The Lake

To begin with, my grandmother had died of a stroke over a year ago. My girlfriend, Adeline, had been amazing during this painful time. She was patient and kind, holding my hand through it all. My grandmother had loved Adeline and accepted our relationship from the very beginning, never questioning us or our love for each other. My great-uncle had committed suicide when my grandmother was young because of shame for his sexuality. So when my grandmother had realized mine (claiming to have known I was a lesbian since I was 8-years-old), she became a pillar of acceptance for me.

My grandmother had left her half of a lake house to me in her will, the other half belonging to my grandfather. Never having been to this lake house, I knew little about it except my grandparents had rented it out and hadn’t lived there since before my father was born. My grandfather invited us to said lake house so we could talk about what to do with it. I felt ashamed at the spark of excitement at the thought of seeing it. Maybe my grandfather would offer it to Adeline and me to live? We had been talking for years about buying a house together and suddenly a house fell into our laps.

The lake was a few hours' drive from the city and even with the constant checking of our GPS, we still took two wrong turns. Finally pulling into the driveway late afternoon, we admired the lake house through our windshield at first. It was simple but cute. Two stories high, with a mostly red-brick exterior, tall pines surrounding it, and beautiful mountains scattered in the distance. It was positioned so the rear of the house faced the south side of the lake. The neighbors on either side were about 1/4 of a mile away. My grandfather, a young and tall seventy-year-old, came out to greet us in the driveway, looking tired but very happy we had arrived. He hugged us both, pushing the hair away from my face affectionately as he had when I was a child.

“Hair always in your face, just like your dad.” He muttered with a smile. “Have you two eaten? I was going to drive down to the store to get some groceries, but wanted to wait till you were here.”

I didn’t answer instead admiring the quaint house from the driveway once more.

“Nice? huh?” My grandfather commented, turning to match my gaze at the house.

“Yes, sorry grandpa. I can drive with you—“

“No, no! You guys just got here, you hang out here, just tell me what you want.”

“If you get some chicken and veggies and stuff, I can cook something,” Adeline said kindly as my grandfather nodded.

“Right now it's the grill and paper plates. Can you grill?” My grandfather asked Adeline, smiling.

“Addy is great on the grill,” I said, tearing my eyes away from the surroundings.

My grandfather smiled at me, happy for the company.

“Your grandma and I bought this dirt cheap when we were eighteen,” He commented, looking around the property himself. “I was so proud of us, rents for a pretty price nowadays. Always happy I convinced your grandma not to sell it when she wanted to. Made us our retirement fund. Helped us get you to a Masters.”

He caressed the hair away from my face again.

“I’ll let you guys inside and then be on my way.” He nodded.

“This house is very… Narrow.” I commented as Adeline and I walked up the stairs to the second floor, where the kitchen and living room were.

“Yep, narrow asses only in here.” Adeline joked.

We both let out a slight gasp as we topped the stairs, seeing the view of the lake from the living room balcony. We both walked quickly to the sliding door, opening it and stepping out onto the balcony.

“It’s so gorgeous!” Adeline beamed.

It was indeed beautiful. A relatively small but tranquil blue lake; Stretching out for perhaps two-three miles into small hills that lead to mountains, more pine trees than could be fathomed, and topped off with a clear blue sky. It was heavenly. I looked over the side of the balcony, surveying below. The lake was gently lapping onto the shore as some ducks were quietly waddling in a row along its edge.

“Aww how cute!” I exclaimed, pointing at the ducks.

“I can’t believe you never came here before now.” Adeline shook her head, looking down at me.

I looked back up at her, clasping her hand.

“I swear, I was never invited here. I barely knew it existed.” I explained.

“I hope we can stay.” Adeline smiled at me. “You lit up a bit since we got here.”

I stared at her, realizing she was right. Maybe it was the air, or the views, or the fact I was in my grandmother's house, but I felt…clear.

After dinner, Adeline retired early, exhausted after the drive and making dinner. My grandfather and I sat on the balcony, enjoying some beers, talking about the house. It was for the most part quiet on this side of the lake, I didn’t witness anyone pass by our house walking the path around the lake, nor hear any other cars pass by the house.

