The Lake

Anne and Sara looked at each other and busted out laughing.

"Sounds like he has some issues," Dennis said coming up behind them.

"You’re not kidding," Sara said and with that she jumped in the water not giving the old man a second thought.

Anne hung behind giving the old man plenty of brain time. What the hell was he talking about? She never heard of any thing weird happening up here. For that matter she never heard of anyone else being here. They had just found the lake by accident and whenever they had come up there was never anyone around. Too bizarre. She drew the conclusion that he was a head case and joined her friends in the water. All the while she tried to push him to the back of her mind, but was unsuccessful.

Two hours later, after getting out of the water and making fun of each other for looking like prunes they built a campfire and put up the tents. They roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and drank a few beers. The old man was still nagging in Anne’s head.

"What do you guys suppose he was talking about?" she finally asked.

Everyone just shrugged, like it was no big deal.

"Don’t have a clue," Sara answered.

"Want to go for another swim?" Jarryd asked Sara.

"Sure, lets go."

Anne looked at Dennis.

"No, I don’t want to go for a swim. I’m getting tired," he said before she could ask.

"No, I wasn’t going to ask. I’m actually pretty tired too. Ready to call it a night?"

"Sure," he answered already heading in the direction towards their tent.

Anne quickly followed, ready for a goodnights sleep. Swimming and drinking had worn her out.

***

Out in the lake Sara and Jarryd swam around, goofing off. Sara was trying to dunk Jarryd, which was almost impossible since he was so much bigger than her.

"Ouch," Sara cried out.

"What?" Jarryd asked, coming over to her side.

"You didn’t have to kick me."

"I didn’t," Jarryd said defending himself. "Probably a fish," he told her.

"Strong fish," she moaned in pain and then started to go under the waters surface.

"Get back here," he said reaching for her, but he couldn’t find her.

"Sara, Sara?"

Jarryd looked around him but couldn’t find her, and then he felt something tug at his foot.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. Come on Sara," he complained trying to break her grip on his foot.

The harder he tried to pull out from her grip the harder she tugged. Damn, he didn’t know her to be that strong.

"Damn it Sara," Jarryd complained, he was starting to get pissed.

Jarryd reached down to pull her away from his foot, but then something bit his hand. Before he could cry out he was yanked underwater.

***

Back in the tent Anne found it pretty difficult to go to sleep. The old man in her head wouldn’t go away.

"Dennis," she whispered.

No answer. He was out.

Anne laid there waiting for Jarryd and Sara to get back. While she was waiting she drifted off to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night she woke up. She heard splashing sounds coming from the lake. She couldn’t believe Sara and Jarryed were still out there swimming.

Slowly she crept out of her sleeping bag, careful not to wake Dennis, and crawled out of the tent.

Outside it was pitch black. How could they swim out there like that with not being able to see anything, she wondered. She looked over at the remnants of the campfire and debated on whether she should fire it up again or not. Probably not. She didn’t want to disturb them.

She stood there for another moment and then decided to go back to bed. Just as she was heading for the opening in the tent she felt something grab her leg.

"What the…"

Anne looked down and then let out a hell of a scream.