Troubled Waters

The lake looked clear and inviting, its blue waters rippled ever so slightly as the breeze blew. It was a nice day and it was calling to Claire. She looked out at the water while she sat down on the dock deciding if she wanted to take a swim. Then she heard it, a soft cry. It didn’t sound like anything she heard before. Could be a bird or another form of wildlife she thought. She shrugged her shoulders and stared back across the water. Claire sat there for a while, she didn’t even know what time it was when she stood to leave. She walked back across the dock and heard the cry again, this time it sounded urgent. Claire looked around trying to see where the noise came from when she heard it for the third time. It sounded like it was coming from the waters edge near the trees. She walked over to get a closer look and she saw a flash of yellow eyes near the water. She stood hesitant for a moment then decided to go see what was making the noise.

“Claire? Claire? Where are you?” James, her boyfriend, shouted which stopped Claire.

“Over here by the trees. I heard something.” She replied.

“You can't go into the trees. Remember I told you when people go in there they don’t come out.”

“Yeah, you probably just told me that to scare me” Claire rolled her eyes.

James laughed, “Haha. Seriously it’s a swamp down there pass the trees. You could get stuck in the marsh and water. Best to stay on this side.”

“What about the noise I heard. It sounded like a cry or wounded animal maybe.” She said as the noise sounded again.

“Was that what you heard? Don’t worry it’s just a bird. They make that sound all the time.” James said putting his arm around her shoulders.

“Okay.” Claire said not mentioning the yellow eyes. They walked back towards the house, Claire casually looking back over her shoulder trying to get another glimpse of the creature.

The next day Claire and James invited their friends to come over for a picnic at the lake. Claire spent the morning getting food and supplies ready to bring and James couldn’t find his hat. Around noon they walked down to the lake with a picnic basket and blankets and meet their friends there.

“Amber! John! Glad you could come.” Claire said hugging Amber while James and John shook hands.

“Thanks for the invite.” John replied.

They laid out the blankets and set up the picnic while Claire went to the dock. She wanted to get away from the noise so she could listen for the strange cry again. She dreamt of it all night. It was like it was calling to her. Of course she couldn’t tell anyone about it or they might think she was crazy. Maybe she should just go back to the edge of the water to look. Claire was deep in thought that she didn’t hear James coming up from behind her. He picked her up and threw her off the dock into the water.

Claire sank down letting the water surround her. She found it peaceful down in the water. She was about to swim back up to the surface when she say the creature. The yellow eyes were bright under the water and it was big, human size. She stared at it for a while then it swam away when James jumped into the lake. He pulled her arm and they swam to the surface.

“Geez Claire are you okay?” He asked as they came up for air.

“I’m fine. Was just enjoying the water.” She replied swimming back to shore.

“You scared us. I thought you got knocked out or something.” Amber said running to Claire and helping her out the water.

“I was enjoying the water. I was about to come back up when James jumped in.” Claire said grabbing her towel.

“Well don’t do it again.” James said kissing her head.

The rest of the day went uneventful. They went swimming and played volleyball. Claire didn’t see the creature again and James didn’t let her swim by herself.

“Same time tomorrow?” James asked John as they packed up.

“Can’t tomorrow, Amber’s got a party and I got volunteered to help.” John replied.

“Gotcha, we will get together soon. Just let us know.” James said walking to Claire and waving bye to their friends.

Later at dinner James had some things to say to Claire.

“I don’t want you going near the water again by yourself.” He said.

“Why?”

“Just don’t.”

“Is there something you aren’t telling my James?”

“No. Just don’t want you near the water is all.”

“But why? Last I checked I’m a grown woman and make my own choices.”

“Yes you are and can. But that doesn’t mean you should.”

“What is that suppose to mean?”

“Nothing! It’s just, uhhh, the water isn’t, umm… Just if you want to go swimming or down there again I will go with you, okay.” He said and walked off. That was weird Claire thought James didn’t act like this. There must be something he wasn’t telling her.

