Fear the Lake

Fear the Lake


An Invitation-

The fisherman place a tub of squirming insects on the convenience store counter.
"It rains when the fish come out. No, I don't mean the fish come out when it rains- I mean those fish are so big it make God cry. Big fish. And snakes. And a couple of alligators are in there."
"You're kidding me."
"Nope, the lake right off Sans Lane."
Two bearded fishermen at the convenience store were talking about Stephanie's house again. The one built on the lake that no one could swim in.
She wasn't sure about the alligator, but Stephanie had said there were plenty of snakes. And the fish were big... If you reel in a line, in the one in ten times you don't pull back a snake, you could catch a fish about three feet long.
Of course you couldn't eat it, the water is so polluted you could dip in a log in and draw a toothpick back out. Only in Alabama.
"And probably a dead body or two." Jordan said to the middle-aged fishermen; half joking- half not.
The two men's eyes glistened with a new story to tell at the water cooler on Monday. Jordan paid for the box of chocolates he came for and left for the deli.
The red, heart-shaped box was for a girl named Stephanie Fisher. She often came to the deli where Jordan waited tables. Stephanie had a full, pretty face and figure. She was half Puerto Rican, half white, and had long, shiny, black hair. They had spoken at length, and Jordan had fallen for her lively charm.
Stephanie also lived on the supposedly haunted lake house, and despite her sunny disposition, she had a dark air of mystery about her. The kind Jordan was drawn to.
Whether or not the lake house was haunted was debatable. In Jordan's opinion -it had to be. As a child he had fought a few demons of his own, and he knew the signs of a haunting.
Stephanie was quiet when asked about her home or past. All Jordan knew about her family was that she grew up with her grandparents, and she had an adopted sister named Sandra.
Sandra was three years younger than her. Stephanie's grandparents recently moved into an assisted living home, and Stephanie now looked after Sandra.
Jordan would spend about thirty minutes average taking her order, and got to know Stephanie well over the past few months.
"Hey dumplin'!" She called from her table as he walked in.
"Hey." Jordan replied "Wacha been up to?"
"Well...I'm still packing up Grandpa and Mema's things... it's kinda sad."
"Is there much left?"
"Yeah...I need some help. You wanna help me? "She asked, and then laughed.
Jordan wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but he hoped she was. "Sure I'll help- what time do you want me to come over?" He didn't bother asking directions (everyone knew where the creepy house off Sans Lane was) but later he thought maybe he should have asked to seem polite.
"I guess you know about half a mile off Sans Lane. The only house built on the lake."
"Right" He said coolly.
"What time do you get off work?"
"Seven" he answered.
"I'll see you then? After a lemon pie?" She smiled her characteristically warm smile.
"Definitely." He said before he could stop himself.


Night Fishing-
"It was warm and muggy as Jordan drove into her driveway. He brought the box of chocolates with him, justifying the act thinking "a gentleman would never come empty-handed to a ladies' house. Or was that only at dinner parties?"
His shoe sank into the moist, sticky, ground- coating his nicest shoes in muck. He would surely have to take them off before he went inside. Jordan rang the doorbell as he tried to remember if his socks matched. They didn't.
"Hey!" Stephanie gave him a hug. "Oh." She said, noticing his socks. "Sorry about my mud. Come in."
Her house was nice. Older, but spacious and smelt like a musty potpourri.
"Are those for me?" He nodded. "Thank you! I'll put them in the kitchen."
The graying wooden floors had probably been down since the house was built, and there were remnants of her grandparents having lived there. Old wedding photos and classic books neatly arranged on a shelf.
As he walked closer to the books he realized they weren't classic tales at all. Titles such as ‘Wiccan Rituals' and ‘The Encyclopedia of Pagan Spells' glistened in peeling gold lettering.
The floors creaked as he stepped closer, Stephanie turned around and caught him staring unabashedly.
"My Mema and Grandpa have some weird books... when they moved it was too many to pack up. Plus they sort of go with the house. My grandparents believed this house was haunted and stuff. Do you believe in ghosts?"
Jordan was surprised by the question although he did, in fact, believe in ghosts. He had seen creatures of the night as a younger child. He wondered if Stephanie had seen some of the same things he had.
"Yes." He finally answered.
"When I was a little girl" Stephanie began, "I just knew this house was haunted. I told my grandparents about it and they just put some rocks around my room. Isn't that something?!"
"At least they believed you. My dad just thought I was making things up when I was a kid." Jordan knew he had said too much.
"I've already packed enough for today. You can stay and keep me company though."
"I'd be glad to" Jordan said.
"You know if this darn lake weren't so polluted I'd ask you to go for a dip with me. ‘Course we can cast a line all the same... you ever gone night fishing?"
Jordan was excited by her enthusiasm, and agreed. They cast their lines outside on a hill. The open, cloudless sky made Jordan feel less shy himself.
He asked her to tell him more about when she was a little girl. He asked because he was genuinely interested, but first she said he would have to tell her more about his past.
Jordan searched for something he could tell her. He couldn't lie, but he also couldn't tell her about his abusive home life.
A scene flashed before his eyes. A used bottle chosen among the wreckage, tossed low and hard towards a younger him.
"Oops. I thought you were a trashcan..." His father's words echoed, but were cut off by Stephanie's expectant gaze.
"Oh Hell." Jordan's words slipped out before he could stop them. The only thing he knew to do was to tell her about a haunting of his own.
"Well when I was in middle school -about eleven or twelve- my room would get really cold... and then... the bed would seem like it was vibrating and... I saw a demon."
She nodded as if what he was telling her was common knowledge.
"It was like it could read my mind and almost... invade my thoughts."
"So what did it look like?"
Jordan recalled the demon's skin that had seemed to be burnt all over and its hollowed nasal cavities. It's gangly body was just a skeleton covered in tough, scorched flesh. He couldn't see its eyes... but they were there somehow, intangible.
"I don't remember." So much for not lying.
Jordan stared out into the lake as it's shadowed ripples contorted into the eyeless face of his past. This house was haunted. There was no question about it.

