The Monster of The Lake

The windows rattled violently from the howling wind as bloated drops of rain pounded against the panes. The lights flickered inside the little diner and lightning danced across the turbulent black waters of the lake outside. The sight captured Via’s attention, distracting her from her task. Micah didn't seem to notice she'd stopped mid-pour; he also had his eyes turned to watch the raging storm.

“Micah, you still out at Via’s Diner?” A crackly voice came over Micah’s radio bringing both out of their trance.

“Yeah, I'm just finishing up,” Micah smiled at the petite woman filling his coffee cup.

“There’s a slide in the canyon blocking the entire road and flooding out by Tina's place. Harv’s got the flood, but they need you in the canyon.”

Via pushed open the door to the kitchen to reveal Tina elbow deep in a sink of dishes, singing off-key.

“Tina,” Via called out. “There's flooding out by your place, you better head home.”

“Again? ‘Let's buy a lakefront property, it'll be wonderful.’ Damn that Pete and his crazy notions. Then he can't find work within a hundred miles during the offseason so I'm left here half the year alone with the kids and our flooded house.” Tina grumbled. “You sure you'll be okay if I leave?”

“Well, Micah is difficult, but I think he's going to be headed out himself. I'll probably finish cleaning up and then close down early.”

Micah chuckled as Tina ran out the back, “You ever gonna tell her you only stay open in the offseason so she can work?”

Via feigned incredulity, her lips turning into a pout, though her eyes still sparkled, “That's not true. I stay open for my regulars, like you, as well.”

Micah stood up, “Yeah, but you did fine running this place alone before she moved here.” He winked. “Can I get a cup for the road? It's gonna be a long night. You should close up and head out soon, too. A storm like this is bound to wake the Monster.”

Via laughed as she handed him the paper cup, but this time, something else flickered in those brown eyes, “You and your silly superstitions.”

Soon, Via found herself alone in the diner with only the howling wind and a sink full of dishes to keep her company. She had just about finished washing up when the jingle of the bell on the front door let her know she no longer was alone.

---

Three young women, dripping wet and slick with dark, sludgy mud up to their thighs, huddled close together in the entry, looking haggard and panicked. They looked to be a few years younger than Via, most likely students from the nearby University. She greeted them with her signature smile, the one that instantly turned strangers into fast friends. They collectively sighed in relief.

“I’m so glad you are open! It seems everything in this town is shut down. Our cabin’s flooded, all our food got drenched, and we are starving.” The tallest woman, with chestnut hair turned her pleading green eyes on Via.

Next to her, a woman with short cropped reddish curls shook her head in exasperation, “This was supposed to be a break from stress. I'm so over this crappy year.”

“You poor things,” Via grabbed a bundle of bar towels and rushed over to them. “Here, use these to dry off a little and, well,” she looked around the empty room, “sit wherever you like.”

“Lilly, let’s just go back home,” The last girl implored. Goosebumps prickled across her bronze skin and her teeth chattered violently.

The first girl wrung the water from her hair with a bar towel, “Okay, Baruja. Let’s just get some food and warm up for a bit. We’ll be on our way home in an hour, I promise.”

Via shook her head slightly, “If you’re headed back to the University, I’m afraid you aren’t going to get far. There was a mudslide up the canyon. The road’s completely blocked. Nothing’s getting through there tonight.”

Lilly turned to her friends, “I’m so sorry. I’ve never been here this early in the Spring before. I didn’t think we’d have so many problems. I knew Grandpa sometimes gets a little flooding in his cabin, but my mom always made it sound like you just need to put down a few towels.”

“You knew the cabin floods?” the ginger’s eyes suddenly flared with anger to match her hair color. “Didn’t you think to check the forecast? You promised this weekend would be chill. Now all our stuff is soaking wet, covered in mud, and for some reason smells like old fish! Where are we going to sleep, Lilly?”

Lilly started to look panicked, desperation to fix the problem swam through her eyes.

“Dani, you are not being fair. Lilly just wanted to give us a weekend away. It’s not her fault the place flooded. She didn’t cause the slide in the canyon”

Dani walked to the closest booth and sunk onto the soft cushion, tears mingled with the raindrops sliding over her cheeks as she buried her face in her hands. “You’re right. I am so tired of everything going wrong. I was supposed to be graduating and getting married in two months. But I failed all those classes last semester after Mel took off so I can’t graduate and yesterday I found out I lost my spot in grad school.”

“Oh Dani!” Lilly immediately rushed to her friend’s side and wrapped her arms around her. “You didn’t tell us that. I’m so sorry this weekend has gone so wrong. You and Baruja have both had such a hard year, I thought getting away would help you both forget. I didn’t mean to make things worse.”

Baruja leaned over the back of the booth and wrapped her arms around both of them, “On the bright side, we are going to have quite the story to tell when we finally do get back. We’ll be laughing about this by Monday, I’m sure. We just need to find a place to stay.”

