Blood Tide

The moon hung low over the black water, swollen and red as a fresh wound.

Daniel Carter stood alone on the shoreline, his shoes sinking into wet sand. Cold wind whipped across the lake, carrying the smell of rain and rotting leaves. He stared at the dark surface before him, confused.

How had he gotten here?

The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his apartment.

A woman's voice drifted through the darkness.

"You came back."

Daniel spun around.

A figure stood among the trees.

"Emma?"

His heart skipped.

His wife stepped into the moonlight. She wore the same blue sweater she had worn the night she disappeared six months ago.

Daniel stumbled backward.

"No... that's impossible."

Emma smiled sadly.

"Is it?"

He rushed toward her.

"Where have you been? Everyone's been looking for you."

Emma tilted her head.

"Have they?"

Something about her felt wrong. Her skin seemed too pale. Her eyes reflected the moonlight like glass.

Daniel stopped.

"What is this place?"

"You know this place."

"I've never been here."

A distant splash echoed across the lake.

Emma looked toward the water.

"You're lying to yourself again."

Daniel frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look."

The lake rippled.

A shape floated near the surface.

Slowly, it drifted closer.

Daniel's stomach tightened.

It was a body.

Face down.

Motionless.

He wanted to run, but his legs refused to move.

The corpse rolled with the current.

Its pale face emerged from the darkness.

Daniel gasped.

The dead man looked exactly like him.

"No..."

The body's eyes snapped open.

Daniel screamed.

Then everything went black.

________________________________________

He awoke in a small cabin.

Rain hammered against the roof.

A lantern flickered on a wooden table.

Emma sat across from him.

"This isn't real," Daniel whispered.

"Parts of it are."

He noticed something on his hands.

Dark stains.

Blood.

His breathing quickened.

"No."

Emma pushed a rusted key across the table.

"Open the cellar."

"I don't want to."

"You have to."

Thunder shook the cabin.

Daniel grabbed the key.

The cellar door stood in the corner.

Every instinct told him to leave.

Instead, he unlocked it.

The smell hit him first.

Decay.

Death.

He descended the stairs.

At the bottom lay dozens of photographs.

Pictures of Emma.

Pictures of arguments.

Pictures of bruises.

Pictures he didn't remember taking.

Then he saw the final photograph.

Emma standing beside the lake.

Terrified.

Running.

Behind the photograph, someone had written a date.

The night she vanished.

Memory crashed into him like a wave.

The fight.

The accusations.

The rage.

Emma trying to leave.

His hands around her throat.

Her body sinking beneath the water.

Daniel collapsed.

"No..."

Footsteps creaked above him.

Emma appeared at the top of the stairs.

Tears filled her eyes.

"You finally remembered."

"I'm sorry."

The words felt meaningless.

She nodded.

"I know."

The cabin began to dissolve.

Walls crumbled into darkness.

The lake appeared once more.

The red moon overhead.

The cold water below.

Emma slowly faded.

"Wait!"

"You can't stay here forever."

"Please."

Her voice became a whisper.

"Wake up."

________________________________________

Daniel opened his eyes.

Concrete walls surrounded him.

A steel bunk.

Bars.

A prison cell.

The nightmare had returned.

For the hundredth time.

Maybe the thousandth.

Outside, dawn light crept through the narrow window.

Daniel buried his face in his hands.

The memories never faded.

Neither did Emma.

And every night, when the moon rose, she waited for him beside the lake.