At the Mercy of Water

I was jerked awake as the minivan hit a pothole. Visions of my dream flooded back to me as I remembered the dark roots that reached towards me in the water, begging to drag me down.

As long as I could remember, the water had always been where I felt the most like myself. I had begged my mom to let me join the swimming team when I was a kid, only to quit a few weeks later because the chlorinated water of the olympic pool never felt as free as the ocean.

Water was the reason I had felt myself being sucked into a girls’ trip to my Aunt’s lake house off Lake Marianne. I fully expected the trip would be a complete flop because of the dramatic women in my family, yet mom had always told me to trust my instinct, and my gut was wrenching at the thought of not going to the lake house that summer.

I had been to the lake house once before when I was 10, a trip that had been cut short by my younger sister, Callie. During that trip, she had claimed to have constant nightmares about drowning in the lake and had refused to swim.

At the time, she just struck me as an annoyance. Even now, she was so scared of water she had pretended to be sick to avoid coming on the trip.

The lakehouse was nothing too out of the ordinary, especially in comparison to all the other log cabins we had passed down Blackberry Road.

“Expect the roof to leak a bit, girls,” Aunt Elsie said as we pulled our bags from the trunk. I was the first to grab my duffle bag and head towards the door.

A slight breeze traveled past my body, bringing in the smell of pine and lake water. I couldn’t see the lake around the house, but the thought of it being so close made my heart beat faster. My spirit begged for a glimpse.

I was reluctantly herded through the living space and mildew infested hall towards my room, but I hesitated by the large window at the back of the house that overlooked the dock and foggy green lake. Two turtle shells breached the water's surface a few yards from the shore.

As soon as my duffle bag hit the bed, I headed back into the hall, straight towards the backdoor.

Outside, the muggy heat stuck to my skin like a leech. While I tried to slow my steps, my heart bounded down the algae stained dock, begging to get as close to the water as possible. The dock wobbled under each step, causing ripples in the murky water beneath me. I sat down right at the edge of the dock and stared out onto the vast lake that was outlined by pine trees that were well over hundreds of years old.

Sweat beaded on my temples, so I reached my hands down into the water and splashed a cool handful onto my face. When I opened my eyes, I was staring straight into my reflection in the water. Small droplets from my nose and chin created ripples in my reflection. I stared at myself, entranced by the wild look in my eyes. One hand reached down to touch my reflection and instead was dunked in.

The water was refreshing around my wrist. I swirled my hands around in the water, but it wasn’t enough. I closed my eyes and dunked my hand down to the elbow, feeling the splintered wood of the dock dig into my knees. When I opened my eyes again, I was fully underwater with no air left in my lungs. The dark water swirled below me, and for a split second I thought I had seen those dark roots, rising up to grab me.

Looking around frantically, I found the light towards my feet. I dug towards the light and after what felt like the point of no return, my head breached the surface and I gasped as my lungs had just begun to burn. I was floating right off the side of the dock where I had apparently dove in.

I paddled through the dark water until I hit the sand, shaking from head to toe. The sunlight beamed down on me once again, and I felt myself getting warmer and extremely uncomfortable in my soaking wet tee and denim shorts. I stared out onto the lake again, squinting through the sunlight, noticing that the turtle’s shells were still poking out of the water.

“Hmph” a gruff voice huffed behind me. I jumped and spun around, startled by his sudden appearance, which I had not noticed as I swam to shore. The gray man wore very stained clothes and held a fishing rod in his large fist. I took a step back.

“Better watch yourself being alone in those waters,” the old man squinted at my dripping clothes. “Yer lucky I was over there fishing and saw you dive in or no one would have seen you go under. Wouldn’t want you ending up like that boy that drowned last summer.”

I hesitated, my eyes shifted between the trail back up to the house, and his calloused hands held tight around the fishing poles...red stains from gutted fish lining his jacket. Before I could respond, my aunt’s kind voice trilled from the back door.

“Melanie?” she called.

“‘G’morning Miss Holly,” The grey man called back.

My aunt saw us at the edge of the shore, recognizing my uncomfortable stance and calling me into the house, not acknowledging our neighbor.

“Stay away from Frank, sweetie. He’s not good company,” said my aunt as she ushered me through the door. I assured her I was not planning on befriending Frank.

“Melanie? How are you already soaking wet?! Where’s your bathing suit?” My mom asked as I made my way down the hall to my room.

