Read Online Stranger by the Lake by Jennifer Wilde - Free Book Online Page A

orange chimneys and squat black smokestacks adorning the multileveled green slate roof. The leaded windows were dark, almost opaque it seemed from here, and the enormous oak trees growing so near the house made it seem even more ponderous. It looked much as it must have looked a hundred years ago, when Sir Robert Gordon stalked through the halls in one of his dark rages and Lady Arabella in cool muslin gown served tea and cakes to the ladies in her charity organizations. I could imagine the two of them dwelling within those somber walls with their son and the frail young daughter who had died from consumption, but it seemed unreasonable of Aunt Agatha to stay here when she could have a charming flat in London. She loved the place, though, and it was home to her, for all its size and inconveniences.
    A squirrel chattered noisily on the shaded green lawn behind me, darting from tree to tree on nimble feet, and Earl took out after it, barking lustily and deserting me for livelier activity. I slowly wandered down a narrow path between two solid walls of tall green shrubbery that towered up a good ten feet. Sun gilded the thick rustling leaves, and insects buzzed loudly. It was pleasant here, I thought, turning a corner, still surrounded by shrubs. There was the pungent odor of soil and healthy growth, a vivid blue sky above filled with wind-torn clouds and, on either side, the thick green walls. Charming place. One could forget everything.… I turned another corner, only to find another aisle between the shrubs. I was curious now, wondering where all this was leading.
    I turned corner after corner, only to find more aisles. The shrubs were not so neatly trimmed here, ragged limbs and leaves sticking out, the path between them more narrow. I stopped, staring about me in dismay, and then I realized what I had done. I remembered my aunt’s voice from a long time ago, telling me not to wander in the maze, little girls got lost there and missed their dinners. I had completely forgotten that warning, had forgotten that the maze even existed, yet I had plunged straight into it like a prize idiot. I remembered looking down at it from my bedroom window when I was a child on that first visit: a great green square of shrubs that covered the whole lower level. It looked like a pretty geometric pattern seen from the bedroom window, but it didn’t look so pretty now.
    I told myself not to panic. I was ordinarily quite calm, unruffled by most feminine phobias. Mice didn’t bother me, and I was tolerant of spiders and wasps and assorted flying insects that caused many of my girlfriends to go into screaming hysterics, but the one thing that caused me to lose complete control was closed, confined places. I’d walk up ten flights of steep stairs to avoid riding an elevator, and closed public phone booths were out of the question. You’re not confined, I told myself, there’s a bright blue sky above and all this fresh air , but nevertheless the dark leafy walls on either side seemed to loom up with a sinister force, pressing towards me, threatening to crush and destroy. It was absurd, absurd, I knew, yet the panic was there and it was a very real thing inside me.
    I forced myself to turn around and walk back the way I had come, moving at a normal pace when I wanted to run. I knew that if I once let go, if I ran screaming down the aisles with pounding heart, I would be utterly demolished. Turning the corner, I strolled down the next aisle, then turned again, quelling the panic. Yes, I was going the right way. I remembered that shaggy tear in the shrub and that patch of jade-green leaves among the darker ones. In a matter of minutes I would be out of this dreadful place, back among the roses and the sweeping lawns. I wondered what diabolic mind conceived the maze in the first place. What purpose did it serve? It was a wretched thing, designed to confuse and bewilder. I walked slowly down the narrow pathway, branches brushing