That night Claire had vivid dreams of the creature from the lake. It was almost human like in form except it had no hair and had fins on its elbows, hands, legs and feet. The creature’s skin looked scaly and was a light brown color that let it blend in to the water and its surroundings. She saw the creature and it was coming after her, she didn’t know if it was curious or dangerous. She woke up at two in the morning breathing hard and sweating. Claire got out of bed and grabbed her drawing pad and sketched the creature she saw. She knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep until she did. Claire also knew she couldn’t talk to James about it; she knew what she saw but didn’t think James would believe her. He would say it was her imagination or just a fish. So Claire sat and sketched and decided she would go to the library later and see if she was imagining things or not.

“Morning.” James said walking into the kitchen.

“Morning, did you sleep good?”

“Yeah. What’s that,” James asked pointing to the sketch pad, “Late night inspiration?”

“Just something I couldn’t get out of my head.” Claire said closing it. “I’m going to head to town in a few. I have some errands to run.”

“I can come with you if you want.”

“No its okay. I know you got some writing to do.”

An hour later Claire was heading out the door, she gave James a kiss and headed into town to run a few errands and stop at the library. She decided to go to the library first because she couldn’t get the thought of what the creature was out of her head. She didn’t know where to start looking so she went to the librarian, Mary, and showed her the picture she sketched.

“Where did you get this? Who told you about the monster?”

“Uh no one, I um…I…”

“You saw it didn’t you? Stay away from it.”

“Is it dangerous? It just stared at me, didn’t seem to want to hurt me.”

The librarian looked around then whispered, “Not out here. Meet me in the back and take this,” she finished handing Claire a book.

Claire looked the book over and saw it was about sea monsters and urban legends. She flipped it open and the first picture she saw was of the creature from the lake. The book didn’t say much about it except it was dangerous and lured people to their deaths. Claire found it odd because the one she seen didn’t act like that, it just stared then swam away when it got scared. Just then the librarian came in.

“Yes, yes that’s the monster. I came across it before myself.” Mary said.

“But I don’t understand. Why don’t more people know about it or talk about?”

“It hasn’t been heard about for ten years. Last time it came around was when I saw it. We thought we got rid of it but if you seen it maybe we didn’t. Oh I see from your face you are confused… Let me start at the beginning. Ten years ago I went swimming in the lake, it was much bigger then but anyway, I went swimming and as soon as I jumped in I felt a peace come over me. Then I saw the yellow eyes and heard the monsters cry. Right before I started to come up for air it grabbed my leg and started pulling me deeper into the lake. I managed to kick it in the face and swim away. I just broke through the surface of the water and got air when I could feel my leg being pulled again. I kicked and kicked and tried to swim away. I made it out of the deep to a place I could stand and started running in the water figured it would be easier than trying to swim away from a monster that lived in it. It worked. I got out and didn’t go back. No one believed me but I still have the scar from its grip on my ankle.” Mary said finishing her story.

Claire stared blankly at the wall. This was a lot to take it. Could it all be true or was Mary crazy? How deep was the lake? Could the creature really be living in it and no one know? Claire had to know for sure but knew it could be dangerous. She thanked Mary and headed to finish her errands before heading back home. She needed to come up with a plan.

James was sitting on the porch drinking coffee when Claire got back home. He looked concerned and a little aggravated.

“What took you so long?” He asked before Claire even got out the car.

“Told you I had errands to run.”

“For two hours? It doesn’t take that long,” he yelled then noticed the sketch book lying open on the back seat. “What is that? Where did you go? Who did you talk to?”

“No one. Just something I dreamed about and drew. Nothing wrong with that.”

“You talked to Mary didn’t you? Don’t believe anything she says, everyone knows she makes up stories.”

“What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?” Claire said walking into the house. She knew what she saw and believed Mary too. There was something else going on and she was going to find out what.

Later that day Claire went down to the lake without telling James. She looked around the shoreline first trying to find the creature on common ground but she didn’t see or hear it. She decided to walk into the lake and see if she could draw it out. Claire made it shoulder deep in the water when she felt something brush against her leg. Thinking it was just a fish she took another step and fell deep into the water. She swam back to where she was and starting feeling the area with her foot. There was a huge drop off and Claire wondered if it went all around the lake. She started shuffling her feet around the edge keeping one foot on solid ground. The edge of the drop off seemed to curve and went to the dock. That explains why it was so deep when she jumped off it. She swam past the dock to the other side and started feeling around again and found the edge. It seemed it was a giant circle which Claire thought was weird. She swam to the shore and walked to the edge of the dock trying to see the full view of the drop off but couldn’t. Claire sat down on the edge of the dock and let her feet dip in the water. She stared down at the water trying to glimpse what was underneath. She heard footsteps on the dock and she turned her head to see who it was.