The Reel In-
The face disappeared as a soft plunk occurred. When Jordan turned around he saw a frail, thin girl, even shorter than Stephanie. At six feet, Jordan was at least two heads taller than her.
Her long, white-blond hair and pretty, round face eluded him to the fact that this was Sandra. Although Jordan knew Sandra was sixteen, he still thought she looked about thirteen or fourteen.
Her blue eyes and pale skin glowed in the light of the moon. Her thin, weak frame matched her soft voice when she spoke.
"Can I fish with ‘yall?"
Jordan moved to make room for Sandra to sit by Stephanie. They sat there for a while not saying anything, until Jordan broke the silence rather ineloquently.
"Your hair's in the dirt." He said to Sandra, and then picked up her luminous hair showing her the dirt in it.
She ignored him, realizing she had a bite and left him holding her hair in his fist. Stephanie got really excited. Sandra handed him the reel when it got too hard for her to turn.
Jordan let go of her and awkwardly reeled in the ugliest fish he'd ever seen in his life.
"It's got teeth!" Stephanie squealed.
"W- What do I do?!"
Sandra took his wrist, leading his hand towards the jaws of the carnivorous fish.
"I- I..." he tried to argue, but couldn't bring himself to let such a small girl unhook such a vicious fish.
He pinched its cold, scaled jaws together and tore out the hook. Jordan always found the idea gruesome for the fish but in this case- the fish would've killed him if it could. Afraid of its sharp teeth, Jordan threw the fish on the ground for it to flop aimlessly.
"Stay here, we'll take it to the kitchen."
"I thought you said you couldn't eat the fish."
Stephanie and Sandra turned around before they could answer. And instead of staying put- he followed with the sense of something being off.
The fish-beast was flopping so loudly in Stephanie's hands that he was sure they couldn't hear his steps as he followed. He listened at the door.
"I don't see why we can't just offer your snake- then we wouldn't have to do this tonight."
"We can't get rid of her"
"That snake is gonna bite you, Sandra."
"No. Besides this fish will do fine."
"Are you doing the offering again tonight?"
"Yeah, I'll do it."
He heard a chop and darted back outside before he was discovered. He waited there in the muggy dark for some time, wondering what they could be doing.


