The journey here had been a pleasant one, with the lush mountains leading us deeper into the heart of the lake. Everyone was smiling and laughing, even my uncle laughed and cracked a few jokes. It had taken some time to arrive, though everyone was in good spirits and in anticipation to where we would be staying.
Never would I have imagined the drastic change in scenery; the clear crystal water changing into a murky brown, the sun seemingly dimming, and the displeased guests waiting on the dock. All of us stepped off the boat with expressions of disbelief, while the other guests pushed past us to get to the boat.
“I vote we leave. We could probably hitch a ride with those nice people, we even have Olivier to intimidate those guys to give us a refund. ”
The glare my mom sent me was enough to shut me up, though her displeasure had doubled when she noticed I was clutching one of the boat’s poles. While she was busy trying to drag me to land, my dear cousin Mathis had taken it on himself to be the first to step on this unexplored land. Obviously it didn’t go well for him.
Mathis, like any 5 year old, passed by the shore to go explore. Coinciding with someone else’s arrival. For the first misfortune found us from the depths of the lake.
Mathis was just strolling on the shore  and turned to stare at us who couldn’t string a few words together as we were yelling our heads off.  For, of course, he didn’t notice the water snake torpedoing in his direction until one of us was smart enough to start yelling, “Serpent! Serpent!”
   But this is Albania, and of course the snake decided to become a mole and continue his way inside a underground passage of waterway tunnels, underneath my cousin’s feet.  None of us moved until a good five minutes passed by without the snake deciding to dig itself out. My shrieking of  “snake! Snake!” wasn’t a good debate for leaving this place to present to a lawyer, and my mom’s counterattacks were leading to her win this fight. Though it ended when the old man sitting on his chair and smoking his pipe, openly enjoying the fight, decided it would be fun to get involved.
“What do you have to worry about?! Water Snakes aren’t poisonous! And what could that little snake do to you?”
“It was a snake!” But my mom didn’t care for my fleeting argument as she continued to pull me towards the guest house. Though everyone was ignoring the fact that we were hours away from a hospital! So in consideration for everyone’s health, I asked, “Wait! Are there any poisonous snakes?”
I would have enjoyed the old man lose his confidence if I wasn’t freaking out, “There are some, but what can those little snakes do to you? ”
My mom rolled her eyes and ignored my look of horror, as we made our way to the cabin. The cabin itself had that old albania charm to it; the walls were made of stone, the roof of wood and old Albanian decorations and the wardrobe with the blankets and extra sheets. There were two rooms with enough beds to fit us all, and a small bathroom.
But of course there was still another misfortune hiding away. My other cousin, Nina, screamed when she saw it. For under the bed lay a humongous scorpion, still.
Nina kept screaming, while me and Mathis were rooted to the spot while my mom and my aunt had shifted their attention to the scorpion and had cleverly moved us five steps away from it incase it decided to stop playing dead.
Then like a prince in shining armor, my uncle barged into the room. His hair was untidy from the hat he had been wearing all day, and the golden sword was replaced with a pink slipper. Nevertheless, he courageously smashed the scorpion dead, and got stuck with disposing its corpse.
We breathed a sigh of relief, unaware of the other scorpions hidden in the shadows. Thus, my uncle’s night was spent disposing scorpions, while everyone checked under their beds and covers for any unwanted surprises. In the end, I slept with a blanket over my head, almost suffocating myself, for the thought of a scorpion crawling on my face terrified me much more.
In the morning I was convinced someone had kidnapped us, for the dreary atmosphere was replace with bright sunlight and crystal clear water. So we gathered around the windows and stare outside at this new land before us. Ready to explore.