Monster Lake

But there were still a few things she didn’t understand, and that’s when her father explained it all.

“Your Mom and Uncle Chuck,” he said, “couldn’t tell you what really happened to me, because you would’ve been too upset. So that’s why they made up the story about us being divorced. But your mother and I were never really divorced, Terri. We love each other just as much as we always have.”

“And just as much as we’ve always loved you,” her mother added, setting bacon and eggs out on the table.

This much Terri had figured out. “But why?” she asked. “I still don’t understand why you wanted to change the toads and salamanders…into monsters.”

“We never really wanted to change them, honey,” her father said. “At the lab where I work, we were trying to make a reagent that would give toads and salamanders certain properties of other kinds of animals.”

“Carnivores, you mean,” Terri said.

“Exactly. And that’s why the toads and salamanders got larger and grew teeth.”

“But I still don’t understand why,” Terri insisted.

“Because amphibians—toads and salamanders and frogs—never get the same kinds of diseases that human beings and other mammals get, and my job at work was to find out why. And that’s the reason I made the reagent, to give the toads and salamanders certain properties of mammals. And from there I would study them and see it they remained resistant to disease. It’s called genetic research, honey. And with this kind of research, we’ll be able to cure lots of diseases one day, and make the world better for everyone.”

Now Terri understood. They weren’t making monsters after all; they were just doing research and something went wrong.

Terri sat back in her seat at the table, where they were all together for the first time in months and months. Her parents had never really been divorced, and her father had his job back.

Her mother, her father, Uncle Chuck, and Patricia were all changed back to normal now, and so were all the animals in the lake.

Terri smiled.

Yes, everything was back to normal now, and the best part of all was that her life had returned to normal too.

_____________________________

Edward Lee has had more than 40 books published in the horror and suspense field, including CITY INFERNAL, THE GOLEM, and BLACK TRAIN. His movie, HEADER was released on DVD by Synapse Films, in June, 2009. Recent releases include the stories, “You Are My Everything” and “The Cyesologniac,” the Lovecraftian novella “Trolley No. 1852,” and the hardcore novel HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD. Currently, Lee is working on HEADER 3.

Although primarily known for his adult horror, this is Edward Lee’s first young reader novel. If you enjoyed this book please check out his second young reader novel, Vampire Lodge.

Lee lives Tampa, FL. Visit him online at:

http://www.edwardleeonline.com