The Lake
After breakfast, Sarah decided to explore. She knew she should probably finish unpacking and get the house sorted out, but she wanted to get out into nature. She still felt cooped up from the long drive from the previous day. She could see Buddy was also anxious to get exercise. She fed Buddy his chicken, which he swallowed in two bites, and then they walked down to the lake. It took her a while to get there, but she enjoyed the exercise. Buddy ran ahead, and she followed him through the trees. The terrain was rough, and one of her feet got tangled in the undergrowth. She almost fell, but stopped in time to pull herself free carefully. The lake was a surprise to her, as she hadn’t been expecting it to be so beautiful. The lake looked serene, surrounded as it was by towering trees and other lush greenery.People paid a lot of money to go on holidays in places like these. The lake’s surface was like a mirror that reflected the surrounding beauty. As she walked closer to the lake, she wondered exactly how deep it was. The water appeared emerald green near the shore and a more sapphire blue in the deeper sections. She felt a strong pull to go swimming in the sapphire blue section and imagined holding her breath before diving down into the depths. There was a strong breeze in the air that made ripples dance over the lake’s surface. Sarah closed her eyes for a moment to appreciate the smell of damp soil, moss, and a sweet, flowery fragrance. She felt a sudden strange 10 CHAPTER 2: THE LAKE urge to become part of the beautiful environment. Buddy barked, and she opened her eyes again to follow him down the wooden dock that stretched out into the lake. A boat was tied to the dock. It appeared to be in good condition, and she decided to take it out to do some exploring. She wanted to see if she could determine how deep the lake actually was. She untied the boat and helped Buddy to jump into it. Sarah took the paddle and started steering the boat to the middle of the lake. Buddy watched her work for a while, and then he settled down and went to sleep. Sarah stopped steering the boat and just let it drift, enjoying the beautiful nature around her. She sighed and leaned against the side of the boat, enjoying the feel of the sun beating down on her skin. She must have been sitting that way for barely two minutes when a sudden cold breeze disturbed her reverie. Surprised, Sarah opened her eyes. The weather had started to change. She didn’t think she had ever experienced such a rapid weather change before. The sky was turning gray, and the caressing rays of sunlight were disappearing behind the clouds that rapidly converged over the lake. Where had they come from? She hadn’t even noticed their initial approach. Buddy also seemed disturbed by the sudden change as he looked up and howled. Sarah was just thinking that she should steer them back to the shore when she saw the movement among the trees. Buddy must have seen it too, because he barked, sharp and high, as if he was anxious about whoever or whatever was moving around among the trees not far from them. At least they were out of reach on the water, if there was something in the woods. Unless it was something that could swim… Sarah swallowed. Her throat had gone completely dry and her mouth was parched. She hadn’t brought anything to drink with her, as she hadn’t planned on being away from home for long. She tried to pull herself together. She had clearly been watching too many cheap horror 11 THE HAUNTING OF LAKESIDE WOODS movies. It might even be the Johnson couple taking a walk down to the lake, or even the elderly gentleman who they said lived close by in the woods. She would wave at them when she saw them. She kept expecting the Johnsons to step out from the trees, but nobody came. There was more movement, and the leaves on the trees rustled. However, nobody emerged from the woods. By now, Sarah also realized it was unlikely that the strange effects could be caused by people moving around. It was exceptionally fast and seemed to be all around them. Buddy howled. She could see he didn’t like what was happening at all. She knew there must be a rational explanation, but it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. For a moment, she again thought she could see figures moving around among the trees, but she quickly realized she must be mistaken. Sarah decided to wait before taking the boat back to the shore, as she didn’t understand what was happening. The movement hadn’t stopped and instead seemed to be getting faster. It was stirring up a wind that was blowing out over the lake. It pulled at the boat and rocked it. Buddy growled, and his hair stood on end. She patted his head. “Just hold on, Buddy. I’m making sure it’s safe. We’re just going to have to stay still for a while.” Buddy calmed down and looked up at her with trusting eyes. She could feel the wind getting stronger, and the boat was starting to rock more. Above them, the sun was completely gone, and rain was starting to fall in big drops at first, and then poured down. Buddy howled and tried to make himself as flat as possible in the bottom of the boat, but soon they were both soaking wet. Sarah couldn’t see any more movement on the shore, and the wind had died down somewhat. She picked up the paddle with the intention of going back to the shore. The rain was icy cold, and she shivered. It was when she put the paddle into the water that a spine-chilling moan came 12 CHAPTER 2: THE LAKE from the woods. It wasn’t the high-pitched keening from the previous night, but a much deeper groan. It sounded like someone had been in incredible pain for a long time. Sarah leaned forward to try to see what was happening in the woods, and a hard gust of wind hit her from behind, overturning the boat and pitching her into the water with the paddle still in her hand. She heard Buddy yelp as he fell into the water before the boat hit her against her head as she went down. The pain made her see stars and pulled her deeper down into the lake. Sarah lost consciousness, and her mouth opened as water filled her lungs. *** The world went gray before her eyes, but as she tried to focus, she found herself standing on the wooden dock next to the lake, watching a woman run toward her from the woods. Behind the woman, the trees were coming alive. White, smoky shapes swirled through them, creating a strong wind as they moved around furiously. Sarah knew someone was chasing the woman, but she couldn’t quite see who it was. It was a large, dark figure with no clearly visible features. She wanted to run, but she was frozen in place as she watched the nightmare unfold in front of her. The woman was almost on the sand next to the lake when she opened her mouth, and that high-pitched keening Sarah had heard the night before came out. Sarah put her fingers in her ears to block out some of the sounds. The woman’s face was frozen in a terrified rictus as she continued to produce the noise with great force. She ran straight