The Podcast

“Hi, my name is Amanda and I’m doing an investigative podcast on the disappearance of Nathaniel Wright in 1996. Do you have a moment to tell your version of events from that weekend?”

I have to write down my opening. Otherwise, I trip over my own words. Creating new words, like the combined Hi and Hello to “Hi low”. So, yes I need a script. Most people are happy to talk, eager even. Era of the millennials and everyone wants to be a part of an important story. Getting people to talk is mostly easy. Unless they are guilty.

Nathaniel Wright went missing at the Kincaid Lake. He was 18. His girlfriend, Sandra, and another couple, Dave and Laci were all there. Sandra, Dave, and Laci have all been cleared by the police. That’s not saying much though.

They came up to Lake Kincaid May 13, 1996. It’s a 45-minute hike from the trailhead parking lot to get here. They were there for 3.5 hours and had been drinking. They saw no one else that day. It’s not a popular place to swim in the middle of May except for locals and even less now since the disappearance.

After a few drinks, Nathaniel and Sandra said they were going to do one quick swim before leaving. Dave and Laci said they didn’t pay much attention as they cleaned up. The next thing anyone remembers is Sandra hysterically screaming in the water.

According to their statement, Dave is the one to run into the water and drag Sandra to land. No physical injury or even water in her lungs. Sandra has never spoken a word since. The doctors have said it’s a type of PTSD coping mechanism. She may snap out of it any day or never. It’s been 25 years and well, let’s say people have stopped holding their breath.

As for Nathaniel. He just disappeared. Poof. Literally. No body. No remains. No sightings. Vanished.

Theories are plenty. They range from the simply drowned and body has never been recovered to a faked death so Nathaniel could start over and escape his alcoholic Mother. No one has ever been able to corroborate any theory. He’s just gone.

I stand at Lake now. My first week done. Mostly just pleasantries as I try to gain the trust of those involved. The lake is small but runs deep. According to my research, 40kms of darkness. Scuba divers trained in recovery found no sign of Nathaniel. Local police say it’s not a cold case, that they are actively pursuing leads, but if we’re all being truthful, this case is as dead as a doornail.

I take my shoes and socks off, hike up my pants, and wade into the black water. The sun is setting. The scene is most picturesque. Surrounded by lush green mountains, birds chirping somewhere in the deep forest. I feel like I am the only person in the world at this moment. Places like this tend to do that to you. I close my eyes and wait. I listen and turn my face to the warmth of the sun setting in front of me. The wind picks up around me, tossing my hair around my head. The supernatural side of me wants to believe this means something. After another minute of nothing, and the wind dying down, I sigh.

Snap. I startle and whip around, momentarily losing my balance in the shallow water. I right myself quickly and with my shoes in one hand look around. Again, the sound of twigs cracking. There is only one way in and one way out and I’m looking at it. I squint. In the dimming light, it’s hard to make out much of anything. I’m recording, I’m always recording. If anything the sounds will add some mystery to the podcast. I wade to the shore and sit down on a log. I make a lame attempt at drying my feet off and put on my socks.

“Hey..”

I scream. It echos off the mountains, the lake surface, and back to me. Us. He is...strikingly handsome. Dark. Mysterious. I’m suspicious immediately and he senses it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you” He doesn’t take his eyes off me. I stand up and put distance between us at the same time he puts his hand out. “I’m Colt”

Colt is tall. We’re talking 6’5 at best. I’m an easy 5’1. I feel ridiculous and childlike looking at him. My red hair, freckles, seem absurd in this moment. I look at my phone in my hand. Still recording. “My names Amanda. I’m from QWTV, I’m covering the Nathaniel Wright case” His hand is calloused and rough, not the pretty exterior he portrays. As I let go of his hand, the sun catches, an old ring. Yellow gold with a bright green emerald. Colt shoves both hands in his trouser pockets. He nods. His dark hair curls over his right eye. “I know. - I mean - everyone knows. Small town. So, I know who you are”

“Fair enough,” I say. I want to ask if he knows anything. But he beats me to it. “I wish I could help you, but I arrived here just after Nathaniel’s disappearance. You probably know more than me”

There is something odd about Colt. Dated. I take my gaze upwards again, about to say something but Colt is staring at me. I can’t move. I can’t move anything. His gaze has mine locked and a warmth washes over me. Just as fast as it started, it’s over. “Well then, I best let you get back to it” He throws me a grin, which displays a dimple on his left cheek. lift my one leg up. Yep, everything works. I look up to say goodbye and give him my card if he hears anything but, he’s gone. I turn around to the lake. It’s eerily still. The water black, not a ripple or life anywhere to be seen. I turn back to where Colt was. I realize it’s dusk now and this place creeps me out without any light or people. Once in my car, the doors locked behind me, I set up to listen to my recording as I drive back to my hotel. I am about half way down the mountain when I hear my scream. This must be where I meet Colt. Then I hear my voice “I’m Amanda……” A long silence. Then “Fair enough”

I glance at my phone and back to the road. What the fuck….It’s just my voice. My side of the conversation, but no trace of Colt. I pull over and put the recording back 30 seconds. . …” I’m covering the Nathaniel Wright case…”

Silence. I am talking to myself, like a crazy person. I sit on the side of the road, the darkness of the woods engulfing. My headlights light up the road ahead of me, and I look to my right and stare into the woods. Who are you Colt? Where did you come from? And more importantly, what happened to Nathaniel here 25 years ago?

