Chanyeol is here, pounding at the door. He has no patience. Very annoying. However he is the only consistent visitor I have. Others drift through and then drift away. It is the way The House works. Alright! I am coming Chanyeol. There, now you are inside you silly giant. I have a guest in the kitchen, one who is here for my stories. Do you have one Chanyeol? Of course you have one of yourself, you're very self centered. Are you ready for another story dear reader? Chanyeol will tell you a tale, a tale of another him and another me. 

The Lake 

      Baekhyun had a fascination with the Lake. 

     It was wide and it was deep. The water was murky and it was in all ways an old, forgetten body of water overgrown by the woods surrounding it. The Lake lay outside of the tiny town Baekhyun was born in. Once upon a time it had been used by the townsfolk to survive. They fished in it, washed in it, and drank its water. That was hundreds of years ago. Now the town was modern and the Lake was useless. Still it was there. 

      Baekhyun had a fascination with the Lake. 

      The water was always freezing cold. Summer, Fall, Spring or Winter the water was cold. Now all lakes were cold, but not the bone chilling sensation of this Lake. Baekhyun liked to lay on the aging dock and put his hands into the small waves. He was the only one do to so. No one went there. The adults had no use for it and children thought it was creepy. The local legend was that a witch boy had drowned in it years ago. Nonsense, people said. Old folktales. Still no one liked the Lake. It was eerie and it called out only to Baekhyun. It liked him and it wanted him to come. 

       Baekhyun had a fascination with the Lake.

    Laying on his stomach, Baekhyun held his hands out over the edge of the dock. He watched the sunlight filter through them, hitting the shining water. The Lake was still today. The surface of it lay so still it become a mirror for the summer sky above. He liked it when it was like this. It made him forgot how horrible the Lake could really be. The pull wasn't so painful now and he felt almost peaceful. 

    "Hey Lake Boy!  What the are you doing now?"

    Baekhyun closed his eyes. He really didn't want to deal with this. It was sumer for 's sake. Why one earth would he want to deal with high school bullies during the summer? 

    "What's so cool about the dumb Lake?" Another voice called out. 

    Baekhyun cracked open an eye, peering at the four teenage boys hovering by the trees. They were big and burly with nothing between their ears. He hated them almost dispassionatly. Baekhyun had better, more terrible things to hate than them. They were nothing in the grand scheme of things....only annoying. One of them, furious at being ignored, scooped up a rock and threw it at him. Baekhyun ducked his head down. The rock whizzed by his ear, vanishing into the murky water with a plop! 

      "I'm talking to you idiot!" the biggest of them yelled, scowling. "What's so cool about the Lake?"

       A hilarious question to ask considering how they were all too scared to come closer. 

      The Lake was fascinating only to him. Everyone else hated it. 

      The Witch Boy drowned in there. 

      "It's dark," he called back, staring at it over the edge of the dock. He couldn't see the bottom he assumed was there. The water was too dark and muddled. "And it's deep. Maybe it'll eat you if you fall in."

      He kind of thought that was true. The Lake was not normal. Nothing lived in it. It was eery at best and dangerous at worst. People had died in it without reason. Baekhyun never said anything, but he thought maybe the Lake killed them on purpose. 

      Maybe he was just insane. 

     "You're so ing weird," the boy said. He crept closer to the edge of the dock when he realized his aim would be better there. He scooped up another rock. "No wonder everyone leaves you."

     Baekhyun sat up, face twisted into a scowl. Now he was angry enough to be reckless with his words. "Well at least I'm not the one with a drunk mom and a of a sister," he snapped. "How many nephews do you have now?"

     "Shut the up!" he yelled, throwing the rock with all his might. Baekhyun barely had enough to blink before it slammed into his face. Crying out, he fell over. Clutching his head, he struggled to breathe through the sudden pain. His vision was blurring with tears. A sticky, wet feeling on his fingers told him he was bleeding. 

      "No one asked you," the boy snarled somewhere in the blurry mess. "How dare you talk about my family? You don't know a ing thing."

     Another rock whipped by his head, breezing through his hair. Baekhyun held his hands over his face. His head was throbbing in pain. He'd have a bruise for sure. 

     "What the hell are you doing?" an outraged voice called out. Baekhyun wiped the tears from his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he made out a tall boy throwing the nasty jock to the ground. The other three had already fled, leaving their friend to fend for himself. 

