#lake creature

Charlie blanched. She looked at the glass doors looking out into the lake, its emerald green surface sparkling in the sun. They've been cleaning the cabin since their arrival the previous day. She slowly walked towards them, listening in while her friend talked to the dispatcher.

"My name is Sally Bloomfield, I'm here with my friend Charlie May. It's my parents' cabin. We cleaned the deck this morning, somebody had to drop it there later, somebody is here, right now!" she was screaming into the receiver.

There was something on the deck. On the swept and mopped up wood, in a small puddle of water, laid a pale, wrinkled shape. She stared for a long time, listening to her friend's frantic explanations and nagging to get someone here, please, until the shape started resembling a foot. She wanted a closer look, morbid curiosity itching at her fingers to open the door but she knew behind them she was safer if whoever put it there was still around. They must be because just two hours earlier she was sitting at the deck drinking her morning coffee. Since leaving was out of the question she did the next best thing and stood there rooted at the spot, unblinking not to miss anything that might happen.

"There are only these and the front doors, right?"

She flinched and looked away at Sally who walked towards her with the receiver at her ear. Charlie immediately looked back, fear grabbing at her neck and yanking, but the foot hadn't moved. Obviously.

"Yeah," she answered.

"I'll check the windows."

She rounded the cabin, closing all the windows with the receiver clutched at her ear like a lifeline until the police arrived. Similarly, Charlie was clutching to the sight in front of her. A bloated foot decomposing in the summer heat.

Despite a whole day of patrols and questions, despite the police tape, they stayed. The summer season just started and nearly all of the surrounding cabins were occupied and their presence helped to soothe their nerves. More of their friends were due to arrive in a few hours too. They got a direct contact number from the local sheriff and a patrol car was supposed to be circling the area at all times.

“They just want us here for free surveillance,” Charlie muttered as she watched the officer walk back to the car.

Sally didn’t say anything. They waited for their friends in the living room, with the deck in view.

“What’s with all the police tape?” Tommy asked as soon as he opened the cabin door, bags in hand.

“The lake needs to be scanned for body parts.”

“It’s a suspected disposal ground.”

The boy snorted, dropping the bags and approaching his friends but his face fell when they didn’t even turn towards him. He followed their gaze to the deck. It was wrapped in police tape as well. His eyes fell t the trail of muddy footprints leading to the sliding door from the entrance.

“Guys? What the fuck?”

The rest of their friends just walked in, their greetings cut by the weird atmosphere in the room. Charlie was the first to turn towards them.

“We found a foot on the dock this morning.”

“Excuse me?” Tommy sat down and the rest followed so the girls could brief them.

“Some animal probably found it and dropped it there,” Sally finished with an explanation the police gave them. 

“But we should report any weird thing we notice,” added Charlie.

“So uh, no drugs?”

“Not while the police are running around, no. Is that your only concern?” Sally frowned at Jim, their usual source The boy just raised his hands.

“Sue me for wanting to relax after the story you just dropped.”

The friend group murmured in agreement. 

“Let’s just all hit an early night, okay? I’m tired after the drive.”

Nobody wanted the couches with the lake view, even with the heavy window curtains, so they had to split between the two bedrooms. It was a tight fit but the closeness of friends brought comfort.

By the time all of them were ready for bed, it’s gotten dark. Their friends dozed off quite fast, but Sally and Charlie were too wired up with the events of the day to fall asleep. They sat in the armchairs next to the window while Jim’s sister slept in the bed.

“What are we going to do if we can’t swim in the lake?”

Sally shrugged.

“Next lake is just a short walk away and the area is pretty enough to just chill. Tommy wanted to check out the local farm. They make their own cheese and open a mini zoo in the summer.”

Despite everything, that pulled a smile out of her friend.

“I’d be down to pet some baby goats.”

“Right?” Sally smiled back. 

They stood up to join Amy in the bed, and Charlie took a moment to look out the window, at the expanse of water. Most of the cabins had their lights still on, and the orange squares of their windows reflected on the surface. The lights rippled when she was watching like something moved just beneath them. Some fish perhaps. Or more like a snake, she thought, considering the movement. Coils and coils of serpentine bodies, bubbling the surface like boiling water. She blinked and the movement was gone just soft ripples on the water.