“It’s been treated pretty well, not much in big repairs needed.” My grandfather nodded, looking out at the placid lake as it reflected the night sky above.

“What do you want to do with it?” I asked.

“We.” My grandfather corrected me with a smile. “it’s yours too.”

I hesitated, not sure if I should ask what was burning in my mind. My grandfather seemed to sense my question.

“You want to live here?” He asked, his kind eyes looking through me.

“I don’t know…” I said honestly. “Wouldn’t that… put you out?”

“You don’t put me out…I want you to have a home and get married and have kids. If this is where you want to do it. Then it’s yours.”

I smiled, feeling fresh tears brimming in my eyes. My grandfather got up from his lounge chair and embraced me while I sat in mine. He sat beside me, one arm wrapped around my shoulder. I wiped the tears away from my eyes, feeling stupid, feeling I had cried too much this year already.

“Can I tell you why we moved away from here?” My grandfather asked, rubbing my shoulder gently. “Your gran almost drowned in the lake.”

I looked up at him, tilting my head to one side in slight surprise. “What? When?”

“When we first got married, we were seventeen, and my dad gave us a little money for a down payment on a house. Your gran picked this place. It was almost a ghost town here back then, no one had lived here since turn of the century for some reason I can't remember. But she just thought it would be a great place to raise kids. You know—nature, fresh air and such. She wanted it, so I bought it.

A few months here and we decided to have a party and invite our friends from the town over. Everything was fine, your gran was… well she was drunk, but so was I, so was everybody— The point is; She wandered into the lake, fully clothed, for a midnight swim. I remember seeing her right here—” At these words, My grandfather let go of my shoulder, pointing towards the shore below the balcony. “—She was fine, and one of my friends was telling me something and I looked away—a few minutes must have gone by— and I look back and see she’s … gone. She’s just gone. And I panic, and our friends panic, and then before we could do anything, she just…exploded out of the water. I remember she had uh… lost my jacket that she was wearing. She was ….terrified. Of course, being underwater for that long would be scary. After I calmed her down, I took her to the hospital and she was physically fine. But she wouldn’t tell me what had happened. So I didn’t know if she had fallen unconscious, or been attacked…I didn’t know. But she wouldn’t go near the lake.”

“She never told you?” I asked, fascinated. “How she got trapped under the water?”

“Never.” He continued. “And eventually, I stopped asking because she wasn’t going to say. A few months later, she got pregnant with your dad, and one day she said ‘I don’t want to have children here.’ and I didn’t understand any of it, but because I loved your gran more than this house, we moved. I convinced her that we should not sell the house though, rent it out instead. It’ll help with the lean years I said. She agreed but just wanted to go. So we left. She never came back.”

The next morning, I told Adeline the story over coffee in bed.

“What do you think happened to her?” She asked me.

I shrugged, having been thinking the same thing to myself nearly all night. We both stared out of the bedroom windows that showed a far-less impressive view of the lake outside.

“She probably got stuck underwater.” Adeline nodded. “Maybe got caught on some seaweed?”

I nodded, knowing that was the most logical answer. But my grandmother had always been level-headed and grounded, and the first to admit when she had made a mistake. If she had near drowned, surely she would have just said that. Yes, I knew she would have.

We eventually got up and began helping to spruce up the house. I got up on the roof and cleared out the soaked old leaves in stormwater gutters, while Adeline touched up the paint jobs in some of the bedrooms. That night, my grandfather cooked steaks on the grill, and we downed a few bottles of red wine. Adeline was obsessing over the full moon and how it lit up the lake and surrounding landscape.

“Let's go for a walk!” Adeline said happily, her speech slightly slurred. “Walk some of this fat off!”