“Claire what are you doing! I told you to stay away from the lake!” James yelled but before Claire could reply something grabbed her ankle and pulled her off the dock into the water.

Claire was being pulled down further and further into the water. She tried to kick at what had her but couldn’t see well enough. She looked down at her ankle and saw the creature had her and it was swimming fast. She tried kicking again but missed. Just then she felt something tug on her arm so she looked up and seen James trying to pull her free. With one swift kick she was able to loosen the creatures hold and James help her swim to the surface. They both swam to shore and James dragged her out the water.

“Are you okay? What was that thing?” He asked.

“I don’t know. But I saw it the other day and that’s what I drew. I went to the library to figure out what it was. Mary said it was a monster and attacked her some years ago.” She said breathing heavily.

“You heard it was a monster and decided to go looking for it?”

“No, I just wanted to know if what I saw was real or not. I stayed out the deep! I didn’t know it was gonna attack like that.”

“Next week is the festival. Loads of people and kids are going to be here. We need to stop the monster before then.”

Later that day Claire and James went back to the library to see if Mary could help them. Claire’s ankle was still hurting and it had a few marks from where the creature grabbed her. Mary showed Claire her ankle and the marks were identical.

“How did you get rid of it last time?” James asked.

“I didn’t. I just stopped going to the water and haven’t heard about it since.” Mary replied.

“There must be something we can do.” James said grabbing the monster book and reading it.

Claire and James spend a couple hours at the library trying to research the creature but they found nothing and gave up and went home.

“I think Mary is hiding something.” James said.

“Yeah me too. She told me earlier she did get rid of it after it attacked her.”

“Something must be going on.”

“Is that why you didn’t want me in the water? Cuz you heard the stories.” Claire asked.

“Yeah, growing up here I heard a lot of different ones. About how people go missing if they go swimming too deep or if they go in the trees too far. I thought they were tall tales or things people would say to scare us.”

A knock sounded on the door making both Claire and James jump. James got up to answer it and found no one was there just a small package. He took it back to where Claire was sitting and opened it. Inside was a book that looked like a diary. Claire opened it and read it.

“Listen according to this people have been going missing for a long time here. At least once a year and it happens around the same time as the festival and by the lake.”

“Like I said need to stop it before the festival. It can get hurt I saw that when you kicked it. So maybe knifes or guns. Its not like we can close off the lake.”

“We can’t we close the lake? Say something dangerous is in it.”

“We would have to involve the sheriff and maybe get some environmental person here and that could take time. No one would stay out of it anyway even if it was taped off.”

“Okay then tomorrow we go out there and end it. I’ll be the bait since it already came after me.” Claire said.

The next morning they headed out towards the lake only to run into Mary and Sheriff Dave on the dock.

“What do you think you are doing?” Dave asked.

“We know there is a monster in the lake, we are going to end it before it takes anyone else.” James said.

“Sorry can’t let you do that. That creature keeps the lake and the town alive. All it takes is one human a year.”

“It has already chosen its sacrifice this year. It’s your dear, just accept your fate.” Mary chimed in.

“Are you crazy? There is no way?” James said standing in front of Claire.

“What about you Mary, you were marked too why didn’t you accept your fate?” Claire said.

“Oh I did, but then some idiot got drunk and stumbled in the lake.”

“Why don’t you just jump in then?” Claire replied.

“I’m too old now. They like fresh meat.” Mary said moving towards Claire.

It all happened fast. James was holding Dave back while Mary tried to grab Claire. James told Claire to run but she couldn’t leave, then a shot rang out and James fell down on the dock. Claire was too stunned to move. Mary rolled James into the water while Dave grabbed Claire and started moving her towards the edge of the dock. With a shove Claire pushed Dave into the water but he still had her arm and they both fell in.

Mary watched as the creature took hold of them and swam off. “Oh well,” Mary said picking up the diary, “Time to get ready for the festival.” She smiled and walked off.