As Zack stared out over the still waters of the lake, he thought about how much his life had changed in the past 3 years. The sunset was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen despite his circumstances. The air was cool and fresh. He sat under the wood arc, his back against the wooden wall, as a slight wind picked up the further he got into the evening.

He thought about the build up to the whole event that drastically changed his life. It was in March, and everything was fine; he was happy, and his father worked at a hotel for the moment as he looked for a job at a college. He and his siblings were in homeschooling and his mother was the teacher. It was a good life.

His father had been applying to different jobs at a lot of different areas. One of them was at a college in chicago. There were a lot of circumstances that made it very promising, and so they were all excited except the factor that it was in the U.S. Zack had heard about a lot of good things but never really thought his father would get the job.

He did. The time in between was just preparation and a time of gloom. They eventually left Canada on a Sunday after all of the goodbyes. By the time they got into the moving truck with his father, Zack was conflicted with his emotions.

From the time they arrived to right about now at this moment on the lake, Zack was in depression on and off. Sometimes it was bad; thinking about ending his life, and other times it was more mild; just existing. But he never truly showed his emotions to his “new” friends or family.

“Do know how hard it is to lose everything in your life? To lose your friends, your community, your home?” Said Zack to the lake. The lake stayed still and quiet as the light from the sun slowly drained away. Zack stared at the lake feeling lost. This lake was a place of comfort though. Every night he came down here and talked to the lake.

“Thought so.”