Beneath the Surface

An old station wagon drove down a dirt road which led through the woods straight to a large
clearing next to a large lake. When the station wagon stopped close to the lake, the young man
and woman inside it just stared at each other. Both appeared to be in a state of shock.
Meryll sat in the driver's seat with her shaking hands still tightly gripping the steering wheel.
Her husband Clyde sat next to her with a balaclava, a paper bag with a few hundred dollars in it
and a pistol on his lap. The pistol was about as fake as a three dollar bill. Out of sheer
desperation, he had used the toy gun to rob a liquor store only a short while earlier.
Meryll's bottom lip quivered as she fought back the tears and tried to stay strong. She opened
her mouth but she was at a loss for words.
Clyde looked down at the toy gun and the bag of money before he wiped the tears from his
eyes and said, “What have I done?”
Meryll took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a single
word, she burst into tears. Clyde pulled her closer and hugged her.
“Y-you did what you had to, baby,” she said as Clyde kissed her on her forehead. “We can't go
on living like this.”
“I know honey. I just feel so guilty.”
“We didn't hurt anyone,” she said as she looked back at the box and pile of clothes on the
backseat. Everything Clyde and Meryll owned was in that station wagon. They had both lost
their jobs after the department store where both of them had worked for years – and where they
first met and fell in love – closed down. In the five months since they lost their jobs, their luck
just went from bad to downright terrible. Both of them kept on looking for new jobs at every
possible place they could think of but to no avail. They couldn't pay their rent and were kicked
out of their apartment. Since then, they were forced to live in their station wagon, and to sell
anything and everything of value which they owned just to survive. Out of sheer desperation,
Clyde made a collect call to his estranged younger brother in Denver who he hadn't seen or
spoken to in two years. After a lot of begging and pleading, Clyde's brother told him that he
wasn't going to help him by giving him money. He told Clyde that he would help the two of them
by giving them both jobs at the auto body shop and auto spares shop which he owned. He also
told him that he would give them both a place to stay for only three months, which would still
give them enough time to look for an apartment or house to rent. Clyde's brother ended the
conversation by telling him that he gave him and Meryll three days time to get to Denver, and
that if they weren't in Denver in three days, they shouldn't bother coming at all because then the
deal would be off. Besides money for food, Clyde also robbed the liquor store for gas money so
that they could drive to Denver.
Meryll looked inside the paper bag and saw that there were only a few hundred dollars in it.
She appeared surprised.
“Wow baby, either it was a slow day at the liquor store or you kinda suck at this robbing
thing,” Meryll said as she looked at Clyde and grinned.
Clyde chuckled briefly as he wiped the tears from his eyes. Meryll took the money out of the
bag and gave it to Clyde. He quickly counted it and said, “When we get to Denver and start
working, I'm going to mail the guy at the liquor store some money to pay back what I stole.”
Meryll smiled as she leaned towards Clyde and gave him a hug.
“That's sweet of you baby. I can't wait 'til we start working and get back on our feet. And when
we get a place of our own, we can...”
Meryll stopped talking when she looked out through the passenger side window and saw something outside which shocked her speechless.
Clyde saw the shocked expression on her face and asked her, “What's wrong honey? Looks
like you saw a...”
“Look!” she said as she pointed at the lake. Clyde turned his head, looked out the window,
covered his mouth with his hand and shook his head. He glanced back at Meryll before got out of
the car and rushed to the lake. Meryll also got out of the car and ran up behind him. Both of them
froze for a few seconds as they stared at the dead body that was floating face down in the middle
of the lake. The body was that of a scantily dressed young woman. Being in a state of shock,
Clyde briefly stuttered a bunch of gibberish before he managed to say, “W-we've got to call the
cops.”
“And tell them what?” Meryll said as she pulled Clyde a few steps away from the water. “If the
cops get here, they'll...”
Both of them turned and looked in the direction of the dirt road when they heard the sound of a
vehicle approaching them. They instantly started to panic. Meryll started to run back to the
station wagon. Clyde slipped in the mud and fell, but quickly got up and ran to the station
wagon. Meryll started the station wagon and drove towards the dirt road, but they couldn't
escape. A large rusty black van came driving down the dirt road. When the van reached the
clearing, it stopped and blocked the dirt road. Clyde and Meryll couldn't escape.
