Lake of the Vanished

Everyone in Kingcast, in fact, everyone in the Province knew about the tales of Lake Disparue. Although it’s more of a pond than a lake, the people of our town thought “Canada’s Most Mysterious Lake” looked better on a brochure.

The tales surrounding the pond and its eerie reputation started long ago. Kingcast was once home to a royal family; King Alexander, Queen Evelyn, and their daughter, Delilah, the princess. The land belonged to them, and their castle was only a short ride away from the pond on horseback. The path went through a quiet forest straight on to a small brook that laid east of the pond. According to the stories, when Delilah turned 12, she was given permission to ride off in the evenings to play by the pond, and a housemaid would come fetch her. One chilling winter evening, the housemaid rode off to the fallen tree by the pond side where the princess would frequent. But the housemaid found only her books and a few of her dolls, and Delilah was gone. When the housemaid returned without her, the King and Queen feared the worst. A search party was sent off, but after days, nothing turned up. The princess was never seen again. Nobody really knows what happened, and Delilah’s disappearance is still the greatest mystery of this area. A few months later, the King named the pond Disparue, meaning “vanished”, and declared it to be accursed.

Since then, there’ve been many more stories of people vanishing by the frozen pond in the wintertime. Still, most outsiders believe Delilah’s story is just an old tale. Locals know better than to dismiss stories of disappearances.

Nevertheless, my story started last November, when a whole new round of tourists came to Kingcast. But this tale revolves around me, and one young tourist in particular; Kit DeMarco.

The previous winter, rumours spread that a couple on their honeymoon had disappeared by the lake, and all the people who’d been coming around for a few years just stopped. There hadn’t been reports of a disappearance in over a decade, as people typically stayed away from the pond in the winter. So for an entire year, there were almost no tourists in Kingcast. But after the year of silence, a new wave took their chances. Whenever the bus would come rolling in, I’d keep my eye out for anyone who seemed interesting. I stood along the railing of the small bridge with the bus stop. The bus pulled up, opened its doors, and out the people flooded. And that’s when I saw Kit. He caught my attention, wearing a relatively small backpack, a grey toque over his wavy, light-brown hair, along with red headphones around his neck, black jeans, red all-stars, and to top it all off, a plain blue t-shirt. It baffled me that he decided to wear clothes like that in such snowy weather, whereas us locals won’t even leave our houses without dressing in layers. Apparently, when he stepped out of the bus, I must’ve chuckled rather loud, because he looked straight at me. I was looking at the bus over my shoulder, and I awkwardly turned my head away when we made eye contact. Typically I enjoyed conversing with interesting looking tourists, but I was already off to a bad start. I let a few seconds go by, acting like I was admiring the view of the small stream beneath the bridge, when suddenly a voice came from behind;

“Hi.”

My eyes widened, and I turned around, hoping it wasn’t the t-shirt boy I laughed at. But of course, it was.

“Oh, uh, hi.”

I said, in probably the weirdest way possible.

“I’m Kit”,

He said.

“Kit DeMarco. And I couldn’t help but notice that you laughed the moment I stepped off the bus, so I thought I’d come and ask what it was that you found so humourous”,

He said with a witty smirk, in an obvious attempt to make things difficult.

“Right,”

I replied, with an awkward chuckle.

“Well I couldn’t help but notice that you, being a tourist, decided to visit one of the coldest areas in Canada, and yet you arrive in a t-shirt and all stars when it’s snowing.”

“Oh, this?”

He said, referring to the weather nonchalantly.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve gone backpacking through multiple parts of Canada, so I’d say I’m a pretty experienced tourist”,

He said proudly.

“Is that right?”

I replied doubtfully, as the goosebumps on his arms clearly indicated he was cold.

“So did an “experienced tourist” like yourself really think he’d be fine in weather that gets down to 30 below?”

I said, crossing my arms.

“Or was there just no room for a coat in that nice, spacious backpack you brought along?” I said sarcastically, laughing as I gestured to his small backpack that’s clearly designed for school, not travelling.

He inhaled as to say something, but then stopped. He looked down and let out a sort of chuckling scoff.

“Alright”,

He said, looking back up.

“You got me. I realised I forgot my coat after I was already on the plane to the neighbouring town, so I kinda had to make do.”

“Now that sounds believable. And I can help you with that. My parents own a gift shop a little ways down the street. I’ll walk you there and we can get you a coat that makes you look like you’re actually an experienced tourist”,

I said with a half smile.

“Alright, fine.”

He laughed.

As we went, he told me that his parents were world travellers before he was born, and apparently that plus a few trips around Canada makes him “experienced”. After he was through explaining himself, he stopped abruptly-

“Oh yeah, I didn’t catch your name!”

“Right, sorry!

I’m Delilah. Delilah Hawthorne.”

