Siren Song

Throbbing bass reverberated across the deep black lake. The old resort was vacant as usual. Drownings attributed to unpredictable strong currents had given the area bad press, unsalvageable even by the best PR team. The abandoned tourist attraction became the perfect location for young people to dance and do drugs to the soundtrack of whatever DJ was available in the area that night.

Shea’s crowd usually didn’t stray this far from the city, but with dance floors everywhere still shut down, the four of them were hard-pressed and decided to venture to the mostly abandoned lakeside park a couple of hours from town.

Shea had decided to stay mostly sober that night, not knowing who were the honest and reliable suppliers in town. Or who in the crowd was trustworthy. She had to get her sea legs first.

She had microdosed some shrooms, which usually helped her loosen up. But tonight they were hitting her sideways. A familiar panic was slowly but surely seeping into her veins, crawling up to her head.

Maybe it was the music setting her on edge. Usually it made her feel relaxed and free, but in this space full of strangers with ambiguous intent, it was hard to let loose. Where were her friends?

Relax, relax, she tried to tell herself, but her brain would not settle into the night. She hated when she got like this, a wall put up preventing her from connecting with anyone or her surroundings. It didn’t help that there was nothing to ground to, the only familiarity being the quickening of her breath that usually preceded one of her panic attacks.

A song she knew started blaring from the speakers. It was enough to momentarily dispel her anxiety. She started to drop her weight into the beat, and someone noticed. Someone always notices Shea.

A tall, unassuming white boy with curly hair and skinny arms approached her. Relief and guilt filled her when she realized it was James.

“Hey! Found you,” he said. Shea could barely hear him over the music, so she leaned in closer. He shot her a warm smile. In spite of herself, she smiled back at him.

“I lost Beth and Liam. Wanna get out of here for a bit?” Shea yelled.

He took her hand and led her away from the speakers until they could hear the lapping waves.

They walked in silence for a bit, alone in the moonless, cloudy night. Shea looked down at their hands, still intertwined from James leading her out of the crowd.

The bass started pulsing in her head again, despite how far away they were from the music. Shea could barely think beyond instinct. She and James locked eyes, and Shea felt him lean in closer. She looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling shy.

James cleared his throat and said “So… about the other night,”

Shea snapped out of her daze and jerked her hand out of his.

“Yeah, that was a mistake,” she said.

“Was it? I think we both know that was bound to happen eventually.”

“I can’t fucking believe I did that to Beth. That we did that to Beth.”

“I told you, Beth and I are over. Have been for a while.”

“Then why haven’t you broken up with her yet?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Isn’t it?”

They stopped walking to face each other. Shea crossed her arms, impatient with James’ worn-out excuses. Shea’s stern silence was interrupted by two figures approaching them along the beach.

“There you are! We were just coming in to look for you,” Beth said, her cheeks rosy from the cold and pupils big as saucers. She still looked so beautiful, even drugged up and out on a windy night.

“Beth wanted to get some air,” Liam said.

Beth giggled, her slender body dancing gracefully around Liam’s ungainly athletic build. Shea had never been a big fan of Liam, the classic football-playing frat boy, but the way he took care of Beth and supported James made him tolerable. Plus, he was always up for driving. He never abused substances during game season.

“It’s a new moon tonight! Perfect for manifesting new beginnings,” said Beth.

“Do you want to do group meditative manifestations? I need a break from the party,” Shea said, ignoring James, who was clearly restraining himself from rolling his eyes.

“We actually found an old pontoon boat back there, wanna take it for a spin?” said Liam.

“Ooooh, yes, let’s do both!” Beth beamed.

James and Shea trailed behind Beth and Liam, who were skipping through the sand.

“That M is treating them well, I see. Well, Beth, at least, I’m pretty sure Liam’s still doing the sobriety thing,” said James.

“You’re sober tonight too?”

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you if I wasn’t.”

“Stop. Seriously, I love you, but this has to stop.”

