Welcome to Dry Lake
“Stop and imagine, for a moment, a world without color. From a distance, that is. Then, from a longer distance, the shapes blur. Everything fades away. What was once in front of your face is now obscured, although it may be only five feet in front of you. Of course, it may well have never existed at all.”
This is how the mayor's son often described Dry Lake. Poetic, right? And—unfortunately—extremely accurate. At least in the summer. That was when the fog made the inhabitants of that little valley as blind as moles. In the winter they were coated over with ice and at least three feet of snow, which was often accompanied by a blizzard that lasts from the first week of January to the last week of February. All year-round, the town's more cynical inhabitants would find the place best described as "a cold, wet, miserable valley with no actual lake and a mock lighthouse in the park". Although, even they would admit that the spring and fall were, by far, the most pleasant seasons to spend in Dry Lake. After the blizzard and fog, who would not gladly welcome the month long thunderstorms and sheets of sleet?
Unless, of course, you do not have access to a car. Such as
Blythe did that spring. The raincoat and rain boots were pretty much a useless gesture, to be honest, although, at least she was not dumb enough to try an umbrella. Even if she had any use for them, plenty were already blowing around town like tumbleweeds in a Western. The wind can be so cruel.
But, she could not help but notice as the sky darkened from its previous icy hue,
not quite as cruel as the clouds… Of course, at the time she was still five blocks from the bus stop just as far from the nearest available roof that did
not have a private residence attached to it. So the bits of hailstone saw no reason to avoid attacking her face and neck like the microscopic ice piranhas they were. At this moment Blythe had an epiphany:
Mother Nature is a fickle, bitter old crone.
It was a useless, even though
Falona was able to drive around dry lake in a 2003 Chevy Malibu, it offered little more then rain and hail protection. The mist from the rain made it near impossible to drive faster then a 20mph. She was hopelessly lost and Calder didn't mind reminding her of that fact every five minutes. She scanned the street addresses as she drives repeating the address of her grandfathers home to herself. After about the third or fourth time of driving down the same street Falona had had enough and decided to pull over to ask someone. She managed to spot a woman and quickly rolled down her window to call out to her. "Um. Excuse me! I think I'm lost can you help me?!"
Scowling against the wind,
Blythe was honestly surprised she could hear the younger woman call out. She stopped her trek and raised an eyebrow to Falona. "I know where exactly three buildings in this town are. That's it." After a moment of shifting against the ongoing wind and sleet, Blythe squinted her eyes and leaned closer to the car. "Wait...you were the redhead at the viewing, right? You're going to Wylie Manor?"
Falona looked confused for a moment before her face lit up with excitement as she realized what Blythe was talking about."Yes! So you must be one of my cousins!! We can ride together!" Almost immediately after the words left her mouth a boy's voice came from the back. "No way! She'll get everything wet, not to mention our cousins are out to get us?!"
"Your son makes me sound like a swamp monster."
Blythe responded dryly as she started to quietly stamp her feet against the ground to keep warm. The redheaded woman looked a bit young and the boy's voice a bit old, but Blythe supposed that with a teenage pregnancy the math was possible.
"HUH?!! No, no, no he-he's my brother!! Calder apologize."
Falona tried to sound authoritative but failed epicly, her blush wasn't helping. Calder mumbled something that might have resembled an apology on another planet. "Anyway, if we are both heading to the manor you should ride with us, you might catch a cold otherwise." Falona stated seeming a little to worried especially over someone she hardly knows.
Blythe gave a wry smirk, ever-so-slight
ly more amused by Falona's stuttering than annoyed by her own mistake. "Why not? I get a ride, you get directions." With that, the older cousin walked around to the passenger side, opening the door and sliding into seat before introducing herself: "I'm Blythe, by the way."
"Falona Wylie, and as you heard earlier he is Calder." Falona replied jerking a thumb back towards Calder who just crossed his arms and huffed in reply. "It takes him a bit to warm up to people, but I'm sure we'll all be a happy family in no time!" Falona cheered as she waited for Blythe to buckle in.
The older woman raised an eyebrow at Falona's proclamation, finding such cheerful "happy family" ideals rather familiar. Upon buckling in, Blythe turned in her seat to give Calder a long, stern look. "I hope you're used to this. There's at least one more like her joining us."
Calder's face changed from annoyance to horror upon hearing her words. "Oh no...Y-You're joking right?! There can't possibly be someone as hyper and idealistic as my sister."
"Hey! It's never bad to want to have a good relationship with your family." Falona retorted as she pulled away from the curb.
"Maybe it's genetic..." Blythe mused before answering the older Wylie sibling. "No, but there's going to be a lot of people who barely know each other stuffed in that house and some might find such energetic optimism...draining. Turn left up by the post office: That brick building that has 'bank' spelled out in tile?"
"I guess that makes sense...that's a post office? why does it say 'Bank'?" Falona asked while following the instructions she was given.
"I assume because it once was one. Which means they either don't have one, or it's in a new building, now." Blythe shrugged. "Like I said; aside from the bus stops, I only know three buildings in this town. The manor, the post office, and Jacob's Sushi Bar."
"Well this is going to be an interesting year...at least you know where to get food." Falona replied, showing that she could actually be sarcastic before quickly changing to amused.
"Well, I know where to get cucumber rolls. They were out of seafood. New guy driving the delivery truck. He wasn't used to navigating through this lovely weather." Almost immediately after finishing her sentence, Blythe let out a yelp as a wayward umbrella was blown right into the windshield before spinning across the hood and away from the car.
