Dark Waters

“Alaska’s glaciers are melting at a rapid pace,” Jane Augustin declared as she continued to explore her own thoughts at the head of the auditorium. I could see in her facial expressions that she had something on her mind. She gave no indication on what it was that she was contemplating but her speech did not have the same finesse as usual. Jane is my idol and the sole reason I became a scientist studying Alaska’s land, so I was honored to be invited to her seminar. I myself was only just hired by Harvard University months prior as a research analyst studying global warming focusing on Alaska and just starting my career. Harvard scientists believed that the key to the global climate crisis could be solved somewhere in the depths of Alaska’s glaciers.

Once the seminar was over Jane called my name, asking me to stay behind. I stood stunned for a moment, shocked that she knew who I was. It seemed to take forever for the room to clear but as soon as it did I made my way down the long steps towards her, careful not to fall from my nervously shaking legs.

“My daughter found your short story about the human sea creature that lives amongst the waters of Alaska,” she said as she looked at me with content. At a loss for words I simply nodded my head in response. A small grin crossed her lips, “it was well written, where did you come up with it?”

“Living in Alaska for two years I heard a folklore about the sea creature ma’am,” I said sheepishly. “It’s just an old wives’ tale to keep kids from going near the water so they do not fall in,” I explained as she looked for more in my words.

She motioned for me to follow her through back hallways that lead to a basement entryway underneath the main campus. It was dark and gave the impression of an industrial dungeon, wires hanging from the ceiling and dim lights shining on a large computer screen that sat on an old brown desk in the corner. This did not look like Harvard at all, it was downright creepy, and I began to wonder if Jane intended to murder me. Then I noticed the pictures hanging all over the walls and moved in for a better view. At first, they were images of a dark figure floating in crystal clear blue waters. I discovered a timeline of a small lake I recognized as The Disappearing Lake in Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska.

The park itself was known for several glaciers, wildlife, and an eerie town called Whittier. Each picture was time stamped, going back five years. The timeline showed clear waters for each day of the year leading up to November, when things became strange. On November fourth the water was the brightest out of all the pictures with no snow on the ground. On the fifth however, the image transformed, the water was completely black. It remained dark until November thirteenth when the water completely disappeared from the lake.

Then I noticed my short story sitting on the desk beside the computer with the animated creature my friend created. She was a gangly figure with a dark green tail and long black hair, with dark red eyes and henna-like tattoos all over her upper torso and arms. Fangs pierced through her closed lips and she had bulging veins in her neck and hands. I designed her to mimic a fairytale mermaid with a demonic exterior.

Jane turned on the computer monitor and clicked on a few icons revealing a shaky video. I could not see much, the quality was so low, but it appeared to resemble the dark days of the lake images. A womanly figure appeared in the shadows walking into what should be a frigidly cold lake. I jumped backwards with a screech, my eyes telling me I just watched someone commit suicide. My heart started pounding as panic set in, Jane placed her hand on my shoulder, turning me to meet her gaze. “Zoe, I believe your sea creature is real,” she whispered. I rewound the video and watched it a few more times. I laughed in disbelief, “but it was just an old folktale, nothing more, nothing less,” I said as I turned to walk away, leaving Jane in that dank and dreary basement.

Walking into my apartment, I immediately opened my laptop to find an email from Jane inviting me to participate in a research expedition in Alaska. Though the subject line read invitation, the contents clearly conveyed that I was joining the mission. The date was set for one week from today with training prior to departure starting tomorrow at 0400. My phone rang with a call from an unknown number as I finished the email. It was Jane. How could this be? I never expected my idol to be insane, my thoughts proceeded as her voice came through my phone brimming with excitement.

“It was nice to meet you, Zoe. I have already cleared your participation in the expedition with your superiors at Harvard, along with the financials. Please look over them, I believe you will be more than satisfied.” She paused as if waiting for confirmation, all I could muster was, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” as I hung up the phone.

My instructions were to pack for extreme cold, standing before my closet it became apparent that I was humorously unprepared for such an expedition. “What does extreme cold even mean?” I thought begrudgingly. I absentmindedly tossed some items in a suitcase and fell into bed.

