The Princess in the Lake

"There's a princess in the lake!" Tammy yelled at me excitedly.

"No there isn't," I replied. "You're lying." Tammy was four and always lying. I was five and knew not to believe her nonsense. "But there is! There really is!" she insisted.

"I'll show you!" She ran out into the wood and I had to follow.

We ran through the trees, up the hill to the cliff top overlooking the lake, and there she was! "I told you there was a princess in the lake!" Tammy screamed jumping up and down.

She hadn't lied. There in the lake was a princess. Her dress was beautiful and golden, fancier than any I had seen. Her hair was golden too and spread out over the water like sun rays.

The princess' face was beautifully pale, like Snow White's. She floated, quiet, and deathly still.

Tammy had been calling to the princess. "Why won't she say something?" Tammy asked.

"She's a princess," I said. "She can do what she wants. Come on we should go. She doesn't want to be bothered."

The next day we came back to the lake to see if the princess would speak to us, but we were stopped before the lake by the police.

"We just want to see the princess in the lake," Tammy pleaded.

"You saw the- You saw her?" asked a police officer.

"Yes, when we came yesterday," I said. "She was swimming in the lake. Is she alright?" The police gave each other strange looks.

"She's absolutely fine," one of them said. "We're taking her to see the queen."

"You're taking care of her?" I asked.

"The best care. She'll see you again soon," the police officer smiled.

But we never saw the princess again. The lake stayed as quiet as she had been.