***

It’s morning and I am armed with a huge coffee and make my way to the care facility where Sandra has been for the better part of 2 decades. Close to 40 now, however, she looks rather childlike in her recliner as I enter her room. It’s as though she moved in yesterday, not 20 some years ago. I sit with her, and she is staring out the window. I read that her Mother was the one who visited daily until her death 3 years ago. Since then, the only visitors are Dave and Laci. I imagine going through something traumatic like that together would create a special dark bond between people.

I put the recorder down in front of her and pull up my chair across from her. I study her for a bit. I will her to blink. Twitch her fingers. But, nothing. She is as still as a statue. The only indication that she is alive, is the steady rise and fall of her chest. Her hair is pulled into a pony. She has a blanket over her lap. The only discernable thing I can see about Sandra is a ring on her finger. It looks like a family heirloom. Yellow gold and the stone a bright emerald.

I introduce myself and start asking her questions, gently. I ask if she can hear me. Blink twice for yes, once for no. Squeeze my hand. Anything…..absolutely shit all. The key to Nathaniel’s disappearance is here. In this woman in front of me. As far as my research the last sound out of her lips was the horrific scream for help when Nathaniel went missing. No one knows why she screamed or what she was screaming at. Whatever it was, scared her. Scared her close enough to death. I sigh and start packing up when there is a knock on the door. I look up and see Dave at the door. “Oh, Hi. I’m done here, just packing up” He steps in the room, hands in his pocket nervously. “You’re the one doing the podcast on Nate right?” He keeps a large distance between us. I sling my bag over my shoulder “That’s me. Actually, I left a few messages for you, I’d like to set up a time to interview you if you don’t mind” Dave shuffles his feet and looks down. “Yeah” a pause “Um. Let me check with Laci when works” Dave and Laci were married right out of school. The interviews they have done have spoken about how they were each others rock and support the years following Nathaniels disappearance. Dave is average. A baseball cap covering his balding head. Blue, nervous eyes. I reach over to the table beside Sandra to grab my recorder when I feel a pull. My arm is over Sandra’s lap and her fingers have pulled the sleeve of my shirt. Hard. My back is to Dave, and I realize I’m holding my breath. I slowly raise my eyes to Sandra’s face. Nothing. I look down again and her fingers are gripping my sleeve so tightly, her knuckles are white. The ring seems extraordinarily bright in this moment. Suddenly I realize I have seen this ring before. Last night. Colt.

I glance up at Dave, he is preoccupied with his phone waiting for me to leave. I quickly take my phone and snap a picture of Sandra’s ring. As I do, she drops my sleeve suddenly.

I gasp.

Dave is at my side in an instant. “What happened? Is she ok?” I look at him and he’s looking at me. “Oh, I thought I saw her move. I- I’m just seeing things I guess. Covering a case like this gets to you”

Dave shakes his head. “Yeah, not likely. She hasn’t moved independently herself, since the day she swam in that lake. We all want to see it. To witness a miracle but the doctors say it’s such a state of comatose PTSD that she may never snap out of it. Between the death of her brother and Nathaniel, it’s likely she may never come out of it.”

***

Back at the lake. Sunset again. I’m trying to recreate the scene. I put my back to the trail, my phone recording in my pocket. My feet in the dark water. It’s cold tonight, I have to take them out of the water to let them thaw.

Finally, footsteps. I turn slowly and just as he had looked the night before, Colt appeared. He stops just before me. “Figure it out yet?” He says. He squints in the sun, his whole body seems to ripple in the light.

“I don’t understand,” I say. “What happened that day? Please, explain. What did Sandra see?” I take a breath and wait. I know I should be scared. The typical person would probably run from this situation, but I was in it. Months of research, interviews to finally show up in person, and this. I can’t walk away now.

Colt raises his hand, palm up towards me. The ring is sitting there. He looks at me, nods towards the ring. I take it, slowly. I turn it over in my hands, and say “What do you want me to -” but he’s gone. Turning in a full circle, confirming I am indeed alone, I place the ring over my finger. It happens suddenly. My stomach lurches and I vomit violently into the lake. On my hands and knees, in the shallow water. Something horrible happened here. I can feel it. I stand up, and suddenly realize I am on the other side of the lake now and it’s dark out. I hear leaves rustling. A cry. Suddenly a young woman, blonde partially naked runs past me. She is crying, blood streaming from her head. She’s struggling to see through the blood in her eyes. She trips and falls, and wildly looks behind her. It’s then I see. It’s Sandra. It’s Sandra 25 years ago. I go to lift my feet, to run after her. To help. I understand now. Colt is showing me. This has already happened.

