The Ripple

It's tradition. That's all it is.

Oliver was last to arrive. Pulling up in his new Tesla, despite the terrain of the trip decidedly problematic for anything other than an off road vehicle. Joe, Tony and Rob were standing on a small slope each paired with a small bag of luggage. Oliver jumped out of his car and gave his friends the thumbs up. He paced towards the boot of the car and whipped out his bag before briskly walking towards the slope.

'Sorry I'm a tad late guys, the only charging station was miles out of the way...' explained Oliver.

'Just get your ass over to that boat!' Joe exclaimed with an evident tone of frustration in his voice.

The party of four made their way towards a small boat which was docked at the edge of a lake. It was about 6pm and the sun had already slipped below the treeline. Joe and Tony were first to re-emerge from inside the boat and they made their way towards a seating area at the back of their home for a night.

'So.. what are we doing here then Joe? What's spooky about sitting on a peaceful lake?' Tony asked.

'You think we're staying here!? No!' Joe replied with clear excitement on his face.

But, before Tony could reply, Joe had walked down the boat to kick start her into life. With a splutter and a jolt, the engine came to life which caused Oliver and Rob to rush up on deck.

'We're moving already??' Oliver exclaimed.

With a wry smile etched on his face, Joe pointed at an opening in the trees someway down the lake. Rob and Oliver joined Tony in sitting towards the back and decided it was a good time to open up their refreshments for the night. Each of them cracking open a beer, with one left on the table for Joe.

The lake itself was situated in a rather secluded area. The whole thing was surrounded by trees, with rolling hillsides further back. However, there's a river that the lake feeds into which connects it to the rest of civilisation.

With Joe leading the group towards the mouth of the river, Tony decides to take in his surroundings. While Rob and Oliver chat amongst themselves, Tony notices a disturbance on the surface of the lake about 200 yards away. He tries to crane his neck to see if he could make out what it was, but to no avail. He figures it must have been a fish.

'Seems like a great spot for fishing, don't you think?' Tony queries as he turns to face his friends.

'There's no fish in this lake Tony...' Oliver remarks

'Huh!? Why?' Tony replies

'The lake is contaminated below the surface, so make sure you don't fall in...' Joe said while winking in his direction.

This comment stuck in Tony's mind and he could feel his heart beat a little faster. He nervously turned around to see if any other disturbances had been made. It was then he witnessed a ripple in the water about 100 yards away, like something had ducked back into the water. Tony stood up and sat on another seat so his back wasn't facing the lake anymore.

With the vessel now fully through the mouth of the river entrance, Joe stuck on autopilot and rejoined the others.

'So.. Tony, do you know the story of this lake?' Joe asked playfully.

'Yes Joe, I'm definitely familiar with a lake that I didn't even know the name of until I arrived...' Tony sarcastically replied.

'Well, I thought it wouldn't be a Halloween treat unless we visited the most haunted location in the whole state...' Joe replied while rubbing his hands together.

'They say that this lake contributes to 70% of all cold case files in the state due to bodies not being found until years later. Dating back to the early 1800's...' Joe continued

'So... there could be a corpse below us right now...?' Tony dreaded to ask the question, but knew his curious mind had to ask it.

'More than one, Tony...' Joe replied.

Joe enthusiastically continued to list a variety of grisly facts, each one more disturbing than the last. He rounded off his history lesson with an eerie story of a couple who visited from the United Kingdom only last year.

'They made friends with the local population and told them of this lake they wanted to visit. The locals knew the history and strongly advised against ever exploring up stream. However, with no authority ruling the area off limits, the couple cracked on with their American adventure. You know they only have one beaten down sign stating that the water is contaminated. How crazy is that? Long story short, the body of the man showed up two months later, while the woman was never found...'

Rob took a huge swig from his beer and stood up to go and use the bathroom.

'Not sure if I need to piss or puke after that story Joe...' Rob stated as he rushed below deck.

The night sky was firmly taking shape with the moon reflecting off the surface of the river. Oliver was scanning the trees that lined the river on either side when something caught his eye. It would be easy for him to think something is out there based on what Joe was saying, but he refused to let his mind go to that place. But, it did seem as though the water was struggling to make it past a small blockade. A tree branch? Certainly plausible. From first glance it looked as though the blockade was reaching out towards the shore, like it'd made it's way halfway onto land before getting stuck.

With Oliver's eyes firmly locked on this strange object, Tony took notice of his friends fixation on this object. With a concerned look, Tony headed over to sit next to Oliver.

'What are you looking at?' Tony quizzed.

Before the questioned had even been answered, Oliver fell backwards off his seat. His face succumbed to fright, like he'd seen a ghost. Tony helped him back to his seat, but his concern grew exponentially when Oliver couldn't even bring himself to say anything to him. Like he was stuck in a trance. Tony looked over at Joe who was sitting quite casually, observing the stars.

'Hey, Joe! Aren't you going to help?' Tony furiously asked.