I nodded, agreeing the exercise would do me good. My grandfather gave us a flashlight and told us to stick to the path surrounding the lake, and headed off to bed as we left. It was a lovely night. Arm in arm we walked, talking about how great it was gonna be to live here and bickering about baby names. The moonlight was more than enough light to walk by, the air was cool but not cold and the woods surrounding us made a variety of interesting sounds, but mostly crickets. Our neighbors must have already retired for the night, as every house we passed was dark. We walked about a mile along the lake's shore before turning around to head back. As we passed the last neighbor before our house, Adeline—slightly soberer—suddenly let go of my arm and skipped towards the shore of the lake, pulling her sweater off.

“Let's go swimming!” She whispered excitedly, kicking off her flip-flops.

“Adeline! Did you not hear the sober swimming tale I told you this morning?” I exclaimed as I witnessed her slipping off her shorts.

“We’re not drunk!” She exclaimed, taking off her bra and throwing it at me. “And I was a varsity swimmer AND a lifeguard!”

Adeline pulled her panties down, throwing these at me too in a teasing fashion. She turned away from me and began walking into the water. I admired briefly just how almost mythical she looked in the scene before me, her pale curvy body making new shimmering ripples along the lake's surface, with nothing but crickets in the background.

“Come on, babe!” She called back to me, breaking the moment.

I convinced myself that we were indeed better swimmers than our grandparents, and began stripping off my clothes, putting them in a pile beside Adeline’s. I stepped out of my flip-flops and stepped cautiously into the water. The lake was cold, colder than I expected. Adeline, who had been swimming joyfully out in the deeper water for a few minutes now, swam back to me, taking my hand and pulling me in.

“Holy Shit! This is cold!” I exclaimed, breathing in sharply.

“Swim! it’ll warm you up!” She laughed, treading water.

I tried to tread water with her, but she was much stronger than I. She took my hands under the water.

“Kiss me underwater.” She smiled seductively.

“Kiss you underwater?” I asked, trying to steady my kicking underwater.

“Yeah like mermaids do!” She laughed. “1…2…3!”

We both submerged deep under the surface in one swift motion, still holding hands. I closed my eyes as I felt Adeline press her lips to mine, and a mass of bubbles erupted from each of our mouths. I felt her slowly let go of my hands as we both began to drift back up, and I felt her gently pull away from my lips as we resurfaced.

I smiled at the first deep breath in and continued to smile as I swiped the soaked curtain of hair out of my face.

“Good?” I asked, blowing water out of my nose.

My eyes struggled to open through the water dripping down my face, but after some vigorous rubbing, I managed to open them… to no one. Adeline was gone.

“Adeline? Adeline?” I asked, spinning on the spot in the water, scanning the surface. “Adeline?”

I instantly began to panic, spreading my arms out trying to feel her in the water. Nothing, there was nothing in the water around me. But how could that be? She had been right in front of me only seconds before.

“Adeline?!” I choked as I continued to spin around. “Adeline! Adeline! Fuck! Adeline!”

Nothing.

“This isn’t funny! Come up now! Fuck! Adeline! ADELINE!”

My arms and legs began to ache in my panic and I knew I would have to get out of the water to continue searching for Adeline. I gave in and frantically swam to the shoreline, beginning to sob at this point. I clambered up onto the dirt, turning back, and getting up on my tiptoes to scan the shimmering lake while my eyes still adjusted.

“Adeline!” I screamed. “ADELINE!”

Nothing, no one was out there. I had to get help. I turned wildly to look at the surrounding woods, still illuminated by the moonlight. But I couldn't see the house, I couldn't even see the path. I stepped up further onto the shore, still breathing heavily, folding my arms across my chest, looking frantically for some sign of where I was. I knew we had been close to the house, surely I would be able to see from here? Or even a neighbours house? Maybe we drifted down the way? I looked back to the lake, scanning it for Adeline once more. I needed to get help, I needed to get help now! I surveyed the ground frantically, finally seeing our bundle of discarded clothes. I swiped something up and began to pull it on. It felt odd, not just because I was wet, but because it wasn’t mine, it wasn’t even Adeline’s. I paused, holding it up under a stream of moonlight between trees to reveal it was a dark jacket, fairly large, that looked extremely old and dirty, and had what looked like long tears down the back.

