Old Man's Lake

By Daniel Millhouse

After a tragic accident resulting in the death of his parents, John Yount decides to move his wife and son back to his childhood home in forest town of Old Man’s Lake. In their new environment, the Yount family feels safer than they were in their former home of Los Angeles, but are they?

John’s son Wyatt befriends a boy named Bruce, while John has run-ins with Doc, both of whom knew John’s parents before they became victims of their untimely deaths. Odd occurrences and minor mischief turn into something more...something supernatural.

Spotting a boy in a photograph from the 1940’s, John is perplexed. This boy looks identical to an imaginary friend he had as a child and his name was...Bruce. Could this be the same boy that his son plays with after school? Could Bruce’s father Doc, old fashioned in his mannerisms and style, actually be a spirit of the past?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Millhouse
• Release date: Apr 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310370410

Daniel Millhouse

I'm a former baseball player, restaurant owner, and radio DJ. In the past I have been a writer of screenplays such as "Spirits Of St. Michael's", "The Underground", and "The Wanderer". I have recently moved onto novels/novellas/short stories as a way to keep writing. I am a graduate of Cal State Fullerton who grew up in Anaheim, California, but now reside in Menifee, California with my wife Yannette and Chi/Corgi dog named Bandit.

Book preview

Old Man’s Lake

by

Daniel Millhouse

Old Man’s Lake

By Daniel Millhouse

Published by Daniel Millhouse at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Daniel Millhouse

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or invented, without permission in writing from the publisher/author.

Chapter One

You never told me that someone died here!

Would it have mattered? mumbled John Yount. He sat the cardboard box down on the porch to reach for the keys in his pocket. His wife, Melissa followed closely on his heels, nearly bumping into him.

Maybe. You never gave me that option, Melissa said with irritation in her voice. She was a bit peeved that John would have left out what she believed to be an important detail about the home.

John fumbled around his pocket for his keys while opening the screen door. Pulling the keys out, he grabbed a hold of the door knob to find that the door was already unlocked. He took a quick look around and then gave a quick, confused glance to Melissa.

Strange. Stay here, John whispered to Melissa as he entered the home his parents once owned. The place had only recently been vacant for the past couple of months, but old furniture still filled out the living room. It was covered in a thin layer of dust and the air seemed stale.

John’s parents had passed away in a tragic car accident in the middle of the night. They were both in their sleepwear when their car was found smashed into a tree. An autopsy had shown that John’s father suffered a heart attack while behind the wheel, which the coroner speculated was the cause of the accident. No one ever did figure out why they both left the house late that night since both of his parents usually went to bed early every night.

John walked into the living room and instantly reminisced about the times he had as a child growing up here. Little had changed in the past thirty years. Same old furniture. His parents never changed the layout of the furniture or changed the art since his childhood. The hardwood floors still squeaked as they did with every soft step he took as a five year old.

He made it about halfway through when he heard the pounding of steps run in his direction from behind. John turned around in time to see his son, Wyatt crash into his legs. Without missing a beat, Wyatt pointed out the window.

Is that the lake? Wyatt asked his father.

Yeah, but you should be waiting outside with your mom, John replied.

Wyatt ran past John, through the kitchen, and down the hallway that led to the three bedrooms and two bathrooms the house contained. John ran after Wyatt, but by the time John caught up to him in the master bedroom at the end of the hallway, he didn’t believe anyone else was inside the house. All the doors were open and he didn’t see any evidence of anyone hiding out.

Melissa joined them seconds later. She looked around at the room John’s parents had spent the last forty years of their life in. She ran her hand along the nightstand to the left of the bed and swiped at the dust that gathered there. At the end of her swipe, she noticed a hand print in the dust the size of a child’s hand.

I think I found out why the door was unlocked, Melissa pointed out to John.

John walked over and looked the hand print. I guess some kids got a little nosey and explored around the place. Hopefully nothing is missing, John hoped.

