Weaponizing Water

“Dad, are we there yet? Are we there ye—”

“Mom, Johnny’s being annoying again, tell him to stop!”

Sneering at his elder sister, the boy looked outside his tinted windows to catch glimpses of trees and shadows as they whipped past their car, leaving them far, far behind.

“Luke, are you sure this place is legit? We haven’t seen a single person for a couple kilometres now. We’re literally in the middle of the forest!”

“Dear, that’s exactly what I wanted for us, a natural serene place to live off the grid, at least for a couple days. I saw an ad for this vacation home and it had some great reviews.”

“Just promise to be careful Luke, something about this forest seems creepy to me…and its so silent. You can’t even hear the birds sing.”

“Well, why didn’t you ask? If it’s a song you want, I’ll be glad to share one with you guys.”

As both kids scrunched up their ears in anticipation of the horrid noise, Tanya crammed shut her eyes as the severely off-key notes began to emerge from her husband’s mouth.

“Can you understand how I feel,

Do you even see its real,

When you kicked me with your heel,

The love from my heart you did steal,

Can you understand how I feeeeeeellllllllllll”

The last cracked note of the final phrase was too much for Tanya and the kids, and they immediately pleaded with Luke to stop the torturous singing.

Arriving at the isolated cabin which had a pier by the lake, the family explored their temporary home for the weekend. Opening the creaking front door slowly, they couldn’t help but smell the musty scent of dampness, but other than the mild odour, the cabin was rather charming as a homey sort of escape from the city.

Going back to the car to unpack, the kids huddled near the water’s edge and watched as fish snapped up insects that were unfortunate enough to fall into the water. The poor bugs were drowning before being snatched by hungry mouths.

Meanwhile, back in the cabin, Luke tried to warm the place up by starting up the fireplace. “Strange dear, the wood in here is a little wet. Wonder how water got all the way up here.”

Taking out their portable propane gas stove, mom started cooking some of the food they had brought; enough for a small banquet. Searing some steaks in one pan, the other had basic vegetables such as carrot, cucumber and cabbage which were precut earlier at home.

After several failed attempts to light a fire, Luke resorted to taking some cooking oil, dousing the fireplace wood with it and lighted it on fire. Pretty soon, the crackle of wood signaled that the house’s only heating element was slowing working, bringing warmth and an escape from the wet, dreary day outside.

Seeing the kids still at the water’s edge, mom called the kids to come eat, and she smiled as Johnny and Gloria rushed inside, eager to be fed. Bringing in the food from the camping stove set up outside, she laid dish upon dish on the small dinner table till it was full of steaming delicious food.

Looking at the smoke billowing from the fireplace, Gloria asked dad why it was so smoky.

“I used some cooking oil to set the wood on fire, that’s why dear. It should clear up after all the oil is burned up.”

Finishing up his beef and vegetables, Johnny asked dad when they could go fishing.

Patting his son’s head and ruffling his hair, Luke was glad to see his son was eager to explore everything the wilderness had to offer.

“We’ll go tomorrow bud, alright?”

As everyone started cleaning up the dishes, they handed the plates and cutlery to dad who washed them before giving them to mom as she dried everything with a towel.

Changing into their night attire after they all took a quick shower in the semi-warm water, then Luke checked once more on his sleeping kids before getting into his own bed, joining his wife in slumber. Ending the joyous day content, the dream Luke was having was anything but pleasant. Being sucked under the water in a vortex of doom, he flailed about trying to stay afloat, but was eventually trapped and was about to drown when he woke up in the cabin, with beads of perspiration dotting his forehead. Looking at his wife sleeping soundly next to him, Luke reassured himself that it was just a dream and thought nothing of the frightening ordeal.

Heading out on the lake with his son, Luke prepared for a peaceful few hours of fishing and perhaps hopefully some bonding with his quickly-maturing and growing son.

“I got one dad!”

“Hold onto the rod, slowly reel it in…there you go!”

Holding a net to scoop up the caught fish, they were pleasantly surprised at how big it was.

“That’s a rainbow trout bud, good eating but lots of bones.”

Johnny was all smiles and as he posed for the picture holding the trout, he had a grin as large as the horizon.

Meanwhile, mother was teaching Gloria how to properly cook using the propane stove. “So, you have to make sure the stove is outside with good ventilation, otherwise we could get real sick from the smoke. Once everything is ready, simply press the ignition and we have fire to cook!”

“What are we making for dinner?” Gloria looked eagerly around at the ingredients mom had laid out on the small table.