She joined the girls in the bed.

The next day started mostly the same. In an unfortunate way.

"At least it's not a body part this time," Charlie commented as she sipped on her coffee in front of the glass doors to the dock.

On the weathered planks, in a puddle of water, laid a dead fish.

"It matches the animal theory, I guess."

"It's in the same space," Charlie observed.

"We're not calling the police, right? It's just a fish." Jim frowned, but Sally shook his head.

"They said anything weird. This is weird enough, I think."

An hour later, an officer walked in, took a hasty photo and pushed the fish back into the water.

"It looks like an animal kill. Nothing to worry about," he reassured before leaving.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the cabin grew tense and they decided to leave for the day. When the surrounding areas were properly scouted and their trunk filled with groceries and alcohol, it was already dark. The living room light illuminated the deck and Sally walked to the glass to take a closer look.

There was something on the dock again but the shadows around made the object hard to identify.

"You know, my cat sometimes brings me dead mice. He thinks it's a gift," Tommy muses, squinting next to her. She hums in thought, before turning around.

"I need a flashlight." 

Sally stood up to look around the drawers and handed her one. But when Charlie's hand reached for the door, she frowned. 

"What are you doing?"

"We need a closer look, we can't call the police if it's just some weed."

"Can't you see from here?"

Charlie turned on the flashlight and pointed it towards the dock. The light was too weak to reach the object.

"Okay, fine."

The doors get yanked open and the smells and sounds of the lake enter the cabin. Charlie steps out. The planks creaked under her feet and the closer she gets, the more solid becomes the object in front of her. It's a pendant, damaged by water but still recognisable. But behind it, tendrils; inky black in the shadows and sliding down towards the water.

She pointed the light towards the water and for a second she could swear she saw a pair of black eyes watching her.

"It's a necklace," she informs them after closing the door and cutting off the cricket orchestra.

"Guess we are calling the cops then," Amy sighs, cheek squished against her hand like it was all just a big inconvenience to her. Not a potential threat to their lives.

It kept like that, random objects appearing now and then. They tried staying in the living room but they could never catch it, whatever person or animal was leaving the items to be found. Nobody seemed to notice anything amiss, no bubbling water or black eyes gaping at them from below the surface. No one except for Charlie.

It’s been a few days, patrols still idly circling the area and searchers finding the first body parts (seemingly from the same body, thank gods) when Charlie stepped out into the night just to observe. She could see the lights from the bathroom upstairs reflecting in the water, giving her a sense of safety as she took a couple of steps on the deck. She was wary of approaching the edge and the inky waters below.

The night at the lake was loud, all the creatures inhabiting it fighting for the loudest sound of their presence. The grass rustled in the soft wind, and water splashed aghast the pails. And yet, Charlie could hear something moving under her feet, below the wood. Something big.

The water splashed louder, bubbled and bulked like it was trying to take shape but its own nature betrayed its attempts. Then, a pair of huge black eyes was blinking at her. Once, then again, like it had two sets of eyelids.

Tendrils, black like tar in the darkness, slithered over the edge of the wood, carrying something, wrapped in dripping algae. It didn’t stop at the usual spot, shuffling closer until the item got dropped at her feet. 

The tendrils hesitated, inching slowly toward her, leaving enough time to react, to run, but the curiosity and tenderness of the moment rooted Charlie to the spot.

It was cold and wet in touch but retracted quickly away from her ankle as if scared by its own actions. The item in front of her was revealed. A rusty dagger, probably from the bottom of the lake, lay at her feet like an offering from some fairytale. 

He thinks it’s a gift.

Well, it was certainly better than a body part.

“Is it for me?” she whispered before the creature could shy away.

It nodded slowly, and her eyes adjusted to the light enough to notice hair, sleek and long, plastered to the scaled skin like algae.

“Thank you. Were all the other things for me too? The, uh, foot?”

It nodded again.

“I loved the gifts, but let me give you something next time. Tomorrow night?”

It watched her, only its eyes peeking out and she wondered if it was going to kill her, displeased with her refusal of gifts. She heard a sound and for a second worried it was a warning growl, but her brain finally registered it as a very croaky “okay”. She smiled, partially relieved and partially hysteric giddiness at whatever the hell she was just witnessing.

“Great. Goodnight.”