'He's probably had too much to drink, he's fine!' Joe replied calmly.

Tony was about to reply when Oliver slowly raised his arm and extended his finger to point at something. Tony looked to his right and could see that ripple he saw earlier. It's epicenter at the shore line. Tony ushered Oliver to lower his arm and tried getting him to talk. Nothing except a mumble came from Oliver for the next hour as the boat glided along the water.

Rob finally re-emerged from below deck.

'Sorry guys, just had a nap.. that drive down here really took it out of me'

Tony still trying to get something out of Oliver, looked up at Rob and gestured him to come over. Rob obliged and sat next to Oliver on the other side of him. Tony caught Rob up on what happened, but Rob pointed out something that Tony couldn't see. Oliver was scratching a small symbol on the wood of the seat.

Oliver had worn his nail down, but no damage was done to his finger. When the two men stopped Oliver from scratching, they could finally get a look at what he was trying to articulate.

'H'

'What the hell does this mean??' Rob asked.

'Fuck knows...' Tony replied.

They both looked at Joe who was still staring up into the night sky.

'Anything to add, Joe?' Rob queried.

'Ahh yes actually I do... Her name was Helen. That was the name of female in the couple from the UK.'

A sudden chill engulfed both Rob and Tony. But were quickly distracted by a rather loud bang from below deck.

'What the fuck was that!?' Rob shouted.

Tony had already shot out of his seat and was heading towards the stairs that led down into the boat. Joe stood up and made his way over too, with Rob quickly following up behind. Tony grabbed a torch from the side and descended slowly.

There was five rooms below deck. Two being bedrooms, one being the toilet, one for the kitchen and the last one being a lounge area. Tony edged his way along the tight hallway that separated all these bedrooms. He swung the door open to each and every room, but nothing looked out of place or broken. Joe and Rob each double checked, but everything was in place. The search was conclusive, nothing was found. They each shrugged their shoulders and made their way above deck.

Rob was the first to poke his head out and instantly noticed Oliver no longer in the seat they left him in. In a panic he ran onto the deck with Tony and Joe following close behind. Nowhere to be seen. That was until Rob peered around the side of the boat as there was a very small section at the front. As he edged his way around the corner he was met with an unnerving sight. Oliver was on his knees, head over the side of the ship and staring intently into the water. Joe and Tony had edged their way around, but on the other side. They were met with the same sight.

All three men approached Oliver with caution. Rob was closest, so he reached out and tapped Oliver on the shoulder.

'She's here. She's right here. She's been watching us' Oliver whispered in a sinister fashion.

Rob and the other two took a step back in complete bewilderment. While taking a step back, Oliver actually got up off his knees and stood with his back facing them. The three of them watched as Oliver turned around slowly. They noticed blood dripping from him, they just couldn't work out where.

That was until Joe almost screamed in fear when he saw what was carved into Oliver's arm. One by one they clocked what Joe had seen. Tony rushed towards the side of the boat and threw up. Rob winced and turned his head away.

'Helen'

While Tony was wiping his mouth and regaining his composure, he looked up and saw what he thought was an object gliding towards him. He couldn't make out what it was, but was getting bigger with each passing second. He jumped back, but while doing so he could swear he saw a face on the object before it dipped below the surface.

'We need to get the fuck out of here, Joe' Tony exclaimed.

Joe nodded in agreement. He backed away, still looking at Oliver stood there. Who was now in a pool of his own blood. Rob and Tony followed and made their way towards the steering wheel of the boat. This was on the upper deck and it overlooked the front. When they reached wheel, they all simultaneously peered over the edge. However, Oliver was not standing where they left him.

They all looked around them and couldn't see him anywhere. Tony then noticed a ripple in the water about 50 yards to the right of the boat. He refused to believe it had anything to do with Oliver.

Joe took autopilot off and built up some speed to take the three of them to the safety of the local town. They agreed to report everything they saw to the local authorities. In the five hours it took to reach the dock of the town, none of them had moved. None of them could sleep.

They each got off the boat and made their way along the boardwalk towards the town centre. The place was built in homage to Venice, with a majority of it free standing on the river itself. Where they wanted to be as far away from water as possible, they would unfortunately be surrounded by it for the time being.

It was 7am, but strangely still quiet. In fact, there was no one around. Upon closer inspection they realised the town had been deserted. An eerie reminder that not all is what it seems. They approached the former police station and noticed a letter on the door.

'RELOCATION. 50 MILES NORTH. FOLLOW THE ROAD, NOT THE RIVER. MAY GOD BE ON YOUR SIDE, ALWAYS'

'50 Miles!?' Rob complained.

'Our cars are back where we came from, what do we do?' Tony sighed.

While the three deliberated their next move. Tony glanced downwards in a bid to try and aid his thought process. But, his eyes widened with total fear as just between the cracks of the boardwalk he could see a ripple in an otherwise extremely peaceful river.

He knew something was following them. Was it her...?