchen with a somber air still hovering over them.
"Have you spoken with him since... Since it happened," Donna asked.
"Yesterday, yeah. He said he's moving back home, where his sister lives," William told her quietly. "He isn't selling the land, though. Said he'll have the place torn down once he... Honestly, I think it'll do him some good to get out of that house and away from that lake."
"Yeah," Donna agreed with a small sad nod. "Lord knows that house has taken enough lives... I think we ought t' keep Theo away from there, too. At least until he's a bit older and can swim better."
William broke at that, ducking his head and burying his face in his wife's neck to cover his sobs. She wrapped both arms around him, but made no effort to hide her own tears.
"I know, baby, I know."
"She was only twelve. Twelve year olds aren't supposed to die, Doni."
Theo sat with his back against the door, listening to his parents' every word with bloodshot eyes and shaking hands. He silently made a promise to his parents, Frank, and Avery.
No one would ever drown in that lake again.
"They never found Avery," Mr Hart whispered in a tone that ached with an old sadness. Even after all these years, Kara knew it must still hurt.
It disn't matter what or who you were, grief was largely all the same. Even a siren like her understood that.
"Exactly how many people have died in the lake," Kara asked. She wasn't able to hide her upset after hearing the story. Plenty of people had drowned in Raverden. Boating accidents, people who didn't wear life-jackets, late night lake party goers. Kara had always done everything in her power to stop it, but people made stupid mistakes, sometimes. The reason didn't make it any easier.
William didn't turn to look at her, choosing instead to focus on his grilling. Just barely, she could see a tremble to his shoulders.
"Seven. Avery had been the only one to dienear the house, though. There's a swimming area around the treeline that people used to go to, but it's been closed down for a few years." Good. Kara stood up to compose herself, eyes wet.
"Thank you for telling me this. I think I'm going to go back inside, now." She had some things to think about. A lot of things, apparently.
"I noticed you walk with a limp," William said before she could go. Kara stopped and looked at him in confusion. Why would he point that out...?
"I worked on my feet all day yesterday, I'm just a little sore."
"That so? Well, do an old man a kindness anyway, please. Be safe around that lake. It doesn't take long to drown." Somehow, Theo's demand yesterday made more sense now.
Stay out of the lake.
"Don't worry, I'm actually a professional swimmer, sort of. I'll be careful." Kara left him there and headed back inside, the cheer of everyone socializing feeling wrong now.
They never found her. Fourteen years and she was in that lake, still. Kara steadied herself on the banister of the stairs and closed her eyes. She silently added one more mission to her list.
Find Avery Gossman.