    "Hey man!" he cried defensively, "It's just Baekhyun, it's not like it matters."

    The boy came into focus. Baekhyun realized it was Chanyeol, the new boy in town. He vagually remembered his father telling him about him. He was a few years older than Baekhyun, much taller, and much more put together. Other than that he knew nothing. Who moves to this stupid little town anyway? Chanyeol yelled something, kicking the boy again. Seemingly satisfied with the cry of pain it elected, he walked down the dock to Baekhyun. Kneeling down, he pulled Baekhyun's hands down to peer at his head. 

     "Are you okay?" he asked, running his finger over the gash. 

      "I'll be fine," Baekhyun said. He was a little surprised that Chanyeol came onto the dock. No one did that. They were too afraid of it. He was very surprised that Chanyeol had attacked another boy for throwing a rock at him. He couldn't help but stare at the other boy. He was handsome in a way and Baekhyun felt shy. "Thank you," he whispered. 

      Chanyeol smiled brightly, showing a line of white, white teeth. "No problem," he said. "But honestly who thinks throwing a rock at someone's face is okay? What a jerk," he mumbled. His fingers run down to Baekhyun's cheeks, slowly turning  his head to the side. "I think it's going to bruise pretty badly," he said. "Let's get you home and put some ice on it."

       Baekhyun nodded and Chanyeol lifted him to his feet. They walked off the dock. Chanyeol was chattering about something but Baekhyun wasn't listening. He glanced back at the Lake. It wanted him to come back, to fall into it and never come out. He shivered and turned away from it. Curses aren't real. The Lake is just a lake. He followed Chanyeol into the trees but still he felt the pull to go back to the water. It was like it was drowning him without him ever being in the water. It  crept into his lungs, filling them up until he couldn't breathe. 

      The Lake was going to kill him one day.

      School started in the Fall. Baekhyun whined and complained, but secretly he was relieved to have a reason to not go back to the Lake. It wanted him to come and it wasn't taking no for an answer. He wished he had a reason for why he kept going back. He had nothing. Only the urging to go, go, go. The feeling like he should walk right off the edge of the dock and sink down, down, down into the waters. It scared the hell out of him. 

     How could something so normal be so dangerous?

     He walked to his locker, opening it up. A quick glance around assured him the boys weren't coming for him. It was the first day of school, but he hadn't seen them yet. Baekhyun briefly wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that Chanyeol had beaten the crap out of the leader. I wonder if he ever got in trouble for that....

      "Hey!" a cheerful voice rang out. 

     Baekhyun looked up to see the giant boy towering over him with a blinding smile. Chanyeol patted him on the shoulder. 

     "How's the head?" he asked, turning Baekhyun's face to side to look at his forehead curiously. Baekhyun swatted his hand away. He backed up, nervously holding his books. 

    "It's fine," he said. "I'm just fine, thank you."

     Chanyeol cocked his head off the side. "What was that?" he asked. "Did you just thank me?"

      Was he deaf? Baekhyun spoke louder this time. "Thank you."

      The smile returned. White, white teeth flashing. "You're welcome," Chanyeol said. "And as repayment, I'm taking you on a date."

      "What?" Baekhyun asked, almost in full panic now. He hadn't been on a date since....never. He shook his head rapidly. "No-wait I-"

      Chanyeol laughed and began walking away. "I'll pick you up Friday, 5:00."

      Then he was gone. Baekhyun was left fuming quietly to himself. 

     What on earth is he going to get out of this?

      He couldn't get out of it. Or that's what he told himself. Baekhyun was curious about Chanyeol, so why not go? Friday rolled around. He dressed up, put on some eyeliner, and slowly walked out to Chanyeol's car. It was a nice car, much fancier than anything a normal teenager in their town would own. They all had ragged pickups, broken vans, and rebuilt cars one step away from falling to bits. Baekhyun climbed into the passanger side. 

     "Hi," he said. 

      Chanyeol smiled, pulling out of Baekhyun's driveway. "Hi," he said. "Are you ready?"

      "Ready for what?"

      "For an adventure," he said. "We're getting out of this town."

      Baekhyun really couldn't argue with that. So he leaned back and watched as they took the sole road out of their town. "So I hear you're new here," he finally said to break the silence. Chanyeol flashed another grin. 

      "Oh no," he said. "You can't get something for nothing. How about this, you ask a question and if I answer it, you have to answer one."