Gesturing to each group of ingredients that would come together to make several delectable dishes, mom described each one in detail. “First, we’ll have sautéed kale with garlic, then an onion omelet served with ketchup and finally some grilled deboned chicken drumsticks seasoned with a teriyaki soy glaze.

Hearing Gloria’s stomach gurgle after listening to mother describing each dish, they both laughed and went about starting to cook, hoping to be finished when the boys came home from their fishing trip.

Watching mom brown the onions by sweating them down, Gloria was amazed at how something as pungent and strong as raw onion could be transformed into something sweet and delicious. Having cooked the onions sufficiently, mom added the beaten eggs to the pan and rotated the pan to make sure there was an even coating. Prying off the edges and folding it over, mom finished by flipping the egg from the pan onto the dish, making a perfect seamless omelet. The dish was finished by a generous amount of ketchup sprayed in a zig-zag line over the beautifully yellow dinner course.

As the mother-daughter team started working on the other dishes, the boys were just arriving back at the dock with their catch in tow. In addition to Johnny’s mid-sized trout, dad also hooked a walleye, which was slightly bigger.

Arriving back at the cabin, dad hungrily praised the cooking of the ladies, “Something smells awfully nice girls!”

“And something smells awfully fishy, ha ha! Go and washup boys. Dinner will be ready soon. You can put the fish in the cooler and we’ll cook it tomorrow.”

Setting the dining table with the three main courses the girls had worked tirelessly to make all day, they started to dig in and complemented mom who was a genius when it comes to cooking. The teriyaki chicken was a big hit, and was quickly gobbled up by the kids who were big fans of anything sweet.

As they ate in the peace and quiet of the backcountry, danger started to rise, slowly but steadily encroaching on their little cabin. Deep in the woodlands a little ways downstream, a hooded figure finished blocking the outlet with a sluicegate, causing the water to backlog into the lake. Watching the surface rise while reflecting the glimmer of light from the moon, it created a beautiful yet treacherous predicament unbeknownst by the vacationers.

Slashing the tires of their vehicle, the stranger made sure there would be no escape for his victims. Finished his dirty business, he melted back into the forest, camouflaged under the cover of darkness.

Johnny was confused. He was standing knee deep in water and assumed he was imagining things in his dream. Laying back down, he ultimately couldn’t hold his bladder and waddled his way through the water to the bathroom, which was strangely overflowing. Slapping himself to wake himself up, suddenly he realized, this was no dream!

“Mom! Dad! There’s water everywhere! Mom?” Going to his parents room, he froze as he saw their lifeless bodies floating in the water, obviously drowned from the rising waters. Hurrying to his sister, he was relieved that she was alive, but she was cowered in a corner holding her knees, too frightened to do anything.

Johnny called out to her again and again, but she was immobilized, staring by the rising waters. Seeing as there was no other option, Johnny waded over to her and slapped her face, getting her to be irritated at him. “Sis, we have to go, now!”

Her angry face dissolved back into a fearful look, but she took Johnny’s hand and let him lead her out of the house. By this time the water was up to their waists, and they had no option but to swim through the broken window as the door was immovable due to the pressure of the water outside. Grasping his sister’s hand, he pulled her along and they both emerged outside, but floating in a ginormous lake that had emerged overnight.

Looking around as if she lost something, Gloria suddenly realized their parents were not with them. “What about mom and dad! We have to go back for them!”

“They’re dead Gloria, I saw them…in their room.”

“No, no it can’t be true…we have to go back!” Turning around back towards the cabin, she tried to dive back down, but each time she would come back up, unable to hold her breath long enough to reach their parents.

“Sis, it’s no use. They’re gone. Sis? We have to get above the waterline.”

Turning her face in anger, Gloria’s eyes were red with rage, “You’re just going to give up on mom and dad? You’re a coward!”

Ignoring his sister’s comments, he began swimming towards the edge of the lake, which by now had risen to the top of the funnel-like crater. Climbing onto the steep edge, he pulled himself out of the water and watched as his sister tried over and over to dive back to the cabin deep under the lake. Shaking his head, he could hear his stomach growling and started wondering when his next meal would come. Thinking of his mother’s classic breakfasts, a teardrop fell down his face and splashed several feet below into the crater lake. His small sign of grief and sadness mixed with the agent of death and treachery.

Eventually, due to exhaustion, Gloria swam towards her brother, gasping for breath as she pulled herself out. “You’re a quitter Johnny, dad would’ve never quitted on us.”

Not looking at her angry face accusing him, he didn’t say anything till later after their emotions were somewhat more stable. “Gloria, I miss them too you know. It’s not fair when you call me a quitter.”

“I know…I was just…I didn’t want to accept that they were gone. I couldn’t let myself believe it.”