When my alarm screamed to life at 0300 the next morning, I could not help but be grumpy. By 0330 there was a knock on my door, I could hear Jane's muffled voice as I stared at myself in the mirror. “Hi Zoe, I thought we could discuss the mission on the way to the airport.” Instinctively, I thought of my options for a possible escape, but nothing came to mind. I supposed she would find me regardless of where I ran. When I opened the door, Jane was standing there in a big white puffy coat, hood lined with fur and black snow pants. She looked me over and said in a sassy tone, “oh honey those clothes will not do.” Apparently, my Harvard sweatshirt and jeans were not acceptable attire. As we walked down the hallway, suitcase trailing behind me, Jane spoke, she exuded an excitement I recall witnessing while watching her speeches on my laptop. I was so tired I was unable to hear a word she said.

Once we arrived in Alaska she handed me a credit card with my name on it and the University's emblem at the bottom. I got the impression she had this trip planned to include me from the start.

“This card will take care of everything you will need,” she said trailing off as she entered the SUV that awaited us on the tarmac. A bearded man sat in the front seat, he smiled and extended his hand over the seat to me. “Hi, I am Jake. I am the lead researcher on this mission.” I smiled and introduced myself with feigned excitement.

“The rest of our team is waiting for us at the base site in Whittier where we will start our training, but first we will stop and get gear for you.”

The gear was expensive, it ranged from ice picks and big puffy layers to headlamps and freeze-dried food. Half of the stuff I did not recognize but I got whatever Jane and Jake decided I needed. The drive out to Whittier was just as beautiful as I remembered. The Turnagain Arm was named the most beautiful but dangerous road in the Nation, it seemed fitting for the journey ahead.

Whittier sat behind a long tunnel that stretched for miles through the mountain shared between cars and trains, you will become trapped if you are not there at the right time. The narrow tunnel hugged our vehicle as we drove. Emerging on the other side an old tower stood to the right and Prince William Sound to the left. It appeared that we were headed in the direction of an old dilapidated tower that reminded me of an insane asylum. The walls were painted with horrid browns, it looked almost desolate. Ironically it was where everyone who resided in the town lived.

The driver unpacked the SUV as we went inside to set up. The smell of mold filled my nostrils as we entered the building, the inside was worse than the outside, with dim lighting there was no one in sight. I saw a small antique mailbox room on the way to the elevators and followed Jane closely. I was scared the walls were going to start bleeding and oozing slime, like a scene from a horror film.

There was only one restaurant open out of the three that were there. It was fancier than I expected and overlooked the sound which had an eerie fog resting in odd places. It was delicately beautiful in the afternoon dreariness, not a ray of sunlight to seep through the clouds. The sound was in the shape of a dome with glaciers peeking out across the water. There were boats lining the harbor with seals sleeping on the docks.

The team consisted of seven members including myself, Jake and Jane, who appeared to be more of a couple than expedition partners. Randy is a local to Alaska and our expedition liaison, Christy, the biologist who studies microorganisms in the water, Zane our survival guide, and Jackson who they called Blue.

The majority of our training was done at this tower and before I knew it we were ice climbing our way through the glaciers attached to one another by rope. They placed me in the middle since I was the least experienced. It was almost November; our goal was to hike to The Unnamed Lake and camp until the water turned black while studying the land around it. The mission was to find the figure in the video, collect samples of the black water, and find any abnormalities in the surrounding area. It was below zero degrees Fahrenheit on the trek there and the days were short.

Zane had already mapped out the area and picked a place for our campsite. It was a few yards away from the lake on a flat piece of land nestled within the trees. Snow covered the mountains surrounding us but nowhere near the water or on the hills around it. We all threw our stuff down and made our way towards the lake. It became so warm as we approached the lake that I had to remove all my layers. When I leaned down to touch the water I could see that it appeared ice blue in color, but had no reflections anywhere on the lake. It was perfectly still with little to no movement and utterly silent.

Heading back to camp, almost immediately after we crossed over the hill it became freezing again. The rest of my team were thrilled with this finding, they came up with hypotheses on everything relating back to the figure they were pursuing.

As the food was being prepared, I could not help but ask, “why am I here?” The entire team looked at me like I had two heads. Jane responded, sounding almost childlike. “You are the only one who truly knows about her.” I regretted asking and decided to keep my mouth shut from there on out.