“Oh!” Via’s eyes got wide and, if possible, her smile got even bigger. “I can help with that too! I own the inn next door. We’re closed for the season, but I have plenty of space.”

---

The friends settled down to a meal and chatted comfortably with Via like old pals, confiding all the drama they’d endured this last year at school. By the time they had finished eating, everyone seemed to be in much better spirits, even laughing over the current circumstances.

Electricity cracked across the sky again and the diner shook from the roll of thunder that followed. The lights flickered inside a few times and then everything went black. One of the girls whimpered but Via quickly produced a flashlight.

Another streak lit up the lake and Baruja gasped, “Did you see that? There’s something on the water!”

Lilly laughed, “Oh, it's probably just the Lake Monster.”

Dani giggled, but Via’s jaw tightened slightly.

“What is the Lake Monster?” Baruja bit her lip nervously.

“It’s like Nessie, but here instead of Loch Ness,” Dani shrugged.

Lilly added, “Actually, my Grandpa swears it's the same beast.”

Via nodded, “Oh, yeah, all the old timers up here will tell you about the underground tunnels that connect all the deep lakes.”

Dani rolled her eyes, “That doesn’t even make any sense. Scotland is on the other side of the world.”

“Actually, it makes perfect sense if you think about it,” Lilly’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. “There are hundreds of stories of these beasts but no bones have been found so all these sightings are dismissed as crazy hoaxes. But what if these monsters are like salmon and return to where they were born to breed and die. Maybe all the monsters are born and die in the underwater tunnels. If we haven’t found these caves then obviously we would never find the remains. It also explains why sightings are so sporadic. If the monsters can swim between different lakes they wouldn’t be in the same place often enough to be seen regularly.”

Dani shook her head, “That’s crazy, Lilly.”

Baruja, on the other hand, still had a haunted look in her eyes as she stared into the darkness outside. When the lightning flashed again, she pointed, “See it? There is something out there.”

For the first time the smile on Via’s face faltered. “I do see it. I’m not usually superstitious, but...every time there is a monster sighting something terrible happens. It’s a bad omen.”

Dani groaned, “It is not the monster. There IS NO MONSTER!”

Again a bolt lit up the lake and they all saw it this time. In the middle of the water, a long dark shadow glided rapidly toward them.

“What is that?” Dani jumped up.

Via whispered, “It is the monster.”

The word hung in the air like a death sentence.

Then Lilly jumped up, “We need to get a picture!”

“No!” Via, who usually spoke so softly, shouted. “We need to get out of here. I’m telling you something terrible is going to happen.”

“I think she’s right,” Baruja nodded vigorously. “Whatever it is can’t be good and it's headed toward us.”

Via had already run to the front door and snapped the locks into place then headed into the kitchen to lock the back door. As she ran, she shouted to the others, “The basement of the diner connects to the inn. We can go through there so we don’t have to go outside. The stairs are back here.”

The friends followed Via into the kitchen and down the narrow stairway into the basement. Only Baruja noticed Via slip a knife into her apron pocket. Considering the monster outside, she didn’t question it. Via led them through an unfinished root cellar, really more like a cave, then opened a small door to tunnel carved through the stone and dirt. Dani peered through the opening and shook her head.

“No, I’m claustrophobic. I am not going in there. Especially not in the dark.”

Via handed her a flashlight. “I don’t have time to argue with you. It’s not a very long tunnel. We’ll be safe at my house before you know it.”

Reluctantly, Dani flipped on the flashlight and stepped through the door. The other three women followed. Via stopped to lock the door and a loud crash from above shook the tunnel raining loose dirt over them.

“What was that?” Baruja whimpered.

“I don’t think I want to find out,” Lilly’s voice shook. “Lets get out of here.”

“Go, run straight ahead. It’s not very far.” Via ordered from the back of the group.

Dani started running with the flashlight, determined to get out of the dank tunnel as quickly as she could. Then her flashlight went out plunging them into total darkness. She came to a screeching halt and uttered a few choice words as Lilly and Baruja both slammed into her and all three tumbled in a tangle of arms and legs. The flashlight slipped from Dani’s hand and rolled away.

“Via do you have another light?” Dani called into the darkness. “Via?”

Only silence answered her.

“What do we do?” Baruja whispered.

“Do you think she got hurt?” Lilly asked. “Maybe we should go back and find her “

“I think we should keep going forward. We'll get to her house, find another flashlight, then come back.” Dani urged.

“You're right, we can't really do anything in the dark.”

With one hand sliding along the rock wall, they slowly crept forward, darkness pressing in on all sides.

“Stop. What's that sound?” Lilly whispered.

The gentle, repetitive slap echoing against the rock walls sounded so out of place after the silence of the tunnel and the thundering of the storm upstairs.

