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Lady of the Lake

Ellie thought the lake was hers, however another woman already claimed it.

By Michaella MarshallPublished 2 years ago 11 min read
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Lady of the Lake
Photo by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash

My favorite part of the summer has always been staying at my Uncle Max’s lake house. While he and his family took extravagant vacations to Bali or the Maldives, my family would move into his mansion of a house for two weeks to house sit for them and have a cost effective family vacation of our own.

It took me to the age of 15 to realize that it wasn’t really a family vacation that we were taking, rather it was just an act of service, but for me staying in that three story house was extravagant compared to my families modest cut and paste four bedroom suburban home. I still wouldn't change our trips to that miniature Lake Tahoe for anything.

My sister Anna, my brother Gabe and I would spend hours out on the lake, tipping over the canoe, sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose, regardless always resulting in fits of laughter and splashes. Eventually we would make it to the little man made island constructed of wooden slats and anchored to the bottom of the lake with metal chains. As kids we would play king of the hill, shoving each other into the water trying to be the last one standing. As we grew up, my siblings and I spent less time together on the water. Anna would more often be found sun bathing in a lawn chair scrolling through social media on her phone. Gabe hardly spent his time outside. He was too busy playing video games with his friends online. But for me, I continued to live on the water for the two weeks that we stayed there.

My days always followed the same routine. I would pack a backpack for myself full of food, beverages and a book and make my way down to the little dock at the shore of the lake. I would turn the canoe over throw my bag in, settle myself down into the boat and use an oar to help push myself away from the dock. I would paddle the 100 yards or so to the little wooden island and stay there all day. For those 14 days a year, I owned that lake.

As the sun would start to set and the sky turned into beautiful shades of oranges, then pinks and then purples, I would hear my mom's voice start to echo over the water to me.

"Ellie! Let's go! Dinner time!"

Reluctantly I would make my way back to the house. My mom would always tease me saying, "Ellie, your lake will be right where you left it when you wake up tomorrow."

I was always excited to know that I would be back out there the next day.

The last time we vacationed as a family at uncle Max’s was four years ago when I was 17. I remember the bickering of my parents loud and clear. I never thought they would end in divorce but just two weeks after our stay my parents gathered Anna, Gabe and myself into our own living room and broke the news to us that they were officially separating and on the way to divorce.

Since then I took charge of the house sitting. I think it was just too painful for my mom to take us kids back to that house every summer just to remember the good times we had as a complete family. I know that the last time we were all there together was the last act to salvage the family and it was anything but successful. I’m sure that’s all mom felt when she thought about going back.

This summer, after getting permission from Uncle Max and my mom, I invited my boyfriend to stay with me for my summer house sitting.

I was excited to have Levi stay with me. Excited both for the fact that he just turned 21 and could buy us booze and for the fact that I wouldn't be in complete isolation.

Once we arrived at the house we unpacked our bags, throwing them into the guest room, and then took a tour of property. I led the way, pointing out each room and all of the cool gadgets, but all of the stuff in the house meant nothing to me. I finally led us to the floor to ceiling windows at back of the house.

I loved those windows because of the view that they provided of the lake. It made you feel like you were close enough to the lake even though you were inside. I used to sit by those windows every evening after my mom made me come in for the day.

Soon enough, Levi fell right into place with my lake house routine. Wake up, pack my bag with snacks, a towel and a good book, turnover the canoe and finally paddle away to my little floating wooden island. He had no problem staying out in the water all day so that's what we did.

On our fourth day at the lake house, Levi and I found ourselves laying on our stomachs peering over the edge of the wooden island. We pointed out little schools of fish and occasionally an aquatic snail. One small fish kicked up just a enough muck to reveal a shiny object that reflected the sun back up to us.

Levi lowered himself into the crystal clear water and dug out the object. He surfaced clutching his new found treasure in his fist. Once he made his way back up onto the island he laid his hand out to reveal an old silver ring.

The ring was worn and algae had begun to grow and invade all of it's crooks and nannies. I figured I could try to clean it up later back at the house. I tucked the ring into one of the zipped pockets of my backpack and relaxed back onto my elbows, turning my face up to the sun. Nothing could be more perfect than this.

The next day the sky became swollen with dark clouds. We decided it wasn't smart to go out onto the water with the possibility of a storm rolling in. All day the sky just grew darker. No rays of sun were able to penetrate the clouds. We took the opportunity to have a movie marathon.

The day after that it began to rain. Heavy droplets fell from the sky. Levi and I situated ourselves in front of the large glass windows that overlooked the lake watching the rain hit the surface of the lake. Each drop sending a fit of ripples to spread out from it. I decided I could take the time that I couldn't be on my lake and clean the ring that we had found the last time we were on the water.

