Vengeful Waters

“Let’s Go!” Max exclaimed proudly to his friends

“No way!” Chloe stated

“Come on Chloe! You Scared?” Drew backed up Max

“You guys know what goes on down there! I’ll go if Abby goes.” Chloe snapped back

Hesitantly Abby looked at her friends and Chloe pulled on her arm.

“Alright, I’ll go. But if anything happens, we leave!” Abby agreed.

Drew and Max laughed

“Nothing is going to happen. It’s all urban legends. We’ll meet at the bridge at 10 pm. Don’t forget to bring your nightlight Haha!” Drew teased.

“Come on Max, let’s go get some pizza, see you girls later!” Drew poked fun at the girls before they rode off on their bikes

Chloe looked at her best friend Abby.

“Couldn’t you have said no?”

Abby shook her head

“Chloe, something happened there. There has to be a reason the legend is what it is. I want to find out.”

She looked at Abby with astoundment.

“Abby, I love you, you are my best friend. We talked about this. I know of your powers, but that place is dangerous. You’d be opening pandora’s box if you even tried.”

Abby sighed, “I know Chloe, but I can’t help but wonder what if it was you or I?”

Chloe hugged her best friend’s arm

“I don’t want anything to happen to you. You know she’s capable of it. There were already a few close calls.”

“I love you too Chloe, but I need to do this. I need to do this alone. I don’t think she’ll come to me if anyone else is there. I’ll do it only if she starts up tonight.”

“Okay, Abby. But if nothing happens, we leave. Don’t go asking for it.”

10 pm showed up and the two girls met Drew and Max at the bridge.

“Are you ready girls?”

Chloe nodded at Abby. They responded

“Ready”.

Drew decided we needed a refresher on the urban legend.

“20 years ago, Tyler Mass was dating Lila Young, the prettiest girl in school. They were the All-American couple. People even thought they’d go off to be married, picket fences, dogs, and kids. But were they ever wrong? See, Tyler was cheating on Lila with a girl he met in Leema when he went to visit his grandparents. Lila found out and was enraged. She met Tyler at the mill and told him it was over!

Tyler lost his cool and strangled his love, Lila. He then hid her in the basement where he found rope and cement blocks. He waited until sundown. He took his dad’s rowboat and put her in a bag. He loaded the bag, rope, and cement blocks onto the boat and rowed out to the middle of the lake.

He tied her up and dropped her into the water, where she was never seen again. Now they say Lila haunts this lake. Anyone who comes looking for her gets dragged into the lake, never to be seen again!”

He ended it with a laugh you’d hear around a campfire.

“You think you’re so funny, Drew! It’s not funny!” Chloe snapped

“Haha Come on Chloe, you don’t believe it do you? It’s just a story.” Max said with a laugh

The four came to the mill shore. A cold chill ran through their bones. Abby knew they weren’t alone. The boys were laughing and hitting each other. Doing what boys do.

Chloe on the arm of Abby for protection.

Drew yelled and threw a rock into the water. “Come on! Do something!”

“DREW! STOP!” Abby felt as if something was coming.

The mill door flew open then shut. Chloe jumped and said, “Come on guys, let’s go.”

Drew kicked the water, “Yeah, this is dumb let's go guys.”

Abby grabbed Chloe’s hand and told them she’d join them later.

“Be Careful” Chloe told her.

With a smirk from Abby, the other three left.

She looked across the dark water. She knelt down and placed her hand on the surface.

“Come to me.”

The surface began to shake and wind as strong as a tornado swept her off her feet and with a scream she was sucked into the water. She felt hands on her, claws holding her down, she felt as if she was sinking with no way out.

As her vision is going dark, she sees a large being with large shoulders, horns, and hands that grabbed at her. If she could scream underwater she would. This beast pulled me out and placed her on the shore of the lake.

I couldn’t catch my breath. I knelt on all fours. I look up and see a woman on the water screaming. In front of me was the monster I knew had to be from the depths of hell. At least he looked like it. He was facing the screaming woman. He said, “No. You can’t have her.”

He turned and faced me. He said, “It isn’t your time Abby. She can’t have you.”

With every ounce I had in me I asked,

“Who are you?”

He knelt down and grabbed my hand

“I am Azrael. Angel of Death. It isn’t your time. It wasn’t Lila’s time either, but it was taken from her. Now she is angry. I protect everyone who comes here that she tries to kill.

I know of your powers Abby. And I know what you were trying to do. You need protection to help Lila. All she wants is vengeance. No matter who it is.”

We stand together and face Lila.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her.

She raises her arms, and the water rises with her. She glides angrily across the water. Comes to the shore and stares me in my eyes. She grins and her teeth are filled with seaweed, holes, and worms. Her spirit looks as if it was decaying these 20 years as well.

Azrael is standing between us. Lila looks over his shoulder at me. Maggots crawl out of her hair.

She speaks, “This is what he did to me”

“All I did was love him. He took it from me. He killed my heart. He killed my soul. All that is left is his ugliness that he left me with. It was not my time. He made it my time!”

“I want to help you,” Abby told her

With a laugh and a snarl, Lila spit out a worm

“You can’t help me. It’s too late. Where were you 20 years ago when he had his hands around my neck, crushing my throat?! Where were you when he put me in a garbage bag like a piece of trash and threw me in the lake like I meant nothing to him?!”

Unafraid Abby replied,

“I’m here now”

Laughing away Abby’s sincerity, Lila’s mouth opened inhumanly wide and she screamed,

“How will you help me?! There’s nothing you can do little girl!”

Mid-sentence, Abby reached under Azrael’s arm and placed her hand where Lila’s heart was hiding. Glowing beams of light exploded out of the hurt spirit and shone brighter than the moon.

Abby’s voice was soft when she said,

“It’s time. Take her.”

Azrael laid his hands on Lila. He wiped away all the ugliness. Worms, holes, maggots. She became beautiful as she was once was. Azrael and her rose together toward the stars. The lake reached up out of a whirlpool, like a hand, and grabbed both of them.

Abby touched the lake and said, “Silence”. The water splashed back down and the two disappeared into the moon.

Chloe was standing in the trees. Abby gave her nod and grabbed her best friend’s hand. “Let’s go home.”