Falona let out an "eeep" as she immediately stiffened and slowed down. "Wa-Was that an umbrella?!" Calder practically yelled his voice cracking do to fear. "L-Like Bylthe said...Lovely weather..hehehe." Falona replied nervously.
"Yes. Lovely. Maybe we should invest in wetsuits this year." Blythe quipped once her breath stopped shaking, although her eyes were still wide from the shock.
Falona took a calming breath, her muscle just beginning to relax. "That might actually prove to be a good idea....Anyway, you said you know where the manor is, have you already settled in there or is it just from memory?"
"Well, from the post office, it's easy to find the park, and by the park the road splits off. If you go to the right, and just keep going straight for a couple miles, you stop seeing suburbs. After that, the manor is the only building on that stretch of road. Right up against the base of...whatever that hill is named." Blythe made a flippant gesture towards said geological formation, although at the distance they were and with the weather the way it was, it somewhat blended into the mountain. "So the answer is...both. I unpacked last night, but I needed to check my email. No wifi at the manor."
"Oh...that's a little inconvenient..." Falona said more to herself. Wifi was something that made her job a lot easier and having limited access to it was going to mean a lot of talking and driving. "Yeah, yeah, internet is great. More importantly, have any others shown up? Anyone named Jerick?" Calder said actually sounding like the excited kid he is.
"Possibly? I didn't set up any spy cameras, so if someone showed up while I was gone, it's news to me. But not the surprising news. Apparently people actually do live in this town." Blythe's eyebrows rose slightly as though to express what a shock that discovery was. "Sibling or close cousin?"
Falona looked as if she was going to be sick as Calder lit up with excitement. "He's our big brother! I haven't seen him in a little while, so...I was curious if he might be there," the boy seemed a little disappointed as he mentioned the lack of contact.
"Well, I assume that if he wants anything to do with the will, he'll show up. If not, maybe he'll take the time to visit." Blythe looked over her shoulder to the kid in the backseat, again. "But that's if he has time. Keep this in mind next time you can't wait to grow up, kiddo: At least you guys get regularly scheduled breaks."
Calder's nose crinkled as he puffed his cheek in mild annoyance. "Yeah well at least when you get old you can do important stuff that actually makes a difference in the world..." Falona sighed with an amused smirk before replying to her brother. "Kids can do important things too, but you're too busy looking forward to the future that you can't see it."
Blythe scoffed: "Important, huh... The rich get away with anything and everything until they piss off the wrong person and end up on the front page 'bankrupt and disgraced'; the powerful are only powerful so long as the 'friends' that put them there keep getting what they want, and to Hell with whoever they step on; the famous are underdogs that everyone roots for until their pedestal gets so high that the public starts aiming to knock them down, just to see if they can land a hit. You want to change the world? Just use those puppy-dog eyes before you get old enough to blame. After that, get a good lawyer, keep your head low, and avoid cameras."
Falona and Calder fell silent for a few minutes before Falona started laughing. "Wh-What a horribly realistic thing to say! Hehe, see I don't look up to the rich...I look up to those that spend every second of their life trying to better the world, the people that give too much money away to ever be considered rich...Too bad the media rather cover stories of 'what celeb cheated on who?' and other such nonsense..."
"Yeah...there's barely any difference between so-called 'serious journalists' and gossip rags anymore..." Blythe murmured off-handedly as she peered through the windshield, trying to see the road through the waves of sleet coming down on them. "There's the park. We're almost at the fork."
Falona repositioned herself to get a better view through the sleet. "Okay...so I take right?"
"Yep. And then, just stay on that road," Blythe nodded.
"Alright." Falona replied. Her building excitement and anxiety causing her smile to stretch even further a crossed her face then usually as her fingers drummed the steering-wheel. "Don't worry, my sister isn't as psychotic as she currently looks." Calder stated taking notice of the somewhat unnerving smile.
"I'd offer similar reassurances about my own, but, eh, we're not really close enough for me to know for sure," Blythe quipped over her shoulder to Calder.
"Feeling reassured about being dragged here by the minute." Calder replied his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. "It won't be that bad." Falona tried reassuring as dry lake Manor house came into view.
The figure watched from the Windows of the bar and grill as sheets of rain came down. "Good thing I drove the truck instead of my bike..." Raevan called over her shoulder as Brett's heavy feet sounded behind her. Crossing her arms over her chest as a car drove by for what she thought was the second time. Either they were waiting for the rain to let up or they were lost. Brett came up to her and thrust her coat, car keys and backpack into her hands. "Go on Rae, get out of here and head on over to your pops place." Raevan gave a soft smile as she slipped on her coat, flipping the hood up she took her backpack and shouldered one strap. "I'll talk to you later." Clapping Brett on the shoulder she headed for the back door where she'd parked her truck. When she opened the door she was greeted with a face full of rain but pushed through it and jumped into the front seat of her fully restored '66 Chevy. She cranked the engine and smiled as the truck roared to life. Slipping on her seat belt she glanced around before pulling out onto the road and heading for dry lake Manor house
For the first time in her life Mindy was glad that google maps existed. She looked at the town that her family had caused to be and turned up the windshield wipers on her rental van. She almost felt like she was back home in Scotland on her aunt and uncle's property in the foothills of Stob Coire a' Chairn with all the dreary weather. She scratched Ratatoskr on the head as she turned onto the road leading to her family's ancestral home feeling anxious about seeing her sisters after eleven long years.
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