       He debated that. What was the worst that Chanyeol could possibly ask? So he agreed. "My question first," he insisted. "Why did you move here?"

     "My parents like it here," Chanyeol answered, taking a turn onto another highway. "My dad grew up here and wanted to come back."

     "Why'd he leave in the first place?"

      "No," he said. "My question first." Chanyeol glanced over at the smaller boy beside him in the car. "Do you spend a lot of time at the Lake?"

     So that's what this was. Chanyeol wanted to know about the Lake freak. Baekhyun scowled, turning his face towards the window. This wasn't a date, this was an interagotton. Fine, he'd play along. After they were done he'd run to Lake and avoid Chanyeol until the older boy graduted. Who knows? Maybe if Baekhyun acted strange enough he'd be left alone. It had worked before. 

      "Not as much as everyone thinks," he said warily. "But enough."

      He saw Chanyeol looking at him curiously through his reflection on the window. "Enough for what?"

      Baekhyun laughed. "My turn," he said darkly. "Why'd your dad move away from this hellhole?"

     "Fair enough," Chanyeol muttered. He spoke louder. "His parents died so he went to live with relatives. He's wanted to come back for a while and finally convinced my mom."

      "He's crazy," Baekhyun said. "Everyone wants out of our town."

      Chanyeol shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "But for now it's interesting."

      Baekhyun thought he was crazy. There was nothing good in this town. Only the Lake. The Lake was not good. His stomach twisted nervously. Breathing deeply, he tried to calm himself. "Your turn."

     "Why do you like the Lake so much?"

     "I don't like it," he said. 

     "Then why hang out there?" Chanyeol asked. "People don't hang out at places they hate."

     "I do," Baekhyun said. "It's scary."

      "Why's it scary?"

      Baekhyun glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Where they ever going to stop this car? "It's my turn."

      Chanyeol raised one hand in acknowledgment. "Fine," he said. "Go for it."

      "Why ask me out if I'm the weird Lake boy?"

        At Chanyeol's confused look, Baekhyun elaborated. "You're new, cute, and richer than everyone in this ing town. That's like the three most desirable traits for dating. Hell you could probably date anyone in or out of high school and nobody'd say a word." He leaned back in the seat. "So why as me out?"

      "I like you," Chanyeol said. "Everyone here is worried about what everyone thinks of them. Everyone knows everything and makes it their business. Seriously it's like being survallinced 24/7." he glanced over at Baekhyun. "But you don't care about any of that. You're....different. I want to be different too..." he sighed, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "But I'm horrible at it.. I don't think I can do it."

      That wasn't what Baekhyun was expecting.

      "Oh," he said. 

      "Oh?" Chanyeol teased. "I tell you you're the best person in this town and all you've got is 'oh'? What happened to three most desirable traits in a dating partner?"

     Baekhyun blushed and turned away. "Your turn," he mumbled. 

     "Has anyone drowned in that Lake?"

      Baekhyun didn't say a word. Instead he shrugged and the game came to an end.  

       Baekhyun was six when he first saw the Lake. 

       His mother had ran away. She had been a flitty little thing with slender hands. Baekhyun didn't remember her face but he remembered her hands. She had married young and it had broken her. His mother left in the middle of the night. Baekhyun had cried when his father told him she wasn't coming back. 

      His father had been right. The police found her body 3 months later in the woods. Drowned, they said. We're sorry, but she was long gone by the time we got the call. 

       Relatives, well meaning but overwhelming, flocked to their little house on the outskirts of town. Neighbors came to talk, to drop off food. Baekhyun couldn't take it and fled too. 

       His father always did tell him he was more like his mother than him. 

      Sobbing, Baekhyun ran into the trees. Tears stung his eyes, blurring the forest around him. His ankle caught on something, sending him flying into the ground. His hands reached out for dirt and found sand. Pulling his tear streaked face up, he stared at the shimmering water lying in front of him. Quietly crying, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

      At that moment the Lake called out to him. 

     He was too young to understand what it would mean to go into it. He wanted his mom. He wanted to erase the horrible feeling inside of him. Baekhyun thought maybe the Lake would wash it away. He was halfway into the murky waters when he heard his father calling out for him. 

       Baekhyun heard the Lake's anger and it scared him. 

      He fled, swearing he'd never, ever go back. 