That night, I was too awake to lay down in bed. Instead, I sat on the window sill, watching as dark shadows swam across the moonstruck water. I was dangerously curious about the lake. The way it had taken me under some sort of trance frightened me, but kept me fascinated still. I wanted to understand its power over me. Surely, I thought, it was just a figment of my imagination, a recreation of my dream…

When the shadows that paced the shore finally left, I realized how exhausted I was. Not only had my mom given me a hard time over getting my clothes wet, but the aunts seemed concerned, telling me that I needed to be with someone at all times while in the lake. I didn’t ask, but I assumed they were concerned about the boy who had drowned last year, the one Frank had mentioned. Something about the way they warned me about the lake made me believe there was something I wasn’t being told.

I woke up at 6 am, sweating from the dream that had turned into a nightmare. It was the same as last time, except this time the roots had grabbed my ankles and begun to pull me down. As soon as I was awake, I threw away the covers and went to the dock. The splintered wood bit into my bare feet.

Fog blanketed the edges of the green water. Where I stood, at the end of the dock, I could see the ripples in the water from fish that danced at the surface. Two shadows bobbed below me in the murky water beyond the dock. They reached out their hands to me, like children begging for help, so I jumped.

The great urge I felt to be near them, the pure desperation, was not a conscious thought, but my body felt pulled to the lake like how a mother misses her child.

When my eyes opened, we were floating a few feet apart. Their hands, thin yet elegant, were still reaching out to me. I glanced into their innocent white eyes and held their cold hands with mine.

“Breathe,” they said. When I shook my head, holding my breath still, the smaller one shook my hand with force and yelled, “BREATHE!”

I was shocked by how painful, yet natural it felt. Breathing the water was easier than any breath of fresh air. The thin boys took one look at me and swam away, going deeper into the lake, towards the center of the dark abyss.

“Wait!” I cried, begging my arms to take me to them. I paddled through the green foggy abyss.

I swam as quickly as my body could take me. The sunlight was starting to peak over the pine trees that lined the lake, striking through the water like bolts of lightning. I didn’t find the surface, instead, I swam to the center. Below me, the ground started to rise, and the vines started to reach towards me.

I swam faster, but only to realize that the vines weren’t coming towards me, but the ground was rising. I breached the surface to see an island before me, which had not been visible from the lake house.

The island was made of a thick pine forest with a few beaches scattered around. The two boys stood at the closest shore.

They stared at me in awe as I crawled up the sandy beach. Their nearly naked figures were more visible now, showing their sunken flesh and grey complexions. Their pale eyes seemed to have been drained of all life.

“There’s no way,” said the taller, older boy.

“Please,” I pleaded to them as the air stung my throat.

“They won’t ever believe us. They’re just going to kill her and leave us here to rot forever,” the smaller boy retorted. “Melanie, you have to run.”

“How do you know…” I coughed out the last bit of water from my lungs.

“I’m Oliver, this is Remy,” the tall boy said. He smiled kindly. My mind swirled, trying to understand what was happening. I stood up and walked toward them. Remy took a step back.

“Please just tell me what’s going on, I need to know why I feel so drawn to this place,” I begged. Remy sighed before opening up into a story that felt as though it had been told over a million times.

“When the world began, the four Gods worked together to create a part of the Earth. One created the Earth, one the sky, you get the idea. The God’s didn’t live in peace, in fact they fought over who deserved the most power. The God of Water created rivers to impede the soil and the God of Earth created plants to impede the oceans. A cursed child was born from their turmoil, a creature that was neither alive nor dead and was deceitful. He was found by the God of Earth and given the task to destroy the God of Water. So the creature did what it did best, and drowned the God. So, the creature was banished to this island where he has spent thousands of years trapping young souls who he thought may be the reincarnation of this God,” Remy said with tight fists.

“So the creatures,” Oliver said, “were cursed to suffer on the island until they were forgiven by the Gods.”

“Gods?” I shivered in my soaking wet pajamas as the wind started to pick up.

“The God that created water, specifically,” he said. His eyes avoided mine as I processed his words.

“And… you believe… that I’m that God?” Both Remy and Oliver nodded.

“Come with us,” Remy said, “We'll take you to the council.”

Remy walked into the woods, but Oliver tapped my shoulder with his cold hand, visibly concerned. “I want to warn you, the creatures who have been here the longest are the farthest from human. You can’t appeal to their emotions.”