Sandra's Snake-
They fished and conversed for about an hour, and after catching nothing they went inside. Jordan said goodbye not wanting to overstay his welcome.
As he drove home he noticed a long, silvery hair on his shirt and hesitated before picking it off. He went to bed that night with the memory of the strange conversation he'd overheard.
Back at work later the next day, he noticed Stephanie looked like something was bothering her.
"More packing to do?"
"No I'm just worried about my baby sister."
"Sandra? What's wrong?"
"She has this snake for a pet and I'm afraid I'll bite her."
"Oh." Jordan said, trying to look surprised.
"Yeah I just don't like having it in the house. Could you... no..." she cut off.
"What? Do you need something?"
"No I just had you over to help me. Do you mind?"
"You know I don't."
"I'm scared to move it myself."
"Do you want me to kill it or just let it go?"
"Either one. She gets home from school around four today."
"Okay, I get off at three; I can drive to your house from here and um..." Jordan raised his eyebrows. She nodded.
The shovel in his trunk rattled as he pulled in her unpaved driveway. The house looked different in the day, and the wet mud from the night before had caked over.
He figured the shovel would be the only tool he would need as it was good for chopping as well as cleanup. Stephanie greeted him at the door.
"Jordan's pest control."
He felt guilty about killing someone's pet, but since it was for her safety he felt it was the right thing to do.
"She caught the snake when our grandparents moved out. I tried to get her a hamster or something, but she wouldn't have it."
That didn't make Jordan feel any better, but he knew he had to do the right thing and protect Sandra. He and Stephanie went upstairs and into Sandra's bedroom. The walls were beige with constellations painted in black dots.
Scarves hung over lamps and heavy books stood in droves on a shelf. There were burnt candles among them. Beside the shelf in a terrarium, was a long black snake.
Why this snake was chosen was unapparent to him. It seemed the complete opposite of sweet Sandra. Then again, he supposed everyone had their own skeletons in the closet.
Speaking of closets, as Stephanie reached into Sandra's, Jordan noticed bowl of what appeared to be blood by the door. But he didn't ask, and Stephanie didn't tell. Their only focus now was the snake.
Stephanie grabbed one of Sandra's jeans and before Jordan could stop her- she had reached into the glass case. Jordan yelled stop, catching her off guard. The snake, however, was just as alert as ever. And it did, it bit her.
She screamed and squeezed the snake, breaking its neck. Jordan, who felt like the village idiot, carried her down the stairs and into his car. Their next stop was the E.R.
Jordan hadn't been to the E.R. since he was a kid. He had gotten pneumonia, and had gone so long without treatment that he almost died.
He remembered telling his dad at three in the morning he couldn't breathe. By three-thirty, he had turned blue enough to be treated.
It took about an hour longer until Stephanie was in that bad of shape. The doctors said that without any anti-venom Stephanie would only ‘be with us' a few more days.
Jordan had made some mistakes in his life, but he had never gotten anybody killed. He went back to the house in desperate search of Sandra.

The Catch-
"I knew something bad would happen after you heard us in the kitchen. Did Stephanie help you kill my snake?"
"Sandra... Stephanie's in the hospital and we need some anti-venom from the snake. If we don't get any she could die. Do you know what kind of snake it was?"
"I have the anti-venom."
"Perfect-"
"No... not perfect. You got my sister bitten. Trying to kill something of mine behind my back. I'll give it to you- but I want something from you in return."
"Anything."
"A witch's blood bond."
"A what?"
"It'll connect you to me as if I'd known you my entire life."
"Why?"
"You wanna know why? I'm lonely."
Jordan felt like he understood her pain. "What about your sister?"
"She's gone a lot, plus we're just not that close. You wouldn't understand."
"You'd be surprised."
She looked at him as if there was no way.
"You may be a little off" he said, "but I'd keep you company. Even if you didn't have anything I needed."
"You'll understand why I need you in a while."
She pulled out a strand of blond hair from her head. She stood close to him for a moment, and then pulled out a brown hair of his. She sat on her bed, twisting the strands together.
"What are you doing?"
"You'll see."
Sandra lit a candle on her night stand with a metal lighter. She pulled out a small lighter from the same drawer she got the lighter from.
"Turn out the lights." She said.
He obeyed, growing more nervous by the second. When the last light was out and only the candles flicker remained- she held the strands of hair above the flame. They singed with a burning smell.
"False angel..."she began. "Show me your true self,"
The demon of Jordan's now sat in the corner of Sandra's room. Its hollowed eyes bore into his soul, and the fact that Jordan had been afraid of Sandra only moments earlier, now seemed ludicrous.
It squatted inhumanly yet with grace on its long, scorched legs. Its arms were rested on its knees and its chin rested on its fingers.
Like a spiritual vulture, he felt it yearn for something more precious than his body. Sandra took his hand. He didn't feel the blade of the knife- just the cool trickle of blood as it flowed from his cut skin, to a puddle on the floor.
He heard a ‘plink' with each drop that hit the floor. By the third ‘plink'; he realized that Sandra's soft hand was bleeding with his.
She pulled their hands over the candle, and their blood put out the flame. She turned on the lights. Jordan was speechless. He could feel the cold sweat on his face, and the warm blood drying on his hand.
"Here" She said, pulling a tube out of the drawer, "Go help her."
"You're coming with me." He said, not knowing why.
Still shaking, he put his car in drive. The doctors didn't ask much about the vile. Surprisingly, they just did their jobs. Sandra and Jordan waited by Stephanie's bed.
"It's the demon of neglect." Sandra said.
"How do you know all this?"
"Our house isn't haunted." She answered. "I am."
"Why?"
"I know as well as you do. I guess some people are just more inclined."
"But you saw it too?"
"I've seen it before."
Stephanie stirred in her sleep.
"They say she'll be fine."
"I know." Sandra said. "You're not interested in her anymore, are you?"
"No." He answered honestly
"You're not going to tell her about the bond, are you?"
"No." Honestly he said again.
"You're not even afraid of me?" She smiled.
"A little." Jordan said. "But you don't need to be alone.
"Thanks" At least now you don't have to fear the lake."
He smiled back at her thinking how crazy it was to fear the lake...