The Pond

We moved into this house about a week ago and from the start the entire place seemed odd. An old creaky house, near a dark pond and in the far corner of the yard next to some trees was a single gravestone. A name that was so faded you couldn't read it but the date was eerily clear, it read 1670 -1677. I asked my grandfather about it since the land previously belonged to him. He told me the story of a little girl who lived there long ago and who had drowned in the pond.

Every night as I was falling asleep, I felt my body lifting out of the bed and head down to the pond. I was asleep yet somehow I was aware of myself going to the pond. I would stand there by the edge for hours, in the dark, feeling the wetness on feet, the smell and sounds of the pond all around me, and then slowly transcended back to my room. I knew it was happening and yet I couldn't control it or stop it. In a strange way, it was as if I wanted to go out there, something was drawing me to the water. I looked forward to bedtime, going to bed early even. I would lay still in my bed, just waiting to take my nightly walk in the woods, down to the pond. This went on for a month or so but then I saw her.

I saw her out by the water. The sun had basically set and it was getting dark. She looked so frail and innocent, her clothes were wet and saggy. I stood still, so I wouldn't scare her away but my heart was pounding and to be honest, her silhouette felt incredibly creepy. Her hair was dirty and uneven, she stood there staring at me through her shaggy mop but, it's as if she were staring right through me with her dark smoky eyes. I began to hear the frogs and crickets and just like that, she was gone, nothing there but the fog rising from the pond. I turned and ran as fast as I could up the hill to the house. I didn't say anything to anyone about the girl I had seen. I went straight to my room and shut the door.

The next day I somehow had forgotten what I had seen the night before. I got dressed and without breakfast, headed out to the pond. The sun was so bright reflecting off the water that I almost couldn't see . Even in daylight the pond still kept it's almost palpable grip and the air had an intense sensation that I wasn’t alone. I walked around near the edge, so close that my socks and shoes were getting muddy and wet. I leaned over and peered into the water to see my reflection. Without warning a hand so large and strong cut through the water and grabbed my ankle. I didn’t even have time to scream. It pulled me in and down into the water until I couldn't see the sunlight glistening at the top. The water was completely black and thick, I was choking on the water, panicking and scared. I knew I wasn’t getting out of this but I kicked and tried to break free. My chest hurt, I tried to scream and cry, I was completely overwhelmed and held tightly by the grip of the hand. My body went numb and that was the last I remember.

I woke in a panic, my throat hurt and I still felt as if I couldn't breathe. It was completely dark but I could feel grass on my arms and legs. I was out of the water! I lay there terrified. Frozen. Too scared to move, what if it was still there. Although as scared as I was, the feeling that anyone was around had dissipated and I felt the most alone that I had felt since coming to this place. I felt sad, incredibly alone and sad. I lay in the grass and cried, still too afraid to move but I couldn't stop the tears from coming. They just kept bubbling up from inside me, out and down my dirty cheeks as I lay there, cold, wet and scared by the pond.

As the sun finally began to show the slightest bit of light to dawn, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The mud had dried and was crumbling like dirt from my face. Strangely calm and slow, someone sat beside me. Before I could see who it was, I felt the comfort of knowing that whoever it was, wasn’t there to hurt me. I looked over to see the little girl smiling at me, she looked so different from before, clean, so pretty and she was wearing a dainty floral head wreath full of baby's breath. She grabbed my hand and returned her gaze to the pond. She pointed to the pond, the water was motionless and silent. "I didn't make it. Did I?" I asked, almost choking on the words as I began to cry again. We stood, still holding hands and she guided me slowly down to the pond, into the water. I didn't fight it this time. I knew. The pond was now my home.