On any given day, Glass Lake was as smooth as, well, glass. Hence the name. Folks would marvel at the eerie stillness of it. Even diving into the pristine water barely created a ripple. You could boat through and stare straight down at the rocks and sand at the bottom. There wasn’t even a hint of life in the lake.

Esther would visit on the weekends. It took her mind off the slamming doors and angry shouts back home. She would ride her bike out to the lake and just sit on the shore and stare out across the clear blue water and wish she were far away.

This particular afternoon, school had let out for the weekend. Esther came home to find her mother sitting on the bed crying. Her father was slamming dishes around in the kitchen, shouting about lazy this and ungrateful that. Seeing the defeated look in her mother’s eyes, that blank downtrodden stare, had been too much. Esther ran outside and grabbed her bike, taking off to the lake.

She crumpled to the sand right on the edge of the shore, crying. Why did it always have to be like this? Why couldn’t her parents just be calm and happy? Why did they torture each other day after day?

As she sat there in a sobbing heap, her hand brushed across a stone. She picked it up, glaring at it, centering all of her rage into that one stupid pebble. Screw them! They were terrible people! She didn’t want to be around them anymore! She didn’t want anything to do with them! She squeezed the stone angrily until her hand began to hurt, focusing all of her rage into that one little rock.

Finally, Esther stood up and threw the pebble as hard as she could into the lake. It hit with a soft plunk, then all was still again.

Such a strange lake, she thought. Always quiet and peaceful, like she wished her life to be.

Suddenly she saw a ripple. Her first thought was that it was a fish or something, but she remembered the lake was devoid of life.

There, another ripple. They seemed to be circling out from where the pebble had fallen, but moments after the fact.

Strange.

Another ripple.

And another!

They were growing in size!

Esther watched in awe as the whole lake began to tremble, as though boiling. She wasn’t paying attention when invisible hands grabbed her ankles, dragging her violently from the shore. She screamed, scrabbling to find a hold in the sand, but the invisible arms were too strong. Esther begged and cried, fighting as hard as she could, but it was no use.

“Mommy, daddy!” she screamed, before she was dragged under the water.

Her splashing and thrashing was halted violently.

Slowly the ripples died down, and once again the lake was smooth as glass.