The Marina

The Marina; a beautiful and serene oasis in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. Forget all of the tourist destinations recommended by Google, this is where you wanted to be. I was extremely lucky to be here every single day as I was the manager of The Marina.

It was not a busy place; I didn't understand why. It was pure heaven featuring a swimming beach, boat docks, water sports rentals, hiking trails and picnic areas; it was absolutely perfect. So, where was everyone? Did they know something that I didn't know? I hardly questioned the lack of crowds though as the calm made my job peaceful and easy; that is until the second body was discovered.

Sam Roberts was his name. He was a middle aged man on vacation with his family. Their original destination for the day was Mount Rushmore, however upon driving by The Marina, his wife begged him to stop. That is what she told me when they came up to the counter in The Marina; the beauty was too much to just drive by!

Her name was Linda, she was Sams wife of 15 years and together, they had two teen boys; Ben and Will. They also had a huge, furry tricolor Bernese Mountain Dog named Toast.

"She is so cute!" I squealed as I knelt down for wet puppy kisses. "Hi, Toast! How did you get that name?" I continued in the universal 'baby talk' tone humans use on puppies and babies alike.

"Ben! Tell her the story, it melts this mamas heart every time!" Linda smiled. The younger of the boys, Ben, began the story: "Well, when I was six years old, we adopted a Berner (shortened word as opposed to saying Bernese Mountain Dog all the time!) from a friend. The first thing I said when I saw him was that he looked like Toast; sometimes it's black (if you burn it), it's supposed to be brown and the white is the butter on top. Mom gushed and said that she loved the name and the breed so much that she will continue the blood line, keep a pup and name it Toast every time."

"Awe, that is adorable!" I gushed.

"I know!" Linda's high pitched tone matched my own.

"So, Lisa" Sam began, "what is the story here? This is a beautiful place; where is everyone?"

"Honestly, sir, I'm not sure. But, I can tell you that they sure are missing out!" I replied.

"Yeah, this place is pretty sick" Will exclaimed.

"Honey, let's go down to the beach for awhile!" Linda bargained with her somewhat irritated husband.

"Sweetheart, we don't even have our suits."

"Ah, come on Dad, it's not like you haven't gone skinny dipping before!" chuckled Will. "I'm totally kidding," he added as he glanced at me.

"It'll be fun, Dad" added Ben. "We'll just go in our boxers; it's just like suits anyway."

Sam was a little hesitant, but he agreed with his family. They purchased some snacks, drinks, towels and sandals from me and headed down to the beach. None of us could have foreseen that they were on track to having the worst day of their lives.

"Call 911! Please! Help!"

The horrific and chilling cries were coming from the beach. Phone in hand, I raced towards it. Looking ahead, the beach rising into view, I could make out Ben and Will diving and resurfacing in the water as if they were searching for something. Linda was on the beach; still as a statue, she was in a trance-like state. Toast was pacing back and forth along the shore letting out soft but torturous whines. Getting closer, I finally realized that Will and Ben were in fact looking for something; their Dad. Sam was no where to be seen.

The search and rescue team worked tirelessly for three consecutive days and nights before Sams remains were discovered; in the woods on the North side of the lake. The official story was that Sam had been eaten by something. Ben and I didn't buy that; it just didn't add up.

The second victim, Caleb, met a similar fate. Out boating with his friends, he never surfaced after falling off of his tube. He was twenty two years old with a pregnant fiance at home. Enough was enough. Ben and I were going to end this one way or another; Will returned home with Linda and Toast while Ben stayed behind to help me.

"Where do we start?" He asked.

"We start with what we know," I responded as I lay out all evidence we had; which was simply reports from newspapers and detectives.

"We know that something sinister and cruel is happening to innocent people out on that lake!" Bens nerves were taking over his sweet, laid back demeanor; disguising them under tense and anxious fidgeting.

"Yes," I cautiously continue, "but their remains are not found in the water; they're found in the North woods."

"So? Are we looking for some 'undiscovered remains' or are we trying to find the creature? It hunts in the water; we need to get out on that lake and do something!" His fear and panic began coming out as anger now.

"What are you suggesting, Ben? That we go swimming as bait? We don't know what we're up against, we would just be killed like the others!"