Nightfall came early, and we were all exhausted from our journey, so we retired to our tents for the evening. I awoke to the sound of an elegant humming coming from out in the distance, according to my watch it was midnight. “It is a bird, Zoe. Go back to sleep,” I told myself, until the humming grew louder as it got closer. It was a sweet tuned melody I didn’t recognize but reminded me of an old Disney movie.

Quietly, I crawled out of my tent, it was dark as I followed the sound. Even when I turned the headlamp on the air seemed to be stale, like death lingering all around me. As I approached the hill leading to the lake something moved behind me, I jumped around, but nothing was there. Whatever it was, it was fast. The humming started again in my ear, turning to chatter. I could feel the warmth of something touching my skin. “There is no such thing as monsters,” I repeatedly told myself paralyzed with fear as I felt a long nail trail up my neck and around to my mouth where I felt the nails dig in on the side of my face. Her fingers were boney, her breath smelled like sewage, and the heat from her body burned. I began to fade as she pulled me tighter into her chest, I could feel my body collapsing into her arms but I could not move. Her strength was unparalleled to any womens that I knew. She was half dragging me when I lost consciousness.

The feel of boiling hot water sent my body into shock as we hit the depths of the lake with her hand still covering my mouth and nose, I was unable to breath. She now had a tail in place of her legs and it hit the sides of my feet angrily as I struggled to get away. The water rushed over my eyes as we swam. I could barely see as a circular hole appeared at the bottom of the lake, a dim light formed a ring around a rock, though I could not make out what it was. As soon as I saw it she took off like a lightning bolt under water, and my world went black.

When I woke up I was hanging from the side of a dark cave. My head was pounding from the pressure of being so far under water. I moaned as my eyes slowly opened and I became aware of the smell of blood dripping down my arms. It was so dark with only a gleam of light radiating from her body. The only thing I could see clearly were her eyes shining a vibrant red, her mermaid fin flopping around with excitement. Humming that never stopped. My eyes slowly adjusted, and I began to see a glimpse of the bones lining the walls and floor of the cave. My breath caught in my throat, tears ran involuntarily down my cheeks burning where she left cuts from her nails. It was so hot within the cave that I was sweating. The cave resembled a goldfish bowl as she swam in circles. The humming abruptly stopped and her fangs began to chatter as she swam closer, revealing her face to me. Blood stained fangs protruded over her lower lip, she had been feeding on me. Her long black hair seemed to miraculously dry as she left the water, it was beautiful and wrapped around her snow-white skin as she moved towards me.

When she realized I was awake she darted for me, to fast for the human eye to see. My heart rate raced, and I swallowed hard, she made a sound like she was pleased by my fear.

I watched as she grabbed the edge of the cave and climbed up with both hands. A whimper escaped my lips, as she got closer. I struggled to free myself, frantically kicking and screaming until her face was an inch from mine. I grimaced as I felt her black gritty tongue lick the tears and blood from the side of my face, moving slowly to the cuts she must have sliced in my arms while I was passed out. She splashed down into the water and swam around in some sort of ritualistic dance.

Without warning she leapt out of the water and attached herself to my neck ripping into my carotid artery until I went numb to the pain. It was as if the blood was being sucked from my brain, my heart strained to regain control until my body fell limp against the cave wall and the light left my eyes.

I wake humming that same tune I heard earlier. The water felt good surrounding me. “Did I somehow make it down from the cave wall?” I asked myself as I slowly blinked open my eyes. It took a minute but once they were open I could see every detail of the cave with perfect clarity, every rock and pebble, the bones ghostly clear. I suddenly felt hungry, an incredible urge to feed filled my body. My neck cracks as I move it around and I could feel the fangs piercing my lower lip, then I see myself. I am hanging up on the wall, unmoving, with my head slumped over. I wasn’t wearing the drabby t-shirt that I remembered when I left the tent. I now had on a pink tank top and tiny shorts, something more like what the confident Jane would wear.

I hated her, she always took over without any explanation. Her confidence was the bane of my existence. Afterall, I was the smart one. I could feel a devious smile start to form as my eyes narrowed at the site of my body unmoving.

My new hands trampled with excitement as I looked at the veins that ran through them. The humming bargain and then the chatter. Before I realized it I was attached to my body feasting on what was left.