The driver of the van was a muscle-bound man named Ed, and the chubby, bald man next to Ed
on the passenger side was Lou. The two men spoke to each other briefly before both of them got
out of the van. Clyde and Meryll both saw how the two men pulled semi-automatic pistols out of
their holsters hidden beneath their jackets.
Clyde shouted, “GO! GO! GO!” as Meryll stepped on the gas. There was a open space between
two trees big enough to drive through to reach the dirt road, but as Meryll raced towards it, Lou
and Ed opened fire and shot both of the station wagon's back tires. The station wagon skid before
it struck one of the trees. Clyde and Meryll weren't hurt but they were both dazed. Before either
of them could say a word, Lou opened Clyde's door, pulled him out and punched him. Clyde
stumble two steps back before he fell on the ground. Lou pointed his gun at Meryll who was in
such a state of shock that her hands were shaking.
“Get out of the car little lady. Don't make me come in there and get you,” Lou said as he leaned
forward and pointed the gun straight at her face. Meryll was still frozen with fear.
Clyde got up and shouted, “Get away from her!” as he tried to attack Lou, but Ed grabbed him
from behind, pulled him back and kicked his feet out from under him. As soon as Clyde fell on
the ground, Ed jumped on top him and began punching him. Clyde fought back, but Ed was
much stronger than him and among all the punches to the face Clyde was dealt, there was one
punch straight to the side of his head which left him dazed.
Meryll screamed as Lou pulled her out of the station wagon by her hair. He tried to grab hold
of her wrist, but she began swinging her arms at him as if she was trying to punch him. He
finally managed to grab hold of her wrist before he pulled her closer and pressed his gun against
the side of her face. Lou wanted to say something to her, but when he saw the fear in her eyes, he
just shook his head and laughed out loud.
While all of this was happening, none of them noticed the movement in the water. Around the
floating dead body in the lake, it appeared as if something was moving around just beneath the
surface of the water.
Lou pushed Meryll up against the side of the station wagon before he looked into it through the
open passenger side door and spotted something on the floor. He forced Meryll to get down on
her knees and held his gun against the side of her head before he leaned forward and picked Clyde's toy gun up off of the floor. He looked at it and began laughing out loud when he realized
that it was a toy.
“Hey! Ed! It looks like we're dealing with two mean hardened criminals here. Look what I
found in their ride,” Lou said before he threw the toy gun over to Ed.
Ed was still on top of Clyde as he caught the toy gun and looked at it. He chuckled as he shook
his head and looked down at Clyde, who was still dazed.
“What the hell are you planning to do with this, tough guy? Rob a toy store?” Ed chuckled as
he pressed the toy gun against Clyde's bloody face. With what little energy he had left, Clyde
grabbed hold of Ed's wrist with one hand and punched him twice in the face with the other. Ed
blocked Clyde's fist and tried to punch him straight in the face, but Clyde moved his head out of
the way just in time. Ed's fist struck the ground right next to Clyde's head before Clyde punched
him four times, grabbed hold of his shirt and pushed him off of him. Clyde called out Meryll's
name as he tried to get up, but by the time he was on his hands and knees, he felt the cold barrel
of Lou's gun against the back of his neck. For a moment, he froze in fear – thinking that the
heartless man was going to pull the trigger. But when he heard the whimpering sounds Meryll
was making, he slowly raised his head and saw her standing on her knees only a few feet away
from him. As he began to raise his hand to reach out to Meryll, Lou stamped his foot on Clyde's
wrist.
Ed got up and stared at Clyde with a angry expression of his face before he pointed his gun at
Clyde and started to walk towards him, but Lou stopped him by just raising his hand to get his
attention and then pointed at the van. Ed stopped and stared at Clyde. Because he was so big and
strong, Ed thought everyone was afraid of him. The fact that Clyde had actually fought back
enraged him. Lou snapped his fingers to get Ed's attention, and said, “Snap out of it big guy.” Ed
looked up at Lou as he pointed at the van again.
“You two put up a fight. Brave but so stupid,” Lou said.