Ben let out an aggravated scream while simultaneously punching a hole through the wall of the 'temporarily closed due to odd happenings' Marina door. Feeling hopeless, I sit at the counter, cross my arms and flop my head down until my forehead rests on my arms.

"Bait?" I say out loud to myself. "Bait! Maybe we can bait whatever it is out of the water?" I direct at Ben in a 'somewhat rhetorical, somewhat seeking an answer' question.

"You mean like how they use goats as bait for the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park? That doesn't work out well for the humans."

"Do you have another idea?" I ask as I fumble through the tackle box under the counter. I find the biggest fish hook in the box and slap it down.

"I don't have another idea at the moment, but surely we can think of something else!" Ben stated with a worried and somewhat confused expression on his face.

"We'll use squirrels" I continue as I rig up our biggest fishing poles, "we'll use squirrels as bait. This will work! It has to."

"Alright," he hesitantly agreed, "Alright. We'll do it."

We loaded our poles and supplies on to one of the rental pontoons; then we went into the West woods and hunted a few squirrels. By the time we had enough squirrels that we were satisfied, night fell. We were unsure about beginning our venture in the dark, so we decided to wait until morning. Leaving our supplies on the pontoon, we returned to the Marina, walked up the steps to the rental apartment above and went to sleep for the night.

Dawn was approaching as we were walking down to the docks; it was a beautiful palette of warm colors. Upon boarding the boat, I was beginning to feel weird. I couldn't quite pinpoint the emotion, but it was not a good one. Ben untied the ropes from the dock, I shifted into reverse and we set off into the water.

We were out there for almost nine hours before anything happened, and all that had happened was something getting away with our squirrels; we currently had our last squirrel in the water. It was mid-day, hot and a little boring by now. I was beginning to forget why we were out there; that is until Ben was pulled overboard.

It was so sudden and so intense; I had never experienced such a drastic change in emotion that quickly. As soon as I realized what just happened, I got up, grabbed my underwater flashlight and dressed my self in my scuba gear as fast as I could. Standing on the edge of the pontoon, I took a deep breath and jumped in.

I never expected my High School swim team days to pay off, but here I am; utilizing what I learned in High School in real life just like everyone said I would. Granted they were probably referring to math or science skills, but hey, it's something.

With my light bright ahead, I stayed along the bottom of the lake. The underwater world is fascinating, mysterious and dangerous. I saw so many things down there; garbage, sea life and 'ah, shit I dropped it' belongings. But, the most fascinating was the tunnel, an actual tunnel carved right there into the side of the mountain that over looked the North side of the lake.

As I neared the tunnel, I noticed a small owl figurine on the lake floor. It had aqua green jewels for eyes; I don't know why, but I put it in my pocket. Entering the tunnel was like taking an ice bath after working out; because no sunlight ever hits that water, it was cold! As I swam through the tunnel, I could see sunlight appearing in the distance. Growing larger with every stroke, I kept going and hoping that I would find Ben alive.

As I reached the sunlight, the tunnel turned up; making an L shape. I swam up and I surfaced above the water. I removed my mask and scanned the room as I bobbed there in the water. I could see everything, except, I couldn't see anything. Not Ben. Not whatever took him. Just dirt walls going straight up and out into the North woods. Just then, I noticed a ledge sticking out of the dirt wall. As I pulled myself up onto it, I saw him; Ben was unconscious on the ledge right in front of me.

"Ben!" I was finally up and I crawled over to him. He had a pulse, but he was not breathing; I began CPR.

1,2,3 breathe!

1,2,3 breathe!

"Come on Ben!" I plead.

1,2....

Ben let out a distressed cough.

"Ben! Ben, look at me!" I say as he coughs out the water that consumed his lungs. I grab his face with my hands and his eyes meet mine.

"Ben! You're alright!" I sob as I wrap him in a hug. We stayed that way only for a moment. Remembering our situation, I stand up and look around again. I still see absolutely nothing besides the tunnel I came in from and the tunnel that goes up into the sky.

"What?" I whispered out loud to myself. "This tunnel leads to water, this one to air. What could possibly both swim and fly?"

My scanning eyes landed back on Ben; I wish they hadn't. I had never seen such terror on ones face before.