The Lake

I don’t know why I agreed to this. I mean, seriously, who goes and camps in the middle of nowhere on Friday the 13th? Crazy people, that’s who. Jensen dragged me out here a few hours ago, and whilst he is having the time of his life, I am trying to figure out a way to convince him to go home. So far the only thing that has a possibility of working is to knock him out and carry him home, but I’m not strong enough to do that by myself.

‘Can we please go home Jensen? I hate camping. Especially today.’ I plead with him, again.

‘Come on Sabrina, you need to learn how to live a little. Nothing is gonna happen, Friday the 13th is a superstition. You’re a history geek, tell me where it comes from.’

‘Loads of places. 13 is considered an unlucky number. 13 people sat down for the last supper on Thursday, and then on Friday Jesus died. Friday 13th, 1940 Buckingham Palace was bombed. Tupac died on Friday 13th, 1996. 300,000 people in Bangladesh died in November 1970 after a cyclone.’

‘But you and I both know that doesn’t mean anything. People get bombed, natural disasters hit, celebrities die. All tragic, but all random. Happens all year round, just because it happens to be Friday the 13th, doesn’t make it any less random. Plus we have to stay tonight so we can go up to the lake tomorrow, and I know you are desperate to go to the lake.’

Taking a deep breath, I nod my head. He’s right, I know he’s right; I just can’t seem to shake the feeling that something bad is coming.

***

I knew something bad would happen. I should have convinced him to leave, I should have knocked him out when I had the chance.

‘Jensen!’ I yell, even though it’s useless.

We went to sleep in the tent, and when I woke up an hour later, he was gone. I waited for what seemed like forever for him to come back, but he didn’t. There were drag marks outside the tent, I’m following them now.

I’m in the middle of the woods, cold and wet and slipping all over the place in the mud. I’ve been yelling his name for ages, but all I got in response was a dry throat and voice that is getting hoarser by the minute.

It’s dark, I can barely see two steps ahead of me. I get brief flashes of light when the moonlight breaks through a gap in the trees and illuminates the forest for a minute or two. There is nothing but trees for miles around me, I don’t even think I’d be able to find my way back to the tent at this point, Jensen was the directional one.

I am also barefoot. In hindsight, I probably should have put on my trainers before I decided to wonder around the forest in the pouring rain but I was too freaked out and focused on finding Jensen. I didn’t think it would take this long. I figured I’d yell his name a couple of times, he’d appear, and that would be that.

***

The sun is starting to come up and I still haven’t found him. I’m trying to remember my way back to the tent so that I could see if he went back, or if he left his phone there so I can call the police, but I’m hopelessly lost.

My arms and legs and numb from the cold, my hair and clothes are absolutely soaked through, and my feet now blend into the mud, I can’t feel or see them. The air is heavy like it always is after it rains.

I keep moving forward, fighting to keep my body from collapsing. I keep thinking about Jensen, and how he is out there somewhere, cold, and alone, injured, or worse.

Looking ahead of me, I see what appears to be a break in the trees, maybe Jensen went there?

I move forward with newfound energy, if Jensen had gotten lost out here, I’m sure he would have gone towards a clearing if he saw one.

As I pass the tree line into the clearing, I realise that it isn’t just a clearing, it’s the lake. It’s massive, and it looks heavenly. I look around for any sign of Jensen, but there isn’t one. I know I should keep moving, I need to find Jensen, but the water is captivating, it’s pulling me towards it, and I can’t resist.

I tell myself that I’ll just wash my feet off, and then I’ll leave and carry on looking for Jensen. I walk to the edge and kneel to put my hand in the water. It’s warm. It’s freezing cold everywhere else but the water is warm, it’s incredible.

The lake is clear, you can see all the rocks and shells at the bottom, and the fish swimming around happily, without a care in the world. The top of the water glistens, and the way the sun bounces of it seems to light up the whole area surrounding me. There’s a calming effect that I can’t seem to explain. All my worries drift away just by looking at the water. It has to be even better when I actually get in.

I gently place my feet in the water and move forwards until my whole body is submerged. The warmth of the water brings all feeling back to my limbs, and I close my eyes to savour the feeling. I let my head fall back, hoping to feel the rays of sunlight, but all I feel are drops of water falling on my face. Great, it’s started raining again.

I lift my head and look at the sky, but it’s not raining. Maybe I imagined it, I’d been wondering around in the rain for hours. I look back at the water, but instead of shells, and rocks, and fish swimming happily, all I see are bones.

The calm, peaceful feeling vanishes leaving nothing but panic in its place. I look around again, and everything has changed. The water is no longer the clear, icy blue that it was before; it’s now a dark, dirty, muddy brown. And the fish that used to be swimming happily, are floating on the top of the water, dead. And at the bottom of the lake, there are not any shells or rocks, but human remains. I’m not sure how I know that they are human, but I know.

I make a move to get out of the lake, but I can’t move. It’s like I’m paralyzed. I’m shaking now, the water is no longer warm, but ice cold. I keep fighting, urging myself to move, to get out. But it’s useless. I can’t even open my mouth to scream, not that there is anyone out there to help me.

I catch a glimpse of a red t-shirt at the bottom of the lake and look down. Jensen. He’s there, at the bottom. His eyes are open, he looks terrified, but it’s obvious that he’s dead. He was drawn into the lake, just like I was.

I can feel the tears streaming down my eyes as I feel myself being pulled lower and lower into the water. I can’t fight it anymore, I’m too tired. As I sink lower and lower, I wonder if anyone will ever find us. Judging by the number of bones at the bottom, I doubt it. We’ll just be another Friday the 13th mystery that no one can solve. Missing forever.

I knew I hated Friday the 13th.