Horror
Mirror Lake
Callie stretched out on her paddleboard in the warm sun. The lake water rocked her gently and the sun was warm on her skin. This was going to be one of the last warm days to enjoy the lake before the fall chill set it. The season had been a long one, going all the way into the first week of October. Still, she wished summer would stretch on. She hated the cold and foggy days winter rolled in. They were so claustrophobic.
By Rugergirl224 years ago in Fiction
The Lagoon
Life grew lonelier around the farm. Grandpa and Grandma had both died. The rest had left me. The floors in that old house always creaked, and sometimes I could pretend that was my family rather than the house settling. But I knew in my heart that the only thing left to keep me company was the dead.
By Kaden Woltje4 years ago in Fiction
Lake Spawn
The lights of the ROV illuminate the bottom of the lake, and both men are shocked when a bright yellow oxygen tank comes into view. It is very clean and free of build-up; it doesn’t appear to have been resting at the lakebed long. Edgar sucks in an unsteady breath.
By Megan Baker (Left Vocal in 2023)4 years ago in Fiction
Staring Into the Fire
My younger brother Mark and I went to the same school, but our older brother, Tony, went to another. Even though we were very young, I remember singing a song we made up as we walked. Since school started at 8:20, I started, “It’s ten past eight, and I’m almost late.” And Mark chimed in with, “For your first date.”
By Stephen Dalton4 years ago in Fiction
As Above, So Below
For the first six months, Olympia’s back felt like it was on fire every time they shifted around, trying for a more comfortable position. Around a year, though, things really began falling into place. Olympia’s ward had been on his own for a few years, living in a small ground-level apartment with warped hardwood floors in the middle of a small city. Not that Olympia knew much about the city— their focus was always on the floor, and the wooden planks holding their ward’s mattress up. It was a modest bed, they thought, and their ward changed the covers once a month. He was hygienic. Olympia admired him for that. Every morning they would watch as his feet hit the floor, avoiding the slight bump where the wood had risen, pad over to his bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. It was a therapeutic routine for the both of them.
By Maddy Campbell4 years ago in Fiction
The Girl in the Lake
There are stories I've been told since I was a little girl. Tales passed down from generation to generation of a ghost that haunts the lake. I used to think that my Grandma lied. In the days when she would have me trail her around her garden. Cutting down the willow to make me a broomstick or helping me hop skip and jump over the stream. I can still remember the soft gingham caress of her skirts and the cough that would always catch in her throat.
By Meg Foster4 years ago in Fiction
Afraid of the Water
Some people avoid the water because they cannot swim. Others are afraid of alligators or sharks or jellyfish. I learned to dread the water when I was just five years old, living on the banks of the Mississippi river in St. Charles parish with my Aunt May. She was only trying to warn me, not to scare me, when she told me to stay away.
By Dayna Wheatley4 years ago in Fiction
View From Six Feet Underwater
(Present time) A mournful wail carried across the lake so loud, so piercing that Jasper heard it through the closed window. His head snapped to the right when he heard it. This was not an animal sound, nor was it from a human. Whatever made that cry sounded like a creature enduring torment from the bowels of hell. Jasper’s insides squirmed with frigid terror. There was no time to look, he only had precious minutes to plan an escape, but the mournful cry drew him forward. Before Jasper knew he had moved, he pressed his hands and face to the glass. The platinum moonlight cast a glow on the unnatural mist covering the lake as it coalesced into human form and glided toward the cabin. A scream bubbled up from his throat, but he clamped his hands over his mouth to keep from drawing attention. He tore his gaze away from the advancing horror, ran toward the locked door in a desperate attempt to break through, but even with the running start, Jasper only bounced off the solid door. He refused to be a victim. He would find a way to escape.
By Aaron Thompson4 years ago in Fiction
Lake of Souls
Once the world was gray. It was this way because the beasts who inhabited it knew of neither life nor death. Their world was static and unchanging as were they. One day the gods happened upon this planet and decided to change it. With this change came life and death. Warmth and cold. Color in an otherwise lifeless land. The gods did not believe that the former inhabitants of this land were now worthy of it. So they created new beings for this new world. To give these beings the power they would need to remove the former inhabitants the gods bestowed souls upon their new creations. There were five gods and five types of souls.
By Josephine Mason4 years ago in Fiction
Siren song
“Jeffery! Stay away from that water, Jeffery!” Jeffery wrinkled his nose at his mother and turned back to the puddle on the ground. There weren’t that many people in this puddle. It wasn’t like the ocean behind their house. Jeffery couldn’t remember when he started hearing the people in the water. It was after they moved to the new house on the beach. Mommy had said it would be fun. He could play in the water all day if he wanted. But Mommy didn’t know about the people in the water.
By TreAnna Greenwood4 years ago in Fiction