“What makes you different?” I asked, noticing that he was still very emotional, especially compared to Remy.

“I have only been like this a year. I haven't completely given up, yet,” He looked sad.

“You were a human before…” Things were starting to fall into place. “What happened to you?”

“I was drowned, just like you were. I turned into a monster, meanwhile, you adapted. That's how we know you’re special.”

I was obviously struggling to comprehend. Oliver held my wrist with his cool hand and led me into the woods, promising things would make more sense soon.

I followed him through the overgrown woods until we came to a clearing at the center where several undead creatures stood around listening to Remy speak. I noticed very quickly that none of them were old, each of them were young adults or children. A few of the children, with their pale eyes, noticed us approaching from the forest.

“She started breathing under water,” Remy spoke to the oldest of the group who looked exhausted, “See, look! She’s still human,” Remy pointed at me, shifting everyone’s stares. I stood uncomfortably while nearly 20 pairs of pale undead eyes watched me.

The oldest of the group, a man with a tired soul and sunken flesh walked miserably towards me, leaving only a small space between us. “Prove to me that you are this God he claims you are.”

I grasped for words that weren’t there, stumbling over ums and apologies. The undead man chuckled sarcastically.

“You mean to tell me this timid child is our God reincarnate?” As he laughed, a few other children began to laugh as well.

“No, seriously,” Oliver spoke. “She doesn’t remember, but how else could she be immune to drowning?” He avoided the man’s eye contact as he was given a stern glare. Silently, he added, “She may be our last chance. You forget the prophecy.”

“I forget nothing,” The man grumbled, “I simply do not believe these games that we play will ever reap reward.”

“Then you risk all of our fates,” Remy said from the back with balled fists.

The man, whom I had assumed to be the original creation on this island, was now in a rage at the outlash he received.

“You have no fate! Not anymore! Now that you have constantly compromised this island with false hope, you must pay the price!” he paced through the crowd as he spoke, making some children look afraid while others seemed vengeful. He looked to Remy, then Oliver, “You exposed her to us. Kill her, or I will do it myself.”

Oliver grabbed my hand, tugging me towards the trees. I stood my ground long enough to watch as Remy’s cold and angry eyes gave up. He shook his head, denying the order. A gasp barely escaped my lips as I watched them swarm around him. Oliver spun me around and pulled me into the forest, where the only thing we could hear was his pained screams.

I felt my mind start to drift away as I listened to those screams, I could still feel Oliver’s cold hand tugging mine through the pine needles.

My vision blurred as memories of the past overwhelmed me. In a flash I watched as water flowed from my fingertips, creating the oceans. I observed my brother, the God of Earth as he grew jealous and pushed himself to create more to overcome my creations. I created the rivers to keep an eye on his armies, and he created the seaweed, roots, and algae to do the same. Just as it had seemed we had come to a peaceful understanding, and the battle seemingly drew to a close, I noticed that my brother was still not satisfied. I created the siren, a being of water and air to guard my land, but he was quickly corrupted.

My own creation was turned against me, believing anything my brother told him. He tricked me, drowned me in my own creation and tied my body down with the roots my brother planted.

As the visions faded into my memory, the world around me exploded in a shockwave, knocking each of the sirens off their feet. I stood, triumphant, knowing only two of those creatures deserved redemption, yet one of them was now gone.

Oliver barely managed to get to his feet, then turned to glance at me and grab my hand once again. His cheeks glowed a light pink.

The battle cries of the sirens echoed through the trees behind us, forcing us to sprint towards the shore.

We jumped straight into the lake, begging our arms to carry us faster with each stride. As we floated through the blue water, I used my last ounce of strength to curse those beings to never touch the water again, so they could never drown another innocent soul.

I followed Oliver through that clear water until his lungs couldn't breathe the water anymore and he breached the surface. His pale back now looked pink in the sunlight.

When we reached the shore, I noticed the blue police lights on the other side of the log cabin. The island was not visible anymore, invisible and damned to the real world.

We stood on the shore, staring out into the lake, dripping wet into the sand. Oliver’s warm hand squeezed mine, as if to say thank you. As the sun had just begun to set over the blue lake, I could see the golden brown hues that reflected in his eyes.

I thought about Remy, and his unfortunate fate, but as if reading my mind, Oliver said, “There was no world out there for him.”