The Witch Of Foggy Bottom Lake....Part 1

Day 1

The day was beautiful, mostly because it was early fall, and the trees seemed to dance carelessly in the wind, their limbs heavy with foliage and full of color. The drive from Atlanta had been long, however the view up the mountain around the lake was breathtaking, and had been well worth the wait.

"Well....What do you guys think???" Gary Thorton asked his wife and son, already knowing the answer. He could clearly see that both of them were quite captivated by the view. It was a good sign.

To begin with, he had done some heavy sweet talking and sucking up, to convince both of them that this move would be worth the upheaval to all of their lives.

"It's as stunning as you said Gar.....It's going to get cold up here come winter though." Kathleen said, staring intently out the passengers side window.

"I know, but wait until you see the fireplace." Gary replied, smiling just a little.

"You think we will get snowed in dad??" His son, Kenny asked. The boy loved the snow and cold weather, which really was a very rare occurrence back in Buckhead.

"I can about guarantee it buddy" Gary shot back, his smile growing a little larger. This was going to work out.... it had too.

Gary W. Thorton was a successful writer. His first three books had soared to the bestseller list, two had been made into to award winning movies. Telling ordinary stories about everyday regular people, had made him and his family rich. However the stress of repeating that feat a fourth time had started to get to him. There were just too many distractions in the city, and he had developed a mild case of writers block. The move would be good for him, it would be good for all of them.

"Well damn it, we finally made it" Gary announced as he turned onto the long dirt and rock driveway that led to their new home. Scout, the golden retriever let out a quick yelp of approval. The four hour drive from Atlanta to the mountains of North Carolina had been tough on them all.

The driveway wound slowly down the mountain side for nearly a mile through the late September woods, the leaves on the trees were already turning from green to yellow and red. Finally.... the house appeared, one of only two in Cassity Cove as Gary understood it. The relator had said the other house had been empty for years, so they would have the cove to themselves, which made it perfect. It was Kathleen's and Kenny's first time seeing the new place up close and in person, neither were disappointed at first sight. Everybody eagerly got out the car and stretched their legs, the air was cool and crisp, swirling with the promise of a new start.

" Come on Scout, lets go check out the lake." Kenny said, already running towards the back of the house, Scout nipping closely at his heels.

"Don't get too close to the water!!" Kathleen called out to her excited son.

The house was big, but not extravagant. The outside exterior was a mix of rock and wood siding, with Spanish tiles on the roof. Kathleen really liked the cedar wrap around porch, it stretched around both sides of the house to form a huge deck in the back. It had been one of the main selling points as far as she was concerned. The house sat about a thousand feet from the lake and she liked that as well. Of course there was a boathouse and a dock, and that was okay too, there was already talk of a new boat come summer.

The interior of the house was cozy, but modest compared to what their home had been in Buckhead. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs. There was a fourth bedroom downstairs that would become Gary's study, the place where he would make the magic happen for his new book. The living room was spacious and right there in the middle of the room was a giant stone hearth and fire place with a beautiful oak mantel.....Even though the house had central heating and air, Kathleen could not wait to use that fireplace.

Gary and Kathleen walked into the kitchen and the smell hit them both at once. "Oh my god, what the hell is that???" Kathleen cried out nearly gagging, as they both looked around the kitchen, expecting to see some poor dead animal laying somewhere in the floor. Gary walked over to the basement door, it was standing ajar just a little bit. "What ever it is.... is coming from down there." he said, sniffing as he walked..

"Well....what are you waiting on, get on down there and have a look."

"Me..." Gary mockingly said, smiling playfully at his wife. "Don't you want to come too??"

"Go Gary" Kathleen said, pushing her husband lightly.

"All right....I'm going" he said as he started down the basement steps. The basement was completely open and unfinished, there were several windows on the bottom floor, so there was plenty of light to see by. Gary stepped down on to the concrete slab and then stopped right there dead in his tracks. His mind could not immediately begin to process what it was his eye's were seeing.

There in the middle of the basement, tied with a rope from a light fixture, hanging by it's hind legs over a chalk drawn pentagram was a large orange tabby cat. It's throat had been cut and its blood was splattered all over the concrete floor. Maggots were quietly squirming around where it's eyes had been.

Gary ran over to the basement door, unlocked it and stepped outside..... then quickly lost what was left of his breakfast. Holy shit he thought, who could have done such a thing. Gary Thorton was not in the habit of lying to his wife or son for that matter, however there was no way either could ever know about the dead thing hanging in the basement, it would be a quick end to their promising new start if Kathleen found out. He was suddenly aware that his ten year old son and his dog were staring at him from no more than a few feet away." You okay Dad???"