This place is much bigger than our last place dad, Wyatt yelled with excitement. Which room is mine?

Melissa grabbed Wyatt’s hand and walked him down the hallway. She took him to the bedroom on the lake side of the hallway. This room was already furnished with a bunk bed and pictures of sports stars from the 1980’s.

How about this one? Melissa asked. It was the second biggest bedroom in the house. Wyatt looked around in amazement. He spotted the bunk bed by the window and jumped onto the ladder that led the top bunk and bounced onto upper mattress.

I got the top bed, Wyatt called out loud.

John walked in and smiled. He spent his entire childhood in this room and even as a teenager, slept on the bunk beds.

That used to be my bed, John told Wyatt.

Melissa smiled back and asked John, I bet bunk beds made it hard to have a girl over.

You think I ever brought a girl back here? John asked with sarcasm in his voice.

No, I guess not, Melissa acknowledged. In John’s eyes, his parents were strict and had wanted to plan out every step of his future for him including whom he would date.

Melissa opened the closet door and a poster of an old Guess ad was taped onto the inside of the door. Wearing a black vest, lacey bra and dark, red lipstick, Drew Barrymore was the model on the poster. Melissa blushed when she saw the picture of Drew, looking at the direction of the camera seductively.

John smiled back, Drew is the only woman to ever step foot in my room besides my mom.

I want to put my picture of the beach there mom, interrupted Wyatt, pointing to the door.

Melissa looked back at her son and responded, I think that will be fine. She took the poster of Drew Barrymore down from the door. We’ll just have to find a home for this poster. John intercepted the poster from her hands and rolled it up.

I’ll find a place for that. Maybe our closet door, he suggested.

Melissa laughed, Oh really? She swatted John on his butt. I wonder if that’ll really happen, she mused.

John quickly changed the subject. Wyatt, start grabbing your stuff out of the car. I’ll be there in a moment to start unloading the moving truck.

Wyatt jumped off the top bunk and ran out of the room. Melissa planted a kiss on John’s face as she grabbed the poster out of his hands and let it glide to the floor. John squeezed her back and held on for a moment.

Are you going to be okay here? Melissa asked. You haven’t lived here since you were eighteen.

I spent my whole life trying to get out of this town. I hated living in a forest. I thought UCLA and the whole life in Los Angeles was going to be great, John paused. Now after ten years of teaching in the city, I’m done. This is so much better. No gun fire. No crime. Just peace.

Melissa stepped back and looked at John in the face. She could see he was starting to mentally wander off. She gently tapped him on the cheek to gain back his attention. Start pulling out the boxes out of the moving truck. I’ll start cleaning the place. It hasn’t been cleaned in a long time.

Other than the few days John and his family spent in town for the funeral, John had not been back in the town of Old Man’s Lake since he was a teenager and no one had been around to play caretaker to the home since. John had only come to the house to sleep, shower, and gather the will his parents left behind.

John hated growing up here. He would wish that he could live in a bigger city like the people on the television shows he watched. They all had so many places to go, to hang out, and be with other people. He thought a person could never be bored in a big city. After years of teaching at an elementary school in Los Angeles, he saw more than his fair share of crimes and feared for the safety of his own wife and son. Two other apartments in his building were robbed and when a neighbor was raped, he decided it was time to find somewhere safer to live.

He believed it was time to move back to his childhood home. The house was three times the size of their apartment. The air was fresh and it sat alongside the lake that his father would.spend weekends fishing for dinner. The nearest neighbor was nearly half of a mile away, along the lake, with a large amount of trees in between. Best of all it was safe. Quiet and safe.

Chapter Two

Melissa was sifting through a box of Wyatt’s toys in his bedroom, when she heard the floor creak behind her. Wyatt tried to sneak up on her, but was foiled by the old, wood floor. Melissa startled him by turning around quickly. She pulled Wyatt into her and started to tickle.

Were you trying to sneak up on me? Melissa laughed.

Maybe, Wyatt giggled