I had all of my supplies laid out on the kitchen counter, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls and a small flat head screwdriver to help scrape out all of the gunk. I worked hard to return the ring to some sort of former glory. After a while of polishing and scraping and rinsing and repeating, the ring finally began to sparkle all around. Inside the ring was an inscription that read 'forever my love'.

I showed off the ring to Levi.

"Have you tried putting it on yet?" He inquired.

I slipped the ring onto my left hand pointer finger. It fit perfectly.

The rain turned into a storm. Thunder shook the house. Levi and I sat at the window and watched the sky light up from the lightning. One particular strike knocked the power out and we found ourselves in complete darkness.

I clung to Levi's side as we searched together for candles to light. Soon enough we found ourselves back by the large windows now accompanied by candle light. With not many other options of what to do we directed our attention back to watching the rain hit the lake.

"Do you see that?" Levi asked standing up and walking closer to the window.

"Is that a woman?" I asked confused as to how she seemed to suddenly appear out on the dock.

"There's no boat, how did she get over here?" Levi questioned.

The woman began to come closer. It was not somebody that I recognized. The rain didn't faze her and seemed to not even touch her. The lady suddenly appeared only a few feet away from the glass. Her lifeless eyes stared into mine.

We both screamed and darted away from the window. Levi pulled his phone out and began to dial 9-1-1. He screamed out an expletive and slammed the phone down onto the kitchen island.

"It kept dropping my call! We should just get to the Jeep and leave." I nodded my head and turned to grab my essential belongings.

Before me stood the same lady that was outside moments prior. A shriek left my lips. Levi grabbed me by my shoulder and yelled for me to run. At the last second I reached my arm out and grabbed the small screwdriver that I had been using to clean my ring off of the kitchen island.

We ran out of the back door towards the lake. As we neared the water edge a bolt of lightning struck right in front of us. The thunder shook us to the ground. As we scrambled to stand back up the ghostly lady appeared in between us.

I found the screwdriver beside me and tightly gripped the rubber handle. I swung hard and with conviction as I watched the screwdriver pass right through the pale woman. I had no time to change the trajectory and felt as the tip of the screwdriver pierced through Levi's skin.

Fear struck me. First for the fact that this woman was seemingly beyond a human form, and second for seeing the pain I had just caused Levi.

Blood smeared onto my hand and began to pour out of Levi's leg. Levi gripped the handle of the screwdriver and yanked it out of his leg. I tried to apply pressure to his stab wound.

"Go!" Levi yelled at me while trying to tend to his wound. "She could care less about me, I think she wants you! Go now. Go get help!"

I stood, looking around me for the ghastly lady. I spotted the wooden dock and began to sprint for it. I could take the canoe and paddle to a nearby house that shared the lake.

As I reached the lake I looked around me. The lady was nowhere to be seen. I quickly untied the canoe from the dock and settled myself down into the boat using an oar to push away. Suddenly the water began to violently shake beneath me. The waves that were being created were unnatural.

I looked over the side of the boat and saw what looked like a hand with long boney fingers reaching up towards me. The canoe flipped over and I became face to face once again with the lady. It was that moment that I understood that she was not alive.

And then, without notice, I was being dragged deeper into the water. The light of the moon began to shrink the further down I sank, the water turning colder. I knew it was no use fighting back. The lady of the lake had her grip on me and she was not willing to let me go. Realizing this, I decided to accept it. This was my happy place, what a wonderful place to take my last breath. I suppose if I needed to go, at least I could be in this lake one last time.

I couldn't help but smile.

Suddenly I felt a hand wrap around my right hand and tug me upwards. I broke the surface of the water gasping for air and gagging up water.

"Ellie?" Levi patted my back helping me to cough up the rest of the water I had swallowed. "Ellie, we have to get out of here."

Part of Levi's shirt was torn and tied around his puncture wound. The wound I caused him. Blood was beginning to dot the fabric despite it's effort to stop the bleeding.

Levi pulled me to my feet at the shore of the lake and began to hobble towards the house, my hand still in his, me stumbling along slightly behind him. We made it inside the house and quickly grabbed whatever belongings we absolutely needed.

We didn't bother to turn off any of the lights. Levi ran through the house locking the doors that led outside and ushered me to the garage. We carelessly threw our bags into the back of the Jeep and fastened our seat belts.

The tires of the jeep kicked up dirt as Levi sped down the driveway. He took a sharp right onto the road that led us out of the neighborhood. From my window I could see the lake.

Out on the dock stood the lady of the lake. Her eyes locked with mine. My left hand instinctively searched my right pointer finger for the ring that we found just a few days prior. It was no longer there. Maybe that was what the lady of the lake wanted, maybe Levi and I finding that ring caused her distress. However there was one thing that was clear. This was no longer my lake, it was hers, and part of me was hers too.

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