“So what should we do? My cell phone works but there’s no reception out here. We can go down the other side of the crater and try and find help?”

“But don’t you remember, the last town we stopped at was like a three-hour drive away.”

“Sis, I don’t think we have an option.” Staring down the windward side of the crater’s edge, they tried to see how far the small rest stop was, but all they could see was the endless Canadian boreal forest. Holding onto each other as they descended the cliff, they tried to ignore their hunger and thirst and kept going despite how tired they were.

After being satisfied that the family was drowned, Trent opened the sluicegate back up and water began rushing out of the lake, lowering the surface by several feet an hour.

Suiting up to deal with the messy job of disposing the bodies, he waited till the cabin and ground were exposed before heading into the building which reeked of decomposing flesh. Smiling as he saw the two adult bodies in the master room, he couldn’t figure out why the kids were missing. Looking all around the building, he began to panic. If the kids somehow escaped and told the authorities, his murderous scheme would be busted. Kicking at the backpack left by the family, he cursed his bad luck and went about disposing of the bodies. He had about a week’s worth of time to clean up before the next family would be arriving at the lake site. Burying the father and mother in one of his makeshift graves, he used bleach and cleaner to scrub the place clean of the water damage and any rotting flesh smell, using several aerosol sprays to remove the odour.

Finishing cleaning up the cabin, he figured he would scan the area for the bodies of the two kids, but nothing was showing up on his radar. To his best of knowledge, no one could survive his ingenious manual flooding, so he figured the kids’ bodies were somewhere in or under the lake.

“Honey, this cabin place has great reviews, and not to mention it was on sale at half the price per day. I’m sure you and kids will like it”

Driving their SUV towards the crater lake, suddenly flashing lights signaled the arrival of the authorities, and they promptly stopped the family from going any further.

“Is there a problem officer?”

“Hello, there’s an active murder investigation at the cabin site up ahead. Is that where you’re heading? Boreal Steal Vacations?”

“Yes officer, we booked the site online.”

“Yes, that’s the crime scene, please follow corporal Johnson here and he’ll drive you to the nearest town after getting your witness statement and contact information.”

Leaving the bewildered family confused but safe from harm’s way, the police entourage arrived at the cabin site and began looking for evidence.

“Sir, we’ve located the victim’s vehicle. It seemed to have been carried and flipped here. The tires looked slashed sir.”

“Someone didn’t want the Whitmore family to get out. The son told us he saw his parents deceased right?”

“Yes sir, he said they were floating in the master bedroom, drowned presumptively.”

“Officer Johnson, we’ve located a structure overlooking the lake on the south slope. Looks like some monitoring station. We’ve also found a sluicegate that controls the flow of water out of the lake into the river below.”

Pang! Pang! Pop-pop

“Gunfire! Everyone defensive positions! I want the suspect taken alive; we need him to find the bodies.”

After a tense few minutes waiting, good news came from the radio after the initial shots.

“Suspect in custody. Bugger tried jumping off a ledge to escape, but thankfully we had units surrounding the position.”

Watching his men push and shove Trent into the police cruiser, the police officer took a sigh of relief. They had indeed finally found their cabin rental killer.

Back at the police station, Johnson was trying to cut a deal with the serial killer only if he would reveal how many victims he had murdered and where he buried all his previous victims.

“You’ll never find them. I’m sure of that and I’ll never talk. Heh, too bad you caught me, eh? I almost had another family play right into my hand, ha ha. Like leading a stupid cow to the butcher room.”

Inwardly, Johnson shivered at the cruelty and cold nature of the suspect, and that there was someone with so little regard for human life seemed almost impossible. Getting out of the room, he went to the adjourning soundproof area behind the mirror glass, and shook his head hopelessly at the other agents. “Sorry boys, he’s a tough nut to crack. I didn’t think people came in this degree of evil. One thing’s for sure though, we’ll try our utter best to reveal the extent of his crimes and to give closure to all the grieving families affected.”

Several weeks of excavating and scanning later, Johnny and Gloria joined a group of victims’ families and they set afire to the sluicegate which was essentially used as a murder weapon by Trent. Using the fire from the burning wood, they lit candles and placed them beside the lake in remembrance of their families and friends. For the first time for some, it was a moment of closure, knowing finally what happened to their missing relatives and companions, and resting assured the person behind the murders was in custody as he should be.

Seeing his older sister crying again, Johnny hugged her close, comforting her by saying the only thing he could think of, “Don’t worry Gloria, you still got me. I’ve got your back.”

Smiling at her little brother’s determination, she took one last glimpse at the many candles before walking away to restart a new chapter of their lives.