There we were. Me, Hardy, Nicky, Tom, and Joe standing upon the most incredible, yet terrifying sight known to man. We were surely in a great situation but before I get into that let's start from the beginning. It was a beautiful day. The sun was bright and the skies were clear. Hardy came through the door and said, "Hey Billy, me and a couple of friends are gonna go out to the lake to fish. You wanna come?" Little did Hardy know that I'm terrified of that lake. I didn't want to seem like a wimp so I agreed. "Yeah that sounds like fun. Let me just get my things. I'll be out in a few." I go outside and get into the car with Hardy and he told me, "We're on our way to pick up Nicky first." Oh, Nicky. I have been in love with her since elementary school. Maybe going to the lake with her wouldn't be so bad. "Alright Hardy. By the way can I play a song?" "Of course you can." I start to play my favorite song, Africa by Toto. It's the song that my parents fell in love to. A day never goes by where I'm not  thinking about them. We finally get to Nicky's house and I call her to let her know that we're outside. She comes outside and I can't stop staring.  Nicky is the most beautiful girl in the world. Her hair in the wind, her smile, her amazing complexion. Sometimes I think that she's not even human. She comes down and gets into the car. "Hey Nicky," I say to her a little nervously, "how are you?" "I'm doing great thanks. It's such a beautiful day, don't you think?" "Yeah the sky is amazing today." "Alright guys, we're gonna go pick up Tom now," Hardy says. We get to Tom's house and as usual we can hear his mom and dad arguing inside. They're always arguing. I call Tom to let him know we're in front of his house. "Alright I'm coming out right now," he says. On his way out, you can hear his dad yell, "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING NOW?" Tom doesn't say a word to him and walks out of his house with a blank face. "Hey man are you alright? We can go another day if you want?" I say to him. "No I'm alright let's just go. I need to get away from here for a while." "Alright well we're gonna go pick up Joe and then we can go to the lake." I'm sitting there with Nicky and I want to say something to her but without even thinking, words come out of my mouth. "So hey Nicky do you have a boyfriend?" That's not what I wanted to come out of my mouth. "That was random but it's complicated right now. My boyfriend is acting so weird and I don't like it." " Oh I'm so sorry to hear that," I say as I'm jumping with joy on the inside. "Yeah well I don't think that me and him are gonna last too long." I tell her, " I'm here for you no matter what." We get to Joe's house and he's outside playing his guitar as usual. "Hey Joe let's get going," Hardy yells out of the window. "I'm coming hold up." He goes inside to grab his sweater then comes rushing out before his dog can get outside. Joe gets into the car. "Alright you guys ready to have some fun?" he says. "Of course," Hardy says, "now let's get going." We're on our way to the lake. Everyone's laughing and making jokes having a great time. I love having all of us hang out together. We see the sign for the entrance of the lake. "Lake Longworth" it read. "I can't wait. I'm gonna catch a big one you just wait," said Joe. Hardy parked the car near the boat and we all got out of the car. Me and Hardy get the fishing gear in the back of the car while Tom and Joe get the boat ready for us. Then there was Nicky sitting on a big rock as beautiful as ever. Her hair in the wind and her smile as bright as the sun itself. I go up to her and ask her if she wants to go for a walk and talk on the shore. She agrees and we both take off our shoes and step in the soft, warm sand. "This lake is so beautiful, don't you think Billy?" said Nicky. She doesn't know that I'm terrified of it ever since what happened. "Yeah it is beautiful," I say to her. "Hey, what do you think I should do about me and my boyfriend?" What am I supposed to say to that? I love this girl but I can't give her the wrong advice or she'll hate me. "Honestly, you should do what your heart desires. Do what you believe is right because you're the only one who knows what you want." All I can think about is her with me. "Hey you two let's get going before it gets dark," exclaims Hardy. We all get onto the boat and set out for the middle of the lake. Joe thinks that that's where all the best fish are. We're all sitting there getting closer to the middle and I'm gripping the rail tighter and tighter as we get closer. "Hey Billy what's wrong?" asks Hardy. "Nothing's wrong. I just get a little nervous going out into the lake is all." "Tell us about it. What's wrong?" "Well when I was younger me and my parents went fishing on this lake and something weird happened. We were sitting there and something came out of the water and the next thing I know I wake up on the shore and I don't see my parents anywhere. I was freaking out because I had no idea where they were. I ran to the nearest gas station and told them what happened. They called the police and I went to the station and got questioned. That's why I'm feeling nervous." "I'm sorry to hear that," says everyone. "Don't be nervous. That was years ago. Things change and maybe there was nothing in the water. You'll be fine," says Hardy. I'm glad I have a friend like Hardy in my life. I wouldn't know what to do if it weren't for him. "Thank you guys. You're right maybe there's nothing. Let's continue and see if Joe can really catch a big one haha." "I will catch a big one, just you wait," he laughs and smiles. We're finally at the middle of the lake and we all have our lines out waiting for a catch. "Hey guys I think I got something," exclaims Nicky. "Reel it in. Reel it in," exclaims everyone. Nicky, as beautiful as ever, starts to reel in the first catch of the day. It comes out. It was a pretty decent sized bass. She was so happy that the first thing she did was go up to me and hug me. She gave me the most amazing hug and it warmed my heart up. It made me smile so hard that I could cut diamonds with it. "Aye good job that's