“…What?” I asked aloud, staring at the jacket.

A breaking twig from within the woods startled me, and I pressed the jacket to my chest, covering myself, backing up to a nearby tree. I held my breath, listening. After a few moments passed, I realized could not hear anything; No crickets, no birds, not even a breeze rustling through the trees, there were no sounds. I could hear nothing but my shuddering breathing. What was going on?

“Anyone there?” I called out shakily.

Nothing.

“What the fuck?” I said to myself, a wave of dread washing over me.

I tried to think, tried to calm myself enough to think. You just got pushed downstream, I told myself, but did lakes even have a downstream? How could I have washed this far away from the house in mere minutes after entering the lake? I have to get help. I have to move! I have to move to get help! Holding the matted jacket over my chest with one hand I reached back with the other, pushing myself back upright. It was like no tree I’d ever felt. It was…. well…. smooth, almost like …a soft leather. I turned on the spot to look up at the tree, my hand still running over the odd surface. I looked up, discovering this tree had no leaves, no branches, ending in a jagged point about one-hundred feet above. Its surface seemed almost black in the moonlight, and I could swear that it appeared to breathe, moving ever so subtly under my touch. I stared in quiet fascination around at the other ‘trees’ surrounding me, seeing they were all the same. The same branchless black trucks stretched out forever, no hills or mountains were visible. As I gazed towards the tops of these ‘trees’, my eyes drifted upwards towards the night sky and saw it was black also, pure black, there were no stars. I turned my head back and up towards the only source of light in the sky and found there was no moon there, but a mass of bright white chunks of rock strewn across the black sky, as if the moon had been a vase that had fallen from its table and shattered across the floor. I stared in horror, a new wave of panic washing over me.

“Fuck—”

Another twig break. Closer this time. I swung around, still clutching the jacket to my chest. I stared into the woods behind me, horrified and frozen. I knew at that moment I wasn’t alone. I felt something was out there in the trees, watching me. As I stood frozen, I noticed the ground was moving slightly also—as the ‘trees’ did—seemingly inhaling and exhaling beneath my feet. A third twig break, closer still.

“Shit.” I barely breathed.

What could I do? Where could I go? I didn’t even know where I was! I knew I should move, but I couldn’t, I was petrified in fear, staring out into the mass of trees, watching for movement. Nothing was moving, no noise except for my breathing. I forced myself to move, taking a hesitant step back towards the lake, and heard movement once more from the woods, closer now. I scanned the woods, my eyes darting left and right, but saw nothing! I tore my eyes away from the woods to look back at the lake, seeing it was almost perfectly still now, reflecting only the scattered satellites in an otherwise blank sky. Then I heard something shifting and cracking where my gaze had just been, and I cautiously turned my head back.

My eyes instantly fell on a new silhouetted figure squatting low on the ground about ten feet away from me. I froze once more, staring in horror at this thing and I could feel it staring right back at me.

From what I could make out, it was thin and spindly with a wild, matted mess of hair on its head — horribly reminding me of a spider. A few silent moments passed before it began to rise slowly, a horrible cracking sounding out with every motion. Smoothly moving upwards, it revealed two tall twig-like legs, a slender torso, and two abnormally long arms ending with elongated pointed fingers. I backed up once again on the tree behind me, realizing this thing towered at least seven feet tall. Its skin appeared to be black and I saw no face even though it stood clear in the ‘moonlight’. An excruciatingly long moment passed where I stared terrified at this thing, unable to comprehend what was happening to me. It tilted its inhuman head at me while I heard the soft cracks of it flexing its fingers. Then it suddenly rushed towards me with a great stride. I screamed, dropping the jacket, and without looking back, without thinking, I darted to the edge of the lake, hearing one of its long arms cut through the air as it took a swing at me, feeling its fingers inches from me. I screamed again and dived into the lake, propelling myself frantically into the water, feeling it envelop me once more, the familiar coldness coursing throughout my body.

I broke the surface of the water and began swimming in a fevered panic as fast as I could away from the shore.