      They say a Witch boy drowned there. 

       He lied though. By the time he was fifteen, Baekhyn knew more about the Lake than anyone else in town. He had measured how roud it was, caluclated it's width, studied it's plant life, seen what animals came to it, observed how the ice formed on it during winter and watched how it melted away every summer. Baekhyun was there and he saw it all. 

       He knew, no matter what the adults said, that the Lake wasn't right. It was dead. Nothing lived in it, no fish, no insects. Nothing drank from it. The only plants were the dying weeds that gathered on its shores. He had never dared go into it. Only his hand, reaching out over the dock. Baekhyun understood what the animals did. Going in would mean he was going to stay.

       He wasn't sure he was ready for that. 

     The date went well. Chanyeol took him to a cafe in some unknown town and then dropped him off at his house. After that they really didn't talk a lot. It was like Chanyeol's curiousity had been satisfied so he had moved on. Baekhyun was confused because didn't Chanyeol tell him he was the one real person in a town of paper people? He supposed Chanyeol just said that so Baekhyun would talk. At the end of the day, Chanyeol was the new king of high school and Baekhyun was the Lake Boy. 

      So tragic. Their love story had ended before it had begun. 

     Baekhyun moved on. His father started drinking again. He needed something constant and that obviously wasn't Chanyeol, however kind the boy had once been. He spent his time at the Lake. There at least people would not bother him. It was highly ironic (and he knew it) that the place he was sure he was going to die was the one place he could find peace. 

     He kind of hoped that the Lake would hurry up and him under already. Baekhyun had waited a long, long time for it. He stopped wondering if it would hurt him. He wanted to know how long it would take, if the Lake would let it happen quickly or hold him under its waves forever. 

      Baekhyun wondered if the Witch Boy had been scared when he fell in. 

      Or was he just lonely?

       Another year passed. Chanyeol was a senior and Baekhyun was a sophmore now. They didn't talk, but sometimes Baekhyun felt someone watching him from the woods. At first he thought it was nothing. Then maybe it was his father, finally taking interest in his son. It was neither. Baekhyun saw a flash of Chanyeol's car speeding off one day and realized the boy had followed him. Had been following him. 

       He wondered if Chanyeol, for all his smiles and popularity, was lonely too. 

       Baekhyun started watching Chanyeol again. He saw the little things that had been left unnoticed for far too long. He saw how tired Chanyeol was. He saw the cracks in his mind and the plastic way he smiled now. He saw the way people admired him and the way Chanyeol hated it. Baekhyun quickly realized that Chanyeol was afraid of failing from grace and that their date had been his one act of courage before surrounder. It made him feel a bit better to know he had once mattered to the tall, paper boy. The one who is two steps away from tearing. 

       Fall fell into Winter. The Lake grew colder until ice formed on its surface. It spread over all of it, creating a thick layer Baekhyun could stand on. He would go on the Lake after school. Baekhyun would stand on the ice and peer down at the water beneath his feet. Sometimes he'd wonder if the Lake would run out of patience and crack its ice.

       When his father stopped coming home after work he kind of hoped it would.

       Sighing, Baekhyun pulled his backpack higher up. It was Spring now. The snow had melted and all but a tiny bit of the ice had gone too. The Lake was waking up again and this time he felt it wanted him now. So he went. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. He walked out to the end of the dock. With his toes hanging off the side, he stared down into the murky water. It stirred, almost coming alive. He shivered. 

        A splash caught his attention. Baekhyun's head jerked up at the sound. He stood in shock as he saw a boy walking straight into the Lake. Horror crept over him. The Lake's killing someone. He looked closer. It was Chanyeol. Panicking, Baekhyun raced off the dock. Running to the very edge of the water, he screamed out. 

       "Chanyeol!" he yelled. "Chanyeol don't go in there! It's dangerous, it's going to eat you! Chanyeol!"

        His entreaties fell on deaf ears. Baekhyun kicked off his shoes and dived after him. What is the idiot doing?! The instant his feet touched the water he regreted it. It was freezing, making his muscles stiffen. Ever treacherous, the Lake's waters threatened to pull him down before he ever reached Chanyeol. Baekhyun barely managed to keep going. When his feet couldn't touch anyore, he started swimming. Finally he reached the giant. 

