On this beautiful Saturday afternoon, the young family went to the lake and found the perfect place to relax and wade in the water: a quiet corner of the rather large lake, past where everyone else was swimming near the parking area. Mom put the blanket down on a patch of grass and took out the snacks and towels while the kids got their floats and goggles and got ready to go swimming. Dad quickly took off his shirt and told everyone he was going to be the first one in the water. He quickly put his toe in the water and then stepped back a few feet before jumping into the deep water just ahead. As he went further out, he called back that the water was fine.
Before getting in the water, Mom told the kids to put on sunscreen. They did, and Dad swam out a bit further. He had forgotten just how big this lake was. He put his head under the water to see how deep it was just past where he was wading. He opened his eyes and looked through the murky water, but he couldn't make out much. When he looked down, he thought he saw a bunch of branches or dead trees. There were a lot of them, and then he saw that some of them were different colors. He squinted a little harder, but the water in his eyes made it hard for him to see. There was something wrong with what he saw.
He swam back to the top of the water and asked one of the kids to throw him their goggles. He caught them as they were being thrown through the air, and he put the child-sized goggles on by stretching the rubber band over his head. He went back under, and when he looked down, his whole body stopped moving. There were dozens and dozens of dead bodies at the bottom of the lake. They were all in different stages of decay and were wearing bathing suits. Their limbs were all tangled together. A literal heap of dead bodies. Some had pale skin and looked like they had just died, while others had been there for a long time.
Dad poked his head up out of the water and told everyone to get out of the lake right away. He took off his goggles and started swimming back to shore as fast as he could when he suddenly realized that he was much farther out than he thought. Mom and the kids were on the shore, looking at him and calling out, "What's wrong? What's going on?" Dad sped up and kicked his legs as he tried to get back as quickly as possible. He then felt something grab his leg.
He screamed and kicked his leg out of fear, and whatever had him in its grip let go. He stopped and looked down, but he couldn't see anything down there. No one could still be alive and try to reach out for help, right? In a panic, he slapped the goggles back on his face and quickly looked down again. When he saw the bodies again, his heart started racing and going into overdrive, and his muscles were getting weaker. He put his head back above the water and started swimming toward the shore, but he had to stop because he was out of breath and scared. Mom and the kids were gone, and their things were left on the beach. No one else was around. Dad shouted, but no one answered.
After he got his strength back, he kicked his legs again to keep swimming. All of a sudden, the thing that was holding his leg back was back. But it didn't let go this time. Dad kicked and screamed at the hand pulling on his leg, but it was stronger than he was. Suddenly, he was pulled even harder than before, and he went completely under the water. When he looked down, Mom's hand was on his leg. The kids below her were pulling on her leg, and the bodies below them were linked together and pulling him down into the bodies below. Like a human chain.
0 Comments