When morning finally arrived, Clint and I were relieved — and slightly unsettled — to find that the man had left us. We had both drifted to sleep while partially listening to his gruff voice tell us cryptic stories about Mount Tabiat. As the sun climbed up the sky, we packed away our things to continue on. We walked for an hour with the sun over our shoulders like a vulture. The lake seemed to flow on forever until it paused for a mile or so before another, almost identical lake came upon us. Even in the light of day, both lakes looked hollow and lifeless from the trash that poisoned it.

Clint paused, forcing me to a stop. He looked out at the second lake, then in the direction of the first one.

“That man told me about the lakes here. You were already asleep.” He commented hesitantly. I didn’t know what to respond with other than a slow, uninterested nod. Thankfully he kept speaking without acknowledging myboredom.

“He said they were called the ‘Eyes of Tabiat.'”

“And?” I finally answered. Clint’s upper lip twitched with agitation.

“Do you have to be so unhappy with everything we see here, Lydia?”

I didn’t even know how he thought I wanted to be there in the first place; he had planned every part of it. I took a moment to watch the lake as well, my shoulders tense. There were very few fish inhabiting the murky water, all of them swimming slowly and aimlessly. But when another rumble came from the mountain, the fish darted away in alarm. Clint threw another fit, rambling about how upsetting I was being and that I was ruining the trip for him, but I only kept my gaze away from him.

In the far distance, the ground itself seemed to tremble. I squinted, trying to convince myself that I was hallucinating, but there was no denying the way it convulsed. Another rumble seemed to emerge from the base of the lake below us, interrupting Clint. He stopped to stare, grabbing onto my shoulder.

“What was that?” The both of us simultaneously voiced our thoughts.

We watched in horror as the lake seemed to begin closing in on itself, the water disappearing under heavy dirt. Just as Clint ran forward, taking me with him, I could see the other lake nearby closing in as well in the same manner as its companion.