       "Chanyeol!" he cried, water slipping into his mouth. "Chan-"

       Waves of bitter cold washed over his head. Spluttering, Baekhyun tried to hack the water out of his lungs. They burned, full of water. He reached out to grab onto the oblivious boy. 

       "Chanyeol," he said. "Please let it go....it's not your time alright? It isn't time for you to go so for God's sake hold on!"

        Chanyeol struggled, easily tossing the smaller boy aside. Baekhyun fought to keep ahold of him. He understood what Chanyeol was feeling now but goddamn it he wasn't going to let the tall boy give in. Chanyeol went to duck under the treacherous waters and Baekhyun did the only thing he could think of. He slapped him. 

       "Don't you ing dare," he yelled. Chanyeol stared at him in shock, his hands holding his red cheek. "Don't you dare do this. I get it okay? I get the hold this Lake has on people and how it picks on the weak." Baekhyun was shaking now, eyes filled with tears and rage. "I get it because it's been trying to get me to jump in since I was six. But don't do it. Chanyeol you're smart and you're funny and you make everyone love you without even trying." 

        Both of them were sobbing now. Chanyeol crumpling into Baekhyun's arms and Baekhyun talking through his tears. "You're going to get out of this poisoned place. You're going to fly far away and light up the entire sky. Just-let's get out of this Lake okay?"

      Chanyeol nodded, letting Baekhyun lead him out of the water. Supporting him, Baekhyun walked him to his car parked in the woods. They climbed in and Chanyeol collapsed. "I don't want to do this," he cried. "I-the Lake was going to take this away."

       Chanyeol had been ripped into a million pieces by things Baekhyun had never thought about before. He was at loss as to how he was supposed to put the shreds back together. 

       "That's the thing," Baekhyun whispered, taking Chanyeol's hand in his. "The Lake tells you it will take it all away and it will. But that's the trick. It takes away the pain, but it takes your life too. All the things you wanted to do, the things you could've done. It takes your days and your laughter, your hopes and all of your could-have-beens. It them all away and you're left with nothing." he shuddered. "Nothing but darkness."

      The tall boy finally looked at him with a tear-streaked face. "Than why are you so obsessed with it?" he said.

     "I-"

      "Don't lie," Chanyeol said, leaning back to catch his breath through his sobs. "Don't you ing lie to me Baekhyun. Everyone lies and I can't take if you do it."

     Baekhyun swallowed. "I don't know," he whispered. "I think it's because it makes me forget. The Lake is horrible, but the danger of it takes away the crap of life. If that even makes sense." He glanced out the window at the fading light. "The darkness of it makes me feel like I've got control over something."

      "So we're both the same," Chanyeol said. He took a deep breath. Both of them were soaking wet, hair plastered to their heads. Baekhyun shivered. Chanyeol turned the car on. Sighing, he reached over to buckle Baekhyun's seatbelt in. 

      "Where are we going?" Baekhyun asked. He didn't really care right now. All he knew was that Chanyeol was out  of the Lake and Baekhyun had saved him. Didn't that count for something in their messed up worlds?

     "To your house," Chanyeol said quietly. "I'm dropping you off and then I'm going to go find a place to rent for the next two years." He glanced at Baekhyun like he wasn't sure if he'd vanish on him. "When you graduate, we're getting out of here together."

      Baekhyun nodded to appease Chanyeol. To be honest, he wasn't sure he'd make two years. But Chanyeol was begging him now and he couldn't say no. He had waited 10 years to throw himself into the Lake. He could make 2 more. 

      Go away. 

      Keep the Little Witch Boy. 

      It isn't Chanyeol's time and it isn't mine. 

      Go away and touch us no more. 

       We are getting out. 

       That was a sad story Chanyeol. Do you agree Dear Reader? What a tale to tell. How did it come to you? From the waters of Dia Lox? An unusual place to find stories indeed, but you travel everywhere do you not? You are what some stories like to call a "mysterious stranger." You flew around and collect stories for me to store in this House. I have known you since the beginning of this life and I know nothing about you. Don't interupt me it's rude. I don't know you, but I feel I should. Did you build this House? Did you create me out of swirling stardust or did you simply stumble across my House on the Edge? I know not you silly giant. Dear Reader, thank you for listening to his tale. Would you  like another one? This House is overflowing with them, go into the living room! Choose one, there are many. Chanyeol will come too I believe, he likes to cling when he is here. Silly boy. Come! We will tell another tale.