It had been here, holding nothing and everything, waiting.

And here it was.

At the very bottom of the electronics bin in the hallway closet, under six years of coiled cables and dead chargers and the technological sediment every household accumulates.

It had been in the house the entire time.

It had been here, a few feet from where I slept, through all six years of my asking the lake a question it would not answer.

“Where did you find this?” I asked, my hands not quite steady.