Sandra is getting up, leaves tangled in her hair when Nathaniel comes running into view behind her. “I’m sorry Sandra, I’m drunk! I love you. Everyone is waiting for us. Let’s go” He approaches Sandra carefully but he’s swaying. His eyes glassy and he’s holding his right hand with his left, I can see has 2 broken fingers. “Stay away from me!” Sandra yells. She’s covered in blood and mud. Backing away slowly from Nathaniel. It’s then he lunges. He’s lost his patience. “I said I was sorry goddamnit!” Sandra is crying “No...Please” Sobbing “let go”

“You embarrassed me, Babe.” Nathaniel is whispering in her ear.

“Ow!” Sandras muffled sob comes out through gritted teeth as he pins her back to the ground. “You know I don’t like being made a fool of. You gotta be a good girl, remember”

Sandra gives in. “I’m sorry baby. I’ll be good. I will. I promise….I’ll be good” The last words are barely audible as I realize Nathaniel is strangling her with his bare hands.

Then, Colt. sneaking slowly behind them, carrying a boulder in both hands. He raises it up over his head, about to topple it down on Nathaniel when suddenly, Colt crumples to the ground. The rock rolling away. Dave is standing there, a bloody knife in his hands “Shit, are you guys ok?” Sandra gets free and is crying, crawling over to Colt. “No, no no...no. Please no. Wake up. Please wake up”

Suddenly it is daylight. Early summer. Dave, Laci, Nathaniel, and Sandra are in front of me, each drinking a beer, dressed for summer, radio blaring. Sandra raises her drink “To Colt. My baby brother” Everyone is silent and she looks sideways at Nathaniel. Dave cuts in “What!? He was clearly about to smash you with a rock. I saved you” He takes a swig of his beer proudly then and Laci pats Dave on the back. Giving him praise like a dog.

“Whatever” Nathaniel says “He was weird anyways. None of it would have happened if you hadn’t invited him along” Sandra looks down and whispers “I’m afraid of what would have happened if he hadn’t been there actually” She looks at Nathaniel pointedly. She stands up “I feel dirty” she says “I’m going for a quick swim” Dave and Laci stand up as well and start cleaning up.

I’m watching as Sandra dives into the water and Nathaniel wades in after her. Colt, I say in my head, take me to them in the water. Let me see. Suddenly I am floating, I feel awkward, as an unseen spectator. They are fighting. “You aren’t thinking of breaking our promise are you? You remember what I am capable of” They are treading water and I see on Sandras face that she is scared. Coming out to the middle of the lake was a bad idea. “I don’t know what I’m going to do Nate. I can’t sleep. My parents think Colt died having some mental break and Dave saved me. Don’t they deserve the truth? Doesn’t Colt need his name cleared?” Nathaniel swims forward and gets in Sandras face. His nose almost touching hers. “I promise you, you will never see the light of day again if you as so much think about coming clean to anyone. I keep my promises”

Be quiet. Just leave it. Let him think you have his best interests. Shut up. She doesn’t say anything but he sees it all over her. He grabs her fast, grips her by the wrists. He glances over to the shore Dave and Laci are dancing to the music. “Hey -!” Sandra starts but he’s on her. His entire weight on her as he holds her under. I’m screaming, paralyzed. My insides are going crazy, wild.

Suddenly, stillness. Nathaniel has let go. He’s grabbing his own face now, blood starting to pour out of every crevice. His ears, eyes, nose. He’s drowning in his own blood. Filling his insides. He grabs for Sandra but a sickly, grey arm comes shooting out of the water and grabs Nathaniel. Colt’s not handsome anymore, His skin falling off, rotting. He has Nathaniel in an iron grip. “Colt, oh my god. Colt!” She swims towards him. He says nothing, but grabs Nathaniels gurgling body, and in one swift motion, rips his head off his body. My own hands come flying up to my mouth in horror. This is where Sandra starts screaming hysterically. The scene starts to fade out as Dave is shown running into the water. Colt and Nathaniel sinking into the dark. And then I’m standing by the shore again, soaking wet. My clothes, my hair. All soaked. The sun gone, the air cool. The ring is still on my finger but Colt is nowhere to be seen. I quickly take out my phone. Please please please. It is soaking wet. “Fucking hell” I sit down, my head in my hands, and try to think. I’m mad. Mad at Sandra for letting Nathaniel control her, threaten her. Mad at Colt for being so careless. Mad at Dave for killing Colt. Although it dawns on me that Dave doesn’t know the full story. All he saw was Colt with a rock. I stomp my foot. Thud. Not the squish I was expecting from the soggy shoreline. Again. There is something there. I bend over and put the flashlight on my phone. It’s a knife. THE knife. Dumped in the lake all those years ago. Forgotten.

Well, I’m about to raise the dead.