He raised his eyebrows, looking intrigued.

“Delilah… like, the princess Delilah? You know, the one that mysteriously disappeared all those-

“Yes, I know which Delilah you’re referring to.”

I replied as we continued walking.

“And no, I wasn’t named after her.”

“Seems like I’m probably not the first to ask you that”,

He said with a slight laugh.

“Not even close. Trust me, sharing name’s with a princess who disappeared here over 100 years ago does pique people’s interest. It’s kind of a nuisance.”

“Well, I think it’s kinda cool.”

He replied.

When we arrived at the gift shop, I helped Kit pick out a coat fit for the stinging weather. As we were looking, he started probing me with questions about what I knew of the area’s history, including the royal family and Disparue.

“Oh, please don’t tell me you’re one of those people who think the stories are a myth and you’re here to prove it wrong”,

I said, annoyed.

“Actually, I’m here to prove the opposite.”

He replied.

I looked at him, intrigued and somewhat confused. My mother was behind the counter and rang the coat up as I explained that Kit was a tourist I was helping out. We headed to the local cafe next door and he began explaining more of why he was here. He took off his backpack and pulled out a wide array of history books about this area and articles on disappearances, along with a compass, flashlight, and other similar items.

“I’ve been researching this area and the princess for two years. I’ve discovered details that were never even mentioned in previous investigations! So, I came here to visit Disparue and see what I can find out first hand.”

I was shocked.

“You’re telling me that you actually wanna go to the place where multiple people disappeared and were never found??”

I asked, as I couldn’t understand why someone would do such a thing.

“Yep.”

He said, with that same smirk.

“And I think you should come with me.”

“What?! You want me to come with you?”

I replied, completely stunned.

“Yeah! I think you’d make good company, plus, you’re a local and know this area like the back of your hand, so I bet you could help me!”

“I’m not sure about this, Kit”,

I said after I thought for a bit.

“Just give it a chance, okay? I booked myself a hotel just a few blocks away, so tomorrow morning we can meet here for coffee before we leave. You can always head home if you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared!”

I replied immediately.

“Just… cautious.”

“So that’s a yes??”

He asked, with raised eyebrows and an inquisitive look in his deep blue eyes.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

I said as I rolled my eyes.

“Yes!”

He exclaimed with a smile.

“We’ll meet at 8 o’clock sharp!”

He said as we went our separate ways.

The next morning, we grabbed coffee to go and were on our way. The only way there was to hike, as the bus stopped taking tourists to the pond after recent disappearance reports. We arrived after about an hour of tiresome hiking.

“So this is it, huh?”

Kit said, quite winded.

“I guess so. It’s my first time here, too.”

I replied.

“Guess we should get to work.”

He walked a little ways ahead of me, yelling back-

“Here it is! This is the spot!”

I hurried over-

“I read that Delilah would play by a fallen log on the south side of the pond. This is the best place to start!”

He said.

We started scoping out the area to get an idea of what was around. He began muttering to himself-

“If I was Delilah, where would I have gone? What would I have been doing?”

“Well for starters,”

I began,

“I would’ve gone off to explore.”

“That’s a great start!”

He replied.

“See, I knew it was a good idea to bring you along!”

He said in that “I told you so” kind of way.

Kit began explaining his plan; each day, we would search different sections of the forest where Delilah may have explored, and look for anything out of the ordinary. We started with the west, but no luck. We returned the following day, still nothing. Over the next week, we thoroughly searched in each direction on that side of the pond, but found no clues. The evening we finished our search, we went for dinner.

“I can’t believe it. After a week of searching… nothing.”

Kit said, very disappointed.

“I know. I thought we’d find something, but…”

“And I thought I could solve it”,

He scoffed.

“Hey! Don’t be like that, okay?”

He sat there, slouching, his arms crossed.

“You’ve gotten closer to figuring this thing out than anyone ever has. We searched that whole area of the pond, and we put in the work, Kit. That’s something.”

Immediately, he pepped up and his eyes widened.

“Delilah, that’s it!”

I stared blankly.

“That’s it!”

He said again, scooting in to the table.

I remained silent, awaiting an explanation.

“We searched that whole area of the pond!”

“Uh huh…”

“But only that side! We only searched the side she was rumoured to play on! You said it yourself; she probably wanted to explore! What better place to explore than the other side?”

“…you might be right!”

I replied after some thought.

We decided to give it another shot. We met up at dawn, fingers crossed we’d find anything at all.

After searching for half the day, we decided to take a break. I sat at the base of a tree, while Kit looked for a rock to sit on. I sat resting with my eyes closed, when suddenly-

“What the..?! oh no..!”

I then heard a loud whipping sound, rustling leaves, and Kit yelling fearfully from afar, followed immediately by a dead silence…