Shea saw Liam and Beth scampering over to an old, rusty pontoon boat.

“Your chariot awaits, friends!” yelled Liam as he untied the rope attached to the boat.

They all clambered on. Liam tried to start the boat, but the motor was out of gas, so they each grabbed one of the paddles and rowed it out until the music was a distant hum.

The cloudy night sky blended into the dark lake. Shea thought it looked like they were paddling into a void. It was completely dark, except for a shimmer of something under the water by the boat — a fish, maybe? Shea looked over the boat, then across the lake. Something with eerily shiny eyes peered over the water about ten meters away. It looked like a person’s head, sort of, but the nose was still under water, and the eyes were glowing. Before Shea could alert the others, it had slipped back into the darkness. A trick of the light, maybe. The water was freezing tonight, it could’ve been an otter.

“This is the perfect spot! Gather round children!” Beth sat on the bench of the pontoon and motioned for the other three to sit around her at her feet. James sat directly in front of her, with Shea and Liam on either side, forming a semi-circle.

“All right, close your eyes now, and I’ll lead you through this,” she said.

“Let’s take three deep breaths… Good. Clear your minds as best you can to make room for new ideas and beginnings. Set your intentions for the next lunar cycle — you can visualize yourself achieving a goal, come up with a mantra, even just feel the feelings you want to feel. I’ll give us a few minutes of silence to properly anchor this in our minds.”

Everyone complied, or so Shea thought — her eyes were closed. Gentle waves tapped the boat and the water dripped off of the motor. The sounds of the rave still carried across the water, but seemed muffled now. A strange gurgling started up, the old motor, maybe. Shea opened one eye a little bit when the gurgling didn’t stop.

Beth was looking up at the starless night, her arms hanging by her sides. Or, that’s what it looked like at first, until Shea opened both eyes and screamed. Beth’s throat was slit, and she was bleeding out into the water.

James and Liam had opened their eyes and began to yell and swear. They were trying to stop the bleeding, but it was too late. Shea had gone still and silent, a full panic attack setting in.

“WHICH ONE OF YOU FUCKING DID IT,” yelled Liam.

“I don’t think any of us are capable of this,” said James, trying to stay calm despite his whole body trembling.

“This is going to sound weird, but I swear I saw someone swimming on our way out here,” said Shea.

“Oh, great alibi, Shea. This water’s freezing, the currents are bad, and we haven’t seen anyone out here, have we James?” said Liam.

“No, but it seems more likely than any of us getting up and slitting our friend’s throat without the others noticing,” said James.

“Oh please, if you didn’t want to fuck her you’d agree with me. Shea’s making shit up now to try to blame some imaginary diver. Get your head out of your dick for once, James. What about your dead girlfriend, huh?”

Shea wanted to interject, but she had clammed up again. She had to focus on slowing down her rapidly accelerating breathing.

“This is low, even for you Liam,” said James.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I know what happened with Lisa.”

Lisa. The girl from Econ who used to hang around with them, but stopped coming out to parties recently. The last time Shea invited her out, Lisa had mumbled something about family issues.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Liam.

“I know she was passing out drunk at that party and you went in a room with her, shut the door, and came out ten minutes later looking really pleased with yourself. You were sober that night, weren’t you? You thought I was passed out on the couch, but I saw,” said James. “Lisa seemed really fucked up when she left the next morning.”

Suddenly the two men beside Shea seemed far more terrifying than Beth’s blood draining into the lake from her slit throat. Liam’s silence made everything so much worse. James’s past silence was unforgivable. He was so conflict-avoidant that he didn’t warn his female friends (or anyone, for that matter) about Liam, he would rather cheat on his girlfriend multiple times than break up with her...

Shea managed to croak out, “James, did you kill Beth?”

“No! No, things were complicated, obviously, but I still love her, which is part of why I still hadn’t broken up with her when we… I couldn’t break up with her, let alone kill her,” he said.