a nice one you caught there," I told her. "Hey Joe it looks like Nicky caught a big one before you did" laughs Tom and Hardy. Everyone else laughed along. "Don't worry guys. My catch will be 10 times bigger than hers." Some time passes and we're all sitting there making jokes and laughing and then Joe exclaims that he has a catch. "Hey guys I think I got something big." "Reel it in then Joe. Reel it in," everyone else exclaims. Then everything starts to get weird. The water starts rumbling and the boat starts shaking. We see something coming up from the water. Something big. It comes out and goes 20 feet high above water. And that brings us back to the beginning. The five of us looking up at this gigantic monster. Joe, at the end of the boat, looks over at all of us and says, "Didn't I tell you guys I was gonna catch a big one," with a faint smile and laugh. It definitely looked like it wanted to have us for dinner. "HARDY GET THE BOAT GOING. LET'S GET OUT OF HERE," I yell to him. My heart was racing and I could tell that the same was happening to everyone else. Everyone was freaking out. Hardy finally gets the boat going and we're on our way out of here. "CAN'T THIS BOAT GO ANY FASTER," Tom yells to Hardy. "IT'S GOING AS FAST AS IT CAN GO," exclaims Hardy. The monster keeps getting closer and closer. Now everything starts to make sense. This is the thing that got my parents. It got them but why did it let me live? I had no clue. "GUYS IT'S GETTING CLOSER" exclaims Nicky. "EVERYONE GRAB YOUR FISHING POLES AND TRY TO SLOW IT DOWN," Hardy yells. We all pick up our poles and start to hit this giant monster. We kept hitting it as hard as we could but nothing was happening, except the monster was just getting angrier. "HOW FAR ARE WE FROM THE DAMN SHORE," Joe yells to Hardy. "WE'RE ALMOST THERE. I CAN SEE THE CAR," exclaims Hardy. As we get closer and closer to shore, the monster gets closer and closer to us. We're about to hit shore but instead the monster hits the boat and flips it over. We all fall into the water. I get above water and I only see Hardy, Tom, and Joe, but no sign of Nicky. "HEY HAVE ANY OF YOU GUYS SEEN NICKY," I ask them. "NO WE HAVEN'T," they tell me. "ALRIGHT YOU GUYS HEAD TO SHORE. I'M GONNA LOOK FOR HER. I'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU GUYS." I take a deep breath and go into the water to start looking for her. I can't see her at first but then I see something glistening deep in the water. "It's her" I say in my head. She looks unconscious so I start to swim down to her and grab her and bring her above water. I see that the thing that was glistening in the water was the necklace that I got her a couple years back for her birthday. Anyways, I'm holding onto her now and swimming to shore when the monster appears behind us and is gaining fast. I swim faster and I finally get to shore with Nicky in my arms. Hardy, Tom, and Joe already got the car started and I bring Nicky over so we can get out of here. "HURRY UP BILLY," Hardy exclaims, "WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" I get Nicky into the car and we're on our way out of the lake. As we leave I look at the sign which reads "hope you had a blast". "Yeah a blast. Psh," says Tom. I try my best to wake Nicky up and finally she wakes up with water coming out of her mouth. "Oh thank God you're okay," I say to her as I hug her tightly. "What happened out there," she asks. "The monster hit our boat and it flipped. You must of got hit on the head with a pole or something," says Tom. "We gotta get you to a hospital," I say to Nicky then to Hardy, "hey start driving towards the nearest hospital." As we're on our way, the ground starts to shake. We all turn to look out of the back window and see that the monster is chasing us. "HOW THE HELL IS IT CHASING US OUT OF WATER," exclaims Joe. "HARDY, STEP ON IT," we all yell to him. We're going as fast as we can go and luckily we're getting farther away from the monster. "Forget the hospital, go to my house Hardy," I say to him. "Alright Billy," he says. We get to my house and we all get inside. "Nicky, you can go to the bathroom and take off those wet clothes and I'll go see what I can find from my mom's old stuff," I say to her. "Alright thank you Billy. For everything." She looks me in the eyes and I look back. I can tell that she wants to kiss me but I turn away and say, "Let me go get the clothes for you." "Oh, okay," she says with a little disappointment. "Hardy, Tom, Joe, I'll get you some of my clothes. You can take off your wet clothes after Nicky is done." "Thanks dude," they all reply. Everyone is finally in some warm clothes and we're all sitting on the couch. "That was one crazy fishing trip," says Hardy. "I agree with you on that one," says Tom. "Hey at least I caught the biggest fish today," says Joe with a smirk. "Shut up Joe," we all say laughing. "Guys I was thinking, what if this is the thing that got my parents," I ask the group. "Maybe it is. But how were you able to get away safely is the question," says Hardy. "Well let's just not think about it guys. I don't want to think about fish or that lake anymore for a long time," says Nicky. "How about we order some pizza guys," I ask. Everyone agrees. We order three pizzas, two of which are pepperoni and one of them cheese. I sit down next to Nicky on the couch and we start talking. "Hey, I just wanted to thank yo-" "You don't have to thank me again Nicky. You're just really important to me. I had to save you," I tell her. She smiles her beautiful smile. We look at each other in silence, then she leans in and gives me a kiss on the lips. I burst with joy on the inside and my cheeks are burning. "That's another way I could thank you," she laughs and smiles. I will never forget that moment. “How’s your head feeling Nicky.” “It just hurts a little bit, thank you,” she says. "Hey Billy, where's the remote for your TV," asks Hardy. "It's right there on the table." Hardy turns on the TV and it's the news… "Monster terrorizes citizens of Greensboro, North Carolina," says the news reporter on TV. We all look at each other. "What did we do," we all say.