At that moment, a feeling of utter despair was shared between Clyde and Meryll as they stared
at each other. Ed walked up to the back of the van and opened the rear doors. He reached in and
pulled a bound and gagged young woman out of the van as if she was a bag of trash. The woman
let out a muffled scream as her body fell on the ground. Her face was covered in bruises and
there were blood stains on her torn clothes. Her name was Lavonne. She was but one of a
number of women who were kidnapped by Lou and Ed, and held captive at Lou's large truck
stop. There the woman were forced to work as prostitutes. The truck stop was just a front for all
of the illegal activities that were taking place there. Besides forcing the women to work as
prostitutes, Lou and Ed used one of the rooms at the truck stop as a meth lab. Any of the women
who dared to try and alert the police were beaten severely. Lavonne not only tried to alert the
police, she also tried to escape and put up a fight when Ed caught her.
Ed dragged Lavonne through the dirt by her feet all the way to where Lou was standing. Both
Clyde and Meryll felt utterly helpless as they stared at Lavonne. Clyde reached out to Lavonne, but
before he could even touch her, Lou stamped his foot on his wrist again. They didn't know this
young woman, but just seeing her in the state she was in made Clyde and Meryll forget for a minute
that their lives were in danger, and made them want to help her.
Lou stared at Lavonne as he took the gag off of her mouth. He opened his mouth to insult her, but
he briefly froze when he saw the look of pure hate in her eyes as she stared straight at him. Her
entire body quivered with rage as she whispered, “You animal... How can you keep all of us
prisoner in your sick sex house. You're a...”
Lou quickly put the gag over her mouth again, and said, “That's enough out of you sweetie.”
Ed grabbed hold of her feet and dragged her up next to Meryll who then hugged her and tried to say something to her, but whatever Meryll was trying to say to Lavonne sounded like nothing more
than faint murmurs and a few sobs because she was crying.
“Stop crying and get her on her knees!” Lou ordered.
Lavonne had just managed to free her hands from the rope, but she kept her bruised hands behind
her back and acted as if she was still bound as Meryll helped her to get on her knees.
None of them noticed it, but there was movement in the water again. This time it appeared as if
there were five spots in the water around the dead body where something was making swirling
movements just beneath the surface of the water.
Lou and Ed stood next to each other and both kept their guns pointed straight at Clyde's head as
they stared at the two women. Lou chuckled as he said to Ed, “That one isn't a beauty queen but
she'll make a great replacement for Lavonne.”
Ed tilted his head to the side as he stared at Meryll, grinned and said, “I can't really say. All the
girls we take to the truck stop look the same to me.”
As Meryll and Lavonne stood right next to each other on their knees, Lavonne slowly moved her
hand in behind Meryll's back and touched her. Meryll felt it, but she kept on staring straight at Lou
and Ed.
Ed looked down at Clyde and dragged the bottom of his shoe over the back of Clyde's head, and
said, “You hear that big boy? Your woman is coming with us and there ain't nothing you can do
about it.”
Even though Clyde was hurt and drained of most of his energy, his entire body began to shake
slightly as his inner rage reached boiling point. Lou and Ed both chuckled as they looked down at
him.
Meryll and Lavonne looked at each other. Meryll took hold of Lavonne's hand behind her back,
looked at Clyde, looked back at Lavonne with an angry expression on her face and gave her hand a
hard squeeze. Lavonne looked deep into her eyes and nodded her head.
Lou slowly started walking towards Meryll and Lavonne. He stared straight at Meryll, smiled and
said, “What am I going to call you? Candy? Yeah, I'll call you that from now on my little pet.”
Meryll clenched her teeth and her fists as she gave him a look which screamed 'I HATE YOU!'
Ed wasn't looking at Clyde because he was too busy being amused by how cruel his boss was with
the women. Clyde raised his head and as he looked at Ed and heard Lou talking to Meryll as if she
was his property, something in him snapped. Clyde didn't feel any pain anymore as his whole body
suddenly felt cold and he felt a strange tingling feeling all over his face. Ed pointed at the two
women, but before he could say anything, Clyde grabbed him from behind and grabbed hold of his
gun. The two of them started to fight and struggle as both of them wanted to gain control of the gun.
During the struggle, the gun fired a bullet straight down into the ground.
Lou got such a fright from the sound of the gunshot that he fell down on his knees as he turned
around and pointed his gun at Clyde and Ed.