“Waves!” Baruja exclaimed. “That's waves hitting against the rock walls.”

“Wait,” Dani’s voice quivered, "is it coming from the other side of the wall or up ahead?”

“I think we need to go back!” Lilly’s words felt heavy with warning. “Maybe the flooding got to the tunnel.”

A low, guttural rumble shook the ground.

“That wasn’t thunder.” Dani swallowed hard. “That sounded like an animal.”

A ghostly whisper came from behind them, “Terrible things happen when there’s a monster sighting.”

At the back of the group, Baruja felt something cold tear into the center of her back at the base of her neck. Too late, she remembered the knife.

“I don't think we should have trusted Via,” she thought as her legs went numb and she crumpled to the ground.

“Baruja?” Lilly crouched down reaching for her friend, groping blindly in the dark. “Dani, where’s Baruja? I can’t find her.”

Dani crouched next to Lilly, feeling into the darkness but there was nothing to be found. Baruja had vanished. “We’ve got to find a way out of here.” Dani bit back tears. “What do you think happened to Via and Baruja? The monster can’t be real, can it?”

“I don’t know. But they were behind me and now they’re gone. We’re going to have to go forward, even if the tunnel’s been flooded.” Lilly’s voice cracked with panic.

They inched forward, holding hands and sobbing quietly. After a short distance, the walls began to widen and a cool breeze rustled through their hair. The rhythmic slapping of the waves echoed around them and water splashed over their toes.

“I don’t think this is a flood,” Dani swallowed hard. “This is an underground part of the lake.”

Lilly’s breathing was heavy as she tried to keep her panic at bay. “Dani, what if the tunnel theory is right?”

As if in answer, several feet away, two glowing yellow slits appeared. They gave just enough light for the two girls to make out the dark shadow looming before them. It slid toward them with eerie grace and speed.

The ghostly whisper again came from behind them, “She only comes out when she’s hungry.”

Before either could react, a cold sharp blade severed first Dani's, and then Lilly’s, spine and they dropped to the ground.

As the light from the creature's eyes neared, Lilly could see Baruja’s crumpled body had been dragged to the edge of the water. Her eyes were full of terror as the snakelike head lowered but she made no sound.

Lilly tried to scream, but her body wouldn’t respond. She could not move or shout. She could not even shut her eyes. All she could do was watch as first Baruja and then Dani disappeared into the black maw of the beast before, finally, everything went blissfully black.

---

The storm had raged for three days, flooding dozens of homes and causing multiple slides in the canyon. Micah couldn’t remember when he had last slept or ate as he finally headed back to the diner. An unfamiliar car in the lot caught his eye as he walked past. He entered the diner to be greeted by Via’s usual beaming smile with her giant, warm, brown eyes.

“You look exhausted, Micah. Are you just finishing up from the mudslides?”

“Yeah, it’s been a real mess. But it looks like your place weathered the storm just fine.” Micah scanned the dining room. A couple of townspeople sat at their favorite tables, all looking a little relieved to be back to their usual routine. But he didn’t see anyone unfamiliar. “Any idea where that car out front came from?”

Via shook her head. “No, I left here just after you and Tina the other night and waited out the storm at home. I came in this morning and that car was in the parking lot. But I haven't seen anyone.”

Micah rubbed his neck and grimaced, “Ah man, there was a report of three missing University students. I’m pretty sure that’s their car.”

Via’s eyes grew wide and she gasped, “Oh no! I hope nothing terrible happened to them!”

“I better call it in,” Micah pulled out his radio.

Hours later, still wishing for sleep, Micah returned to the diner looking grim.

“It doesn’t look good. It’s hard to say for sure what happened. But, the railing along the trail at the top of the cliff is gone, looks like a slide took it out, and we found one of the girl’s phones on a lower ledge. Our best guess is they couldn't see the edge in the dark and fell into the water. We’ll drag the lake, but that storm might have taken their bodies anywhere.”

“Oh Micah!” Via’s eyes filled with tears. “They probably came here to get out of the storm. If only I had been open.”

Micah put his arms around her. “It’s not your fault Via. You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

Via cried into Micah’s shirt for several minutes before leaving to clean up in the bathroom. Tina walked over to Micah, shaking her head sadly.

“You know that poor girl is never going to forgive herself for this. She has such a heart of gold, she wants to save the world,” Micah sighed.

“Oh, I know,” Tina smiled. “I think she only keeps this place open in the offseason so I have a place to work.”

Micah chuckled, “You may be right about that.” Then he sighed. “But it is a real shame she wasn’t here when those girls came. If they met Via, they might still be alive.”

---

Alone in the bathroom, Via wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked at her cold reflection in the mirror. She imagined what a normal person would feel right now and hoped she had played her part well.

---

Author's Note: The inspiration for this tale comes from a local legend you can read about in this ancient article from 2003.