“I KNEW you guys fucked,” said Liam. “You did it, Shea. You did it to get rid of her. Your own best friend, what is wrong with you?”

“I DIDN’T DO IT LIAM. No man, especially not James, is worth killing my friend over,” said Shea.

James glared at Shea, then Liam. “Why can’t we just dump her body in the water and say she drowned?”

“Because her body might wash up to shore and her fucking throat is slit. It had to have been one of us, see anyone else around?”

Shea got up and walked to the edge of the pontoon.

“Shea, what are you doing? Get back here, we’re not done,” said Liam.

“No, I’m done. It’s not fucking safe here with you two, a rapist and a serial cheater slash rapist apologist? I’ll take my chances with the currents and the hypothermia and whoever or whatever I might’ve seen swimming out there,” she said.

“I didn’t defend him, Shea, I just… didn’t know what to do,” said James.

“Whatever, I’m getting the fuck out of here,” said Shea.

“Oh yeah, run away Shea, that doesn’t look suspicious AT ALL!” Liam roared, and lunged to grab Shea by the ankle. She tugged her foot away from him and managed to throw herself into the water. It was ice cold, and she popped up gasping for air. Liam and James were starting to tussle, and Beth’s body was as immobile as ever.

Shea tried to look for the shore, but they had drifted too far to make it out. She heard faint, eerie vocals from a distance. The party. She could follow the sound. Shea started on a shaky front crawl, swimming as fast as she could towards the almost operatic singing. A weird choice for the mix, Shea thought, but they get whatever DJ they can find for these things.

The song was getting louder, but she still couldn’t see the shore. The boys had given up their fight and started to paddle towards her, clearly also in a rush to get back. She couldn’t get back on board — even if neither of them killed Beth, she still couldn’t bear to be near them. The glowing eyes. Whatever that was is still in the water, thought Shea. Just then, she felt something cold and sticky grab her ankle and jerk her down. She struggled and got her head above water, gasping for air. James jumped in to try to help her, but he was pulled down almost as soon as he hit the water.

“Liam, help!” Shea yelled.

“Fuck no, you killed Beth you bitch!”

A grey, slimy arm emerged from the water near the edge of the pontoon and grabbed Liam’s leg, dragging him down kicking and screaming.

Before Shea could react, something grabbed her ankle again and tugged her hard. She was submerged under the water, moving at a breakneck speed. Shea managed to open her eyes under the water and saw a rapidly moving scaly fish tail, but felt a hand around her ankle. They were going down to the lake’s floor. Just when she thought she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, they were propelled through some kind of tunnel and emerged in an air pocket.

Shea broke the water’s surface and gasped for air, taking in her new surroundings. She was in what must have been an underwater cave. There were three rock platforms, littered with bones. The water emitted a faint blue glow, allowing her to just barely make out Liam on the platform to her left, James on the middle platform. They were soaked, shivering and clearly terrified.

Shea felt sticky, clammy hands on her shoulder. She turned to face her captor and shrieked. It was the glowing eyes. Smooth, semi-translucent blue skin covered its face, with long, wet hair and slits on its cheeks. Gills. It grinned at her, baring rows of razor-sharp teeth, its mouth exuding a putrid smell. It put its hands on her waist, and she noticed it had long, knife-like spikes at the end of its webbed fingers.

It threw her onto the third platform and began singing the strange song she had heard just before she was dragged under the depths of the lake. The song grew louder as other voices joined in. Shea trembled and looked out at the pool in front of her. Another one of the creatures lifted its forehead and glowing eyes above the water, the same sight she had seen from the pontoon what felt like a lifetime ago. Another one of them did the same. And another. And another. Soon, there were hundreds of sets of glowing eyes staring back at them. The song was unbearably loud, echoing through the cave. The creatures rose their chins above the water, and all bared their teeth in a threatening grin. The song stopped abruptly.

A whisper echoed through the cave. “Feed.”