“Come on Ed! You can take him!” Lou shouted as he lowered his gun. Seeing as that Ed was
much bigger and stronger than Clyde, Lou thought Ed would make short work of him. But what he
didn't know was that Clyde's love for Meryll and his fear of losing her made him feel no pain and
made him stronger thanks to all the adrenalin coursing through his veins. It looked as if Ed was
going to gain control of the gun, but he dropped the gun when Clyde unleashed his fury by punching
him repeatedly in the face. Every punch drove Ed back towards the water.
Lou got back on his feet and pointed his gun at Clyde when he saw that Ed wasn't winning the
fight. Before he could pull the trigger, Meryll and Lavonne attacked him from behind. Lavonne
punched him in the face and knocked his gun out of his hand before Meryll jumped on his back and
began choking him with both of her forearms pressed tightly against his throat. Just as Clyde was about to introduce his fist to Ed's face again with a merciless uppercut, Ed
grabbed hold of his hand and forearm and pull him forward. Both of them fell into the water. As the
two of them fought in the water, neither of them noticed that something in the water was pulling
both of them further out into the lake. It was only when both of them noticed that they couldn't feel
the ground beneath them anymore that they realized how far they were from dry land, but at that
moment that didn't matter. Their fight continued as they tried to drown each other.
Meryll and Lavonne weren't showing Lou any mercy. He was being taught the hard way that he
should never have underestimated the power and determination of a woman. He tried to block
Lavonne's punches, but at the same time he tried to get Meryll off of his back. He grabbed hold of
Lavonne and they began to struggle. With Meryll still on his back, the three of them stumbled
towards the water.
Clyde and Ed were so busy trying to kill each other that neither of them noticed all the movement
beneath the surface of the water. Beneath their feet, five small shapeless white things were moving
in a circle. Ed managed to punch Clyde, but when Clyde tried to grab hold of his arm, something
pulled Ed away from him. Mr macho-muscle-man Ed was powerless. He gave one final loud scream
before something pulled him under water. Even though Clyde was left completely dumbstruck by
what he had just witnessed, he immediately turned around and began swimming when he saw how
Meryll and Lavonne were fighting with Lou.
Lou pushed Lavonne away from him before he grabbed hold of Meryll's forearms and pulled them
off of his throat. Meryll fell on the ground but got back up again and screamed as she began beating
her fists on Lou's back. He swung his fist at Lavonne, but she grabbed him by his wrist and pulled
him forward just as Meryll pushed him from behind – sending him stumbling into the water.
Clyde finally reached the others, but before he could do anything to Lou, something strange
happened right before their eyes. Around Lou's feet, there was movement in the water before the
water itself formed what looked like hands which grabbed hold of Lou's ankles and dragged him
deeper into the lake. Scared witless by what they were witnessing, Clyde grabbed hold of Meryll's
hand as they started running towards the van with Lavonne following close behind them. All three
of them stopped close to the van and looked back when they heard Lou's screams.
Lou was still being pulled further into the lake. With his arms waving as he was screaming for
help, something slowly pulled him under water right in the middle of the lake.
Clyde got into the van and found the key still in the ignition. He started the engine as Meryll and
Lavonne got into the back of the van. With all that had just happened, the only thing Clyde could
think of to say was, “Hold on honey! Next stop, Denver!” before he began racing down the dirt
road. Meryll and Lavonne were both crying as they were holding each other. Lavonne didn't know
anyone in Denver, but she didn't care, as long as she could phone the police and inform them of all
the other girls who Lou kept as prisoners at his truck stop so that the girls could be freed.
Clyde noticed the old briefcase on the floor on the passenger side, but he didn't think much of it at
first because he was still trying to understand what he had witnessed at the lake. Little did he know
that a little more than $13,000 of Lou's dirty money was in the briefcase.
Back at the lake, something strange was happening beneath the surface of the water. Close to
where Lou and Ed's bodies were at the bottom of the lake, there were four more bodies of young
women who Lou had kept as prisoners at his truck stop and killed when they tried to escape. One by
one, the souls of the four dead women at the bottom of the lake and the dead woman floating on the
water began to escape their watery prison in the form of five small puffs of white smoke that rose
out of the water and vanished into thin air.