Mirror Lake

Callie stretched out on her paddleboard in the warm sun. The lake water rocked her gently and the sun was warm on her skin. This was going to be one of the last warm days to enjoy the lake before the fall chill set it. The season had been a long one, going all the way into the first week of October. Still, she wished summer would stretch on. She hated the cold and foggy days winter rolled in. They were so claustrophobic.

Children in bulky lifevests jumped off the dock splashing and screaming noisily. The quieter serious fishermen paddled their boats and tipped their hats as they passed. She closed her eyes to soak up every minute of the golden sunshine. The sounds blended into a summer melody that moved with the gentle rocking of the water.

She must have drifted off because she woke with a start. Her feet hit the cold water and the board tipped perilously to one side. She caught her balance just in time and righted herself. Her heart pounded from the sudden adrenaline shock. She was wide awake now.

Holy crap, the sun was already setting. She shivered as she watched the golden globe slide behind the forested hill. Oranges and pinks painted the horizon around the lake. The warmth was leaving with the sun. Looking back toward the dock she realized she had drifted to the opposite side of the lake. It would be a good hour of paddling to get back now.

Crap, crap crap!

She adjusted to her knees and started paddling toward the dock. As she picked up speed she stood and extended her paddle working hard to keep a quick pace. The light was fading around her quickly and an eerie fog was starting to drift over the water. Even with the excursion of paddling, she was cold. A shiver went down her spine as she realized she was the last one on the water.

The noisy kids that had been jumping off the dock earlier had vacated. The fishing boats that had been slipping through the waves were nowhere to be seen. How long had she been asleep? She felt like she had only closed her eyes for a minute.

Her thick braid of blonde hair was collecting moisture from the fog. Goosebumps raised on her arms and legs as she continued making her way to the dock. It wasn’t good to be out in these woods after dark. Her bikini did little to insulate her against the chill.

With heavy arms, she finally bumped into the dock. She hurried to unload her dry bag off the front of the board and sat the paddle on the dock. Unstrapping the safety leash, she slid onto the dock and pulled the paddleboard from the water. She set it on its side to drain the extra water and fished her keys from the bag. It took longer than normal due to the shaking and numbness in her hands. Hopefully she had a sweater in the Jeep, the fog was chilling her to the bones.

Her bare feet collected grass and dirt as she half-ran toward the abandoned parking lot. Her red Jeep Cherokee stood alone in the center, a haven waiting for her. It was almost fully dark now, she had to squint to see the end of the lot where the dark forest stood. There werent any lights out here and she barely made out a banged-up blue and rust-colored Chevy, the only other vehicle in the back of the lot. An uneasy feeling settled in her gut as she looked at the truck. She didn’t recall seeing it when she arrived. It took a good half hour to pump up her board, she should have noticed.

She had to turn her back to the truck to unlock her door. She dropped the keys as she tried to get the key into the door lock. It was a ’95 and had manual everything. Her fingers were numb and shaking in the damp cold.

“Damn it!” she cussed the second time the keys hit the ground. She bent over to grab them and as she stood a chill went down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

A sudden scrape of leather on the pavement was her only warning before a musty bag slammed over her head. The edges tightened around her throat. She was pulled backward, choking and blind. She screamed and her hands scrambled to the heavy hands as her bare heels scraped the hard pavement. She tried to get free. Clawing for air, trying to draw blood. Anything. But her head was swimming. The pressure around her neck was unrelenting.

In desperation she let her body go limp hoping the dead weight would catch him off guard. She could smell cigarettes on his skin. By the rough hands and sheer strength, it had to be a man. He let her drop, but before she could use it to her advantage he had her face down and a heavy knee in her back. She couldn’t breathe. Her knees and elbows felt bruised from hitting the ground.

Inside she was screaming but her body couldn’t let it out of her throat. She needed oxygen. The pressure around her neck tightened. Her body went limp as her last breath remained trapped inside her burning lungs. A scream that would never be heard.

o

The morning sun rose to kiss the still waters of the lake. The sunset was gloriously bright red and pink, casting a rose-colored light over the mirrored waters. It was a perfect reflection of the sky. The photographer drank it in and set his camera lens and exposure to capture the peaceful scene. He finally had the perfect angle to capture the reflection of the appropriately named Mirror Lake.

He’d been chasing this shot for years. He'd been worried when he pulled up and saw the red jeep in the lot that someone had beat him out here. Thankfully, the water was undisturbed and he had hiked around the edge of the lake to get the perfect angle.

It was just as he snapped his first photo that something broke through the surface at the center of the lake. The ripples shattered the reflection and refracted the light into thousands of blood-red crystal sparkles.

"No!" he exclaimed. In exasperation, he zoomed in on the disruptive shape. Hours of set-up and a perfectly still morning ruined by this, this, whatever it was.

That’s when he saw her. Perfectly formed milky white breasts peeking out of the water. A dark purple bruise circled her throat. Her head lay back, a golden braid floating alongside her. Her shocking blue eyes were wide open and still. Her body bobbed as the ripples tried to settle. Her breasts never rose with breath. Her eyes never blinked. He was staring at her naked dead body.

Instinctually he snapped a photo, forever preserving her ghostly form in the blood-red water.

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