After Gary had started down the basement step's, Kathleen had went around the kitchen opening all the windows, hoping to air the room out. She then opened the sliding glass doors and stepped out onto her beautiful new deck. She walked over to the railing and looked out across the back yard towards the lake, a feeling of happiness and content apparent on her face.... Then she noticed Kenny looking bewildered, but intently at something underneath the deck..... "What are you looking at son?"

"Dad just puked his guts out" Kenny said.

Oh shit, she thought: " You okay down there Gar?"

"Well...I am now." Gary answered. "There's a dead Raccoon down in the basement. I'm gonna get a shovel and some garbage bags from the boat house and bury it in the woods. Why don't you and Kenny start unloading the car....Kenny go help your Mom." Gary said, as he started down the hill towards the boathouse.

Kenny really wanted to see the dead raccoon, but did as he was told and went to help his mother. Besides, there wasn't that much to unload. Just a couple of air mattresses, a few clothes, a small grill and a few groceries . Most of their furniture and other worldly belongings were on a moving truck that was supposed to arrive sometimes tomorrow.

Gary opened the boathouse door and stepped inside. It was just as he had remembered it when he had first come to look at the house three months ago.... dark and full of spider webs. Behind the door were several worn yard tools including a shovel, which he took along with an old pair of hedge pruning shears and a large push broom. Along the back wall there were several shelves with various cleaning supplies. He grabbed a large trash bag and a small bottle of bleach and started back up the hill towards the house.

Gary used the the old pruning shears to cut the rope where it was tied to the light fixture. The dead cat fell to the concrete floor with a sickening thud... maggots were thrown all across the floor... Gary started to gag again. He opened the garbage bag and used the shovel to scoop the cat up off the floor and put it in the bag, he then swept up the maggots lying in the floor and put them in the bag too before tying it shut and setting it outside in the back yard. Gary then went back inside and poured half the bottle of bleach onto the concrete floor where the blood and pentagram was drawn and began scrubbing it with the push broom. The dried blood came up pretty easily, however no matter how hard he scrubbed, he could still clearly see the white outline of the pentagram, and that was a problem. Damn Kids he thought.

In his mind he had already come to the conclusion that it had been teenagers who had killed the poor cat.... who else would have done some crazy ass shit like that but crazy ass teenagers. There was an old wool rug propped in the corner, he finally quit scrubbing and went and got the rug and unrolled it across the pentagram, it covered it nicely. Satisfied, Gary took the cat into the woods and buried it.

Later that evening, just after dusk..... The Thorton family were all together on their new back deck cooking hamburgers on the small grill. They were all shocked and a little taken aback when out of no where, a thick fog began to creep up from the lake. Within a matter of minutes it had consumed the entire deck in a veil of eerie whiteness, making it hard for Gary, Kathleen, and Kenny to even see each other.

"Well I guess we know where the lake gets it's name from now...." Kathleen said.

" It's creepy, I don't like it Mom, it's so thick" Kenny said, moving closer to his mothers side. Scout, sensing Kenny's fear walked over and gently licked his hand, just to let him know that he did not care for the fog either.

"It's just water vapor son, it's a natural occurrence here in the mountains, nothing to be scared of. Besides....the burgers are done, and we can go inside and eat." Gary said as he flipped the last of the burgers onto a plate.

Still later that evening.....

As Garry Thorton made love to his wife for the very first time in their new home on an air mattress, Scout the dog was awakened by a strange noise coming from some where down stairs as he slept with Kenny on their own air mattress two rooms down. His ears perked up as he listened intently, and then heard the sound again... Tap....Tap....Tap...

Slowly, Scout got up, yawned widely and then walked out into the upstairs hallway. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. Tap....Tap....Tap... This time the dog was sure the weird sound was coming from somewhere downstairs. He made his way down the steps through the living room and into the kitchen.... his head down as he slowly walked over to the sliding glass doors that led out to the back deck. The deck light had been left on, but the fog was just as thick as ever, and he could not see anything but whiteness.

Suddenly, a large black and white goat's face appeared from out of the fog, just on the other side of the glass doors. Scout had never seen such a creature before and instinctively took a step back from the door, The goat had piercing green eye's and a large spiked horn protruding from it's head. It's mouth continuously moved as though it was chewing on some invisible food or something. The goat leaned forward and tapped the glass again with it's horn, Tap....Tap....Tap...

Scout could feel a low deep growl make it's way from his stomach to his mouth, his teeth now bared as he stared the goat down. The goat only stood there staring back, it's piercing eye's seemed to float lazily in the whiteness of the fog...Tap....Tap....Tap...on the glass once more.

Somewhere close by, something wicked began to cackle uncontrollably....it had begun. Meanwhile, down in the Thorton's new basement the pentagram began to glow with a bright florescent orange color under the old wool carpet. Tap....Tap....Tap...