He's In a Better Place

The feeling of being watched. That's what she'd describe it as. Alice looked across the lake's placid surface, searching for the source. A dark sheet of glass with a soft bob and sway. No swimmers, it was October now and much too cold to get in. Not even a boat broke the calm surface. The far end of the lake was surrounded by a collection of hills and crags that cast a shadow over its lush pine-covered bank. The trees were in generous bunches until a certain point--then they pricked out at odd angles like toothpicks. She stared for a few seconds, her eyes trying to make sense of the illusion. They were sticking out of the water, she realized. The tops of the trees stood tall and sharp but around mid-trunk they disappeared eerily beneath the water's surface.

There was no one else on her end of the bank. And it was cold. Definitely not swimming temperature like she'd half-heartedly held out hope for. She breathed in the cool air and coughed sharply upon breathing out. Already the tickle of a sore throat was making its appearance. Alice's mother had said, why don't you go for a swim when you get there?

She'd said this as she gave Alice and her younger brother Kevin each a sad hug outside the train station.

"I have to tend to things, sweethearts," she's said with a sigh.

She patted Kevin on the head. Alice stayed silent, focusing on the dark circles under her mother's eyes.

"Tell Marcy I said hello. And thank her for me," her mother said.

Marcy had brought them to the cabin near the lake with a smile.

"Mom said thank you," Alice said.

"Oh, don't you worry about it. That woman needs to take a break with all that she's been through," replied Marcy.

"Dad died with his head off."

"Kevin!" Alice hissed.

Marcy was quiet for a moment as she paused at a stop sign and made a right turn.

"Is that right?" she asked, solemnly.

"No, he's just saying that," Alice said, shortly.

"But he did! Mom said on the phone yesterday his head--"

"Kevin! Shut up!" Alice hissed again.

"Dears! Quiet--you've been through a lot." Marcy said softly.

Alice had caught sight of her kind old eyes in the rearview mirror up until that point. This time, Marcy kept her eyes on the road. Kevin tapped his feet impatiently on the car floor. All of seven years old, with his skinny arms folded across his chest defiantly. He was looking down at his feet as he tapped them.

"Don't talk about dad like that, " Alice said, angrily.

He frowned back at her but didn't say anything else, just tapped his feet and turned to look out the window. They were passing through town. Non-descript wooden buildings and small groups of people. An older couple walked along the foot path that ran alongside the road. Alice felt pressure in her chest as she watched. Like she had to cough but the cough wouldn't come out. She scrunched her eyes closed and tried not to think about anything. But there it was. Their father had died in a car crash. With his head cut off. Kevin was right and that's why it stung.

She'd heard her mother choking up on the phone to someone. Whispering, through tears and sighs, that the fatal crash had instantaneously caused metal from the hood of the other car to smash through the windshield. The impact sent her father forward through the glass to meet the metal with his neck, causing it to decapitate him.

Alice folded her arms tightly against her chest and opened her eyes. They were nearing the cabin now. She felt lightheaded. The worst part about her father's death was that they couldn't find his head. He was buried headless in a closed coffin.

The lake was beautiful in its own silent way. Marcy and Kevin had stayed with her out on the bank for a while after they'd arrived. Marcy pointed out different rocks. Kevin kicked them. But they'd gone in shortly after the wind picked up, leaving Alice alone with her thoughts, staring across the water. And now she felt like she was being watched. She coughed a couple times and peered down into the water.

She jumped back quickly, her heart bounding in her chest. She stood frozen staring at her reflection, which did not have a head.

"Did you see it?" came a frail voice.

Alice started again, this time her eyes fell on Marcy's smiling face. She stood off to the side a few feet away, peering at Alice.

"S-see what?" Alice replied, shakily.

"Her, the woman of the lake," Marcy said with a chuckle, "Why you look like you have, you're so pale!"

Alice looked back down at the water quickly, finding her own face and very much not headless.

"No... I think I just saw a big fish."

Marcy laughed again.

"There certainly are some big ones in there. You'll see fishing boats out on the water from time to time."

"What's the woman of the lake?" Alice asked.

"Oh, just some old wives' tale about a poor woman who drowned here."

Marcy paused, taking in Alice's pale expression.

"Don't let it scare you," she said with a smile, "It's a legend the kids your age tell each other when they come out here and swim in the summer."

Alice nodded.

"Why did she drown?" she asked.

"Oh Lord, you'd have to ask one of those kids, dear. Something about a secret lover, an affair. Something like that. Maybe you'll meet some of those kids in town tomorrow, ask them. That'll be fun."

Marcy turned and headed back to the cabin.