“Oh my god! She’s there! She’s there!”

Huge gulps of disgusting lake water rushed into my mouth.

“Stop! Come back—”

I kept swimming, not realizing what I was hearing.

“STOP—”

I finally heard them, and slowly stop swimming away from the shore, still hyperventilating while treading water. I turned around to see several spots of light on the shore, all pointed towards me, blinding me momentarily.

“Get her out! Get her out—”

Something suddenly grabbed my arm and I screamed, kicking away, trying to punch with my free hand.

“Get the fuck off!” I screamed.

“Get her out! Get her!” I heard as another hand grabbed my free arm and pulled me up and out of the water. I screamed and kicked, feeling myself being pulled onto a hard surface.

“Hey! hey!”

Suddenly a face loomed into view. A human face. A bearded man was holding a flashlight under his chin, illuminating himself.

“You’re okay! You’re safe!” He exclaimed over my screaming, putting a hand on my shoulder. I stopped screaming, realizing I was in a small boat, surrounded by other humans. I curled into a fetal position, still hyperventilating.

“Wrap her up, she’s going into shock.” I heard the same man order his crew.

I don’t remember much of the trip to the hospital, I was in and out, having a full panic attack in the ambulance. They eventually must have given me a sedative to calm me down, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a sun-drenched hospital room with my grandfather and Adeline looking over me. After the initial check-up by the doctors, Adeline and the police (who join us shortly after I woke), explained that I had disappeared for at least two hours into the lake.

“Two hours?!” I asked wearily.

“You just disappeared! I came back up and you—were—GONE. Just gone! I was terrified, I couldn’t find you anywhere, I ran back to get your grandpa and he called the cops and they went out there with the boat and I was sure that they were going to pull up your body—” Adeline stopped herself at these words, regaining herself. “We are never swimming in a lake again!”

The police officer who has taken down my statement asked me if I remembered what I had done in those missing two hours. I thought silently, staring at the hospital ceiling, that horrible place flashing in my mind. What could I say? How could I explain? I simply said no. The doctors spoke about the possible causes of my time loss, that the intake of water and cut of oxygen to my brain, perhaps I had fallen unconscious under the water and somehow not drowned. But all the time they were talking, I saw that place, I saw that thing and felt the fear of it swallow me whole. My grandfather's hand landed on my shoulder, breaking my fall into the darkness.

“Officer, she’s very tired. Maybe after we get her home for some rest, something may come back to her.” He suggested, wiping the hair out of my face once more.

That afternoon I was permitted to return to the lake house. As we pulled into the driveway I briefly considered not exiting the car, not daring to glance at the lake. But I felt Adeline’s hand close over mine.

“You good?” She asked softly as my grandfather exited the driver's seat in front of us.

“The lake.” I said quietly.

“What about it?” Adeline asked.

My passengers' side door opened and my grandfather held it open for me to exit. I briefly looked up at him, sighed, and got out of the car, keeping my eyes on the driveway paving as I walked to the front door.

“Pull the curtains closed,” I told Adeline upon entering our bedroom, staring at the bed.

“Why?” she asked, “There's no sun in here right now.”

“Please.”

After a concerned look, Adeline did as I asked, and I laid down to an uneasy nap before dinner. I woke up to my grandfather gently shaking my shoulder.

“You hungry?” He asked quietly.

“Not really,” I said. “Could use a big glass of wine though.”

He smiled at the joke, sitting on the bed beside me, his hand still on my shoulder. I was staring at the closed curtains, knowing that place, that darkness was just on the other side of them. After a few moments passed before I looked up at my grandfather, and he stared back at me, concerned.

“What was in the lake?” He asked blankly.

“What?” I asked confused.

“I saw that lake in her eyes for months after it happened, and I see it in yours now.” He said in a whisper.

“I don’t know—”

“I’ll believe you. Whatever you say.” He cut me off gently. “Please just tell me.”

I looked over at the curtains and then back up at my grandfather.

“The night grandma went into the lake…" I began. "Was there a full moon?”