The birds were chirping, the trees rustled slightly with the tinniest of forces, and the sun glittered wherever there was not a branch overhead to stop it. It was... peaceful, almost as it always was for him.

"Albie, come on!" his mother ushered ahead as she continued even further away from the boy. They were carrying small rucksacks of food, a blanket, and an electrical lantern for if it got dark out later. It wasn't much of a load, but for an eight year old and and his petite mother, it weighed down on them without relief. Or rather, it weighed [i]him[/i] down without relief; his mother was bustling about as if it were the first day of boot camp for him. "You slowpoke!" she called once more before disappearing within the brush.

"M-mom! Wa-wait for me!" Albert huffed as he began to trot after her. "Mom?" He was poking in the spot where she had disappeared... yet there were no signs of her. "Mooooooom, this isn't funny..." he moaned, unsure if she was coming back for him. "Alllllbiiiiiie!" her voice finally echoed from the complete opposite direction from where he had been looking. He turned, and could almost make out a human figure rustling about in the tall grasses further ahead. He rushed forward only to burst out into the picturesque scene that his mother had found. 

There was a lake, perfectly and unnaturally round as a circle. The water was motionless and not even a buzzing dragonfly dared disturb the pristine surface. It stretched out as far as Albert could see, but at the other end, there was simply sky and cloud unlike the immensely treed forest from which he just emerged from. "Wow~" he gawked as his eyes sparkled with the sight. "Could we see what's at the other side of the lake? Huh, can we mommy?" He turned to her, his face full of expectation. His mother just smirked at him before billowing the blanket in the air before lying it spread out on the ground. "Of course not, sweetie," she answered, her smile still taking up her face. "We'd fall off if we did."

~

The sun was beginning to set. It was evening, but had it been that long? It hadn't felt as if it were that long since they had got there. The two had set up the picnic area where they would be eating when his father arrived -- [i]Mom never did explain how he knows where we are...[/i] Albert had thought to himself -- and had been playing in the immense pool of water after stripping down to their under garments, and both had been careful not to stray too far from the edge. His mother had retired herself to the shore, content with watching her little boy splash about while she soaked her legs an drifted one hand along the top of the mirror-like surface. Albert was busy seeing how long he could hold his breath before having to return to the surface. Thirty-seven seconds had been his record so far. 

The sun had dipped about halfway past the water's edge before his father had finally arrived. "Daddy!" Albert had called as he wadded through the water to get out and hug his father. "Ugh, you're wet!" his feigned disgust didn't last long before both of the two had broken down in laughter. "Come on, kiddo, I'm starved and want to see what your mother has made for us to eat."