"Come on in, dear. There's hot soup on the stove for you and Kevin."

She'd didn't get to meet the kids in town the following day as she'd come down with a fever. She'd tossed and turned that night with cold chills that turned into hot flashes and back to chills again. Waking from troubled dreams that made no sense. Every time she meant to turn right, she'd turn left. Every time she meant to turn left, she'd turn right. At one point in her dreams, her father was standing at the edge of her bed staring at her. She waited for his eyes to turn kind like they always did. But they stayed flat and expressionless. He watched her silently for what felt like hours before she woke with a start, coughing.

And the scratching. All night there was a scratching, like the sounds a rat would make as it ran across the floor. Sometimes it was in the ceiling. Other times it was on the floor next to the bedside. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling while it continued.

"Alice."

She looked to the window swiftly to find the tall silhouette of a man. Headless. It loomed over her, seeming to stretch longer and longer until it was leaning over the bed, seeming to try to reach her with its ragged neck.

She snapped her eyes open to find morning light streaming through the window. She didn't realize she'd fallen back to sleep. Her head throbbed and her ears felt hot.

She heard footsteps up to the bedroom door and a knock.

"Your younger brother sure is a little troublemaker," Marcy said from the other side of the door.

She opened it and breezed in holding a bowl.

"Where is he?" asked Alice.

Her voice came out like a dry croak. Coughing, she tried to pull herself up on the pillow to sit up straight but found her arms were weak.

"He ran through the house this morning tracking mud on the carpet, can you believe that?" Marcy chuckled.

She set the bowl down on the side table closest to Alice. The smell of hot soup wafted towards her. Her stomach turned over .

"Where is Kevin?" Alice asked again.

"He's down by the lake today. If you feel better, you should come on out and join us. You might even see the wild goats that live around here."

Alice nodded. She closed her eyes again as her head began to swim.

"There was a scratching sound last night," she said.

"Its probably rats," Marcy said, "They get up there sometimes and burrow."

Marcy left the room humming softly to herself and shut the door behind her.

The room was quiet. Birds chirping. She lay for a while, thinking of her father and how he used to sit in the mornings and read the paper. She felt tears gathering but fell into a fevered sleep before they could come out.

There it was again, the scratching. Fevered, the scratching seemed to time up in rhythm to the throbbing of her head. She kept her eyes closed and listened as the scratching seemed make its way to the doorway and stopped. Its probably rats.

A slight feeling of unease had set in along with the fever. She felt alone in the room. And heavy in her chest with both sadness and sickness. Waves of nausea washed over her and then went away. Then came back. And a feeling of being watched had returned.

She brushed it off each time it came but it did not fully go away.

This time it stayed. She opened her eyes and looked at the doorway. It was fully dark now. She must've slept for hours. And the door was wide open. Marcy had left it closed.

She watched the dark doorway quietly.

"Alice."

A sickly odor wafted under her nose, causing her to cough. It was a sweet and thick stench. It filled the room. She kept her eyes closed tightly. She must be dreaming again.

The smell grew somehow stronger. It was making her dizzy.

"Alice, it's me. Look at me," came her father's voice.

It sounded just like him. She opened one eye and found herself staring at the silhouette of a man in the doorway. Tall, with long legs. The arms hung casually at his sides. But his face and shoulders stayed hidden in a shaft of darkness.

"Dad?" she whispered.

Her father didn't move. She felt fear but beneath it was a hopefulness. She opened her eyes all the way. Why did he smell so bad?

"Dad, is that you?" she whispered again.

She searched in the darkness for his face. As her eyes adjusted, she found something horribly wrong. His neck was much longer than it should be. Eyes peered at her from the doorway, slitted and irisdescent in the dark like an animal.

Where his head should be was the large, grotesque head of a goat.

The smell filled the room. The distorted figure did not move.

"Help me, Alice."

This time, it sounded like her father's voice and another deeper, unfamiliar voice blended together.

She closed her eyes quickly. Her heart beat fast. It's just a bad dream. Just a bad dream.

"Help me, Alice."

This time, it sounded nothing like her father.

"Time to go, dears."

Alice looked into the lake's dark water a while longer before she stepped back and turned towards Marcy's car. She shook off a cold chill.

Kevin ran up to her side and followed. They reached Marcy's car in silence and got in together. Marcy started the car and backed out slowly.

"Marcy said dad's in a better place now," said Kevin, softly.

Alice took a deep, shaking breath and kept her eyes ahead on the road. She reached to the side for her brother's hand and grasped it.

"Yes, Kevin... I'm sure he is."