at Sarah, who wanted to get out of the way, but found that she still couldn’t move. When the woman came closer, Sarah could see that she was dead, and had been for some time. Her dead eyes bulged out of her head, the flesh around them having rotted away a long time ago. Her mouth was open and a black substance bubbled from it. Nevertheless, the woman was running fast, not stumbling like a 13 THE HAUNTING OF LAKESIDE WOODS zombie in a horror film. She fell before she could reach the dock and sprawled in the sand next to the water. When she went down, Sarah could see that there was a knife in her back.The dark figure that had been chasing her had never emerged from the woods. The dead woman turned on her side in the sand and started writing with her finger. Sarah wanted to see what she was writing, but found she couldn’t move. It felt as if the woman was taking forever to write one letter. An “H,” “E,” and then an “L” slowly formed in the sand. Sarah thought she could hear Buddy barking somewhere behind her, but she couldn’t turn her head to see where he was. Finally, the woman appeared to have finished her message, and she sat down on the sand. She looked around her, as if she didn’t know where she was. A man came running from the woods with a long knife in his hands. He was a chunky young man, but he looked strong, and his eyes looked furious, with bushy eyebrows above them that made him look even more dangerous. The woman saw him coming, but she didn’t move. Sarah got the distinct impression that she was too tired to move. She had given up and couldn’t fight back anymore. Maybe the woman felt like she had felt when she left Josh—as if she was losing the will to live. Sarah read “HELP ME” and shivered. The young man had now reached the woman, and she turned her face up to him and gave him a pleading look. The man slashed at her and drove the long knife into her body. The woman coughed and vomited up blood. She fell back on the sand with a large bloodstain spreading under her. Horror-struck, Sarah continued to watch the long-ago scene unfold in front of her. It gradually faded out, and it felt unreal, like she had been watching a movie scene. She heard Buddy bark again, and this time she could turn around to look for him. Buddy bounded out of nowhere and jumped on her, causing her to fall back and hit her head on the wooden dock. The world grayed out, and when she came to herself again, she was spluttering in the water and fighting for air. She was confused, and then realized what she had 14 CHAPTER 2: THE LAKE seen must have been caused by oxygen starvation. The boat was floating upside down next to her, but she couldn’t quite reach it and felt herself going under again. Her fingers scraped on the boat’s rough surface as she tried to hold on. Then Buddy was next to her, and he grabbed the sleeve of her shirt, pulling her. She knew he wouldn’t be able to save her, because she was simply too heavy, and her water-logged clothes were making her even moreso. She fought for air, but the darkness finally dragged her down, and she passed out. *** The next time Buddy’s barking woke her up, she found herself next to the lake with the boat in the shallow water near her. Buddy was going hysterical, and she could even see teeth marks on her arm where he had tried to drag her. This time, she made sure that she was really on land, and not simply having another hallucination. She pinched herself, and a large red mark appeared on her arm. Her head was sore, and she felt fortunate to be alive, but she had no idea how long she had actually spent in the water. When she looked next to her in the sand, she almost choked. The vague outlines of the letters “H”, “L”, “P” and “M” were still visible. Her head was sore, and her legs were shaky when she finally managed to stand up. She walked home, where she intended to spend the rest of the day unpacking. However, she was so tired that she fell on her bed and went to sleep. The incident at the lake had sapped all her energy. She slept until nightfall without dreaming, and was only woken up by Buddy’s barking when he wanted food. Sarah fed Buddy, and then went straight back to bed, as she was still struggling to keep her eyes open. Buddy settled in for the night next to her bed. She wanted to berate herself for not being productive, but then the move had been tiring, and she had had the accident at the lake. Besides, tomorrow was another day. 15 THE HAUNTING OF LAKESIDE WOODS Sarah closed her eyes and dreamed. The girl was again running through the woods, being relentlessly chased by her unnamed and invisible assailant. However, this time the person who was chasing her was slowly becoming visible. Sarah shuddered as she recognized the familiar face that was now a grimace of pure hatred. Josh was carrying a knife in his right hand, which he had lifted in an arc and was aiming at the young woman’s back. For a moment, the woman’s face turned into her own terrified face. The woman tried to run faster, but Josh always stayed right behind her, even when she managed to run faster. The woman once more opened her mouth to scream for help, but no words came out, only a high-pitched keening sound. The woman ran even harder, and for a moment Sarah was hopeful that she was going to outrun Josh. However, he jumped, and the knife sliced into the woman’s back. The jogger fell down on her knees, and Josh was on her back, choking her with his hands, just like he had done to Sarah. Sarah woke up in a cold sweat as the sun peeked in through the curtains she’d hung the day before. Buddy barked for his breakfast and twirled in an excited circle when he saw her going to the kitchen. Sarah made herself cereal and then realized she would have to go into the general store in town, as her cupboards were empty. All she really had in the way of groceries was the leftover food she had brought along from Josh’s apartment. Josh… She shuddered when she thought about him killing the girl in the dream. She didn’t know if he had tried to contact her, because she had blocked his number on her phone. She hoped he wasn’t looking for her, and that she hadn’t left behind any evidence that could potentially help him find her. She had left a detailed letter behind, explaining why she was doing what she was doing. Sarah could imagine his face when he read the letter and then tore it into small pieces. Knowing Josh, he 16 CHAPTER 2: THE LAKE might have even eaten the pieces. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Josh, even though he had hurt her enough. He simply didn’t care, even though he usually pretended afterward that he was sorry. Her therapist had told her that was something she had to work on: prioritizing her own needs and desires above those of the other people in her life. She was still finding this difficult, but she was doing her best to put herself first. Buddy barked excitedly when she took out the car keys, and he ran in circles around her, almost causing her to fall on her way to the car.
