HORROR
Crimson Mirror
A Tale of Terror in the Heart of Owasso’s Haunted Forest
Nestled deep within a vast forest, the tranquil village of Owasso had a lake known only in whispers and children’s nightmares: Crimson Mirror. The blood-red color that stained its waters gave its name. The people avoided it, talking of an old curse that would strike anyone who touched its surface.
Four buddies looking for the excitement of the unknown chose to camp by Crimson Mirror late fall. Young, wild, and contemptuous of the advice older residents had whispered to them, they were
The party sat around a bonfire as the sun sank, throwing a ghostly glow over the lake. The unofficial leader of the group, Alex laughed at stories about the lake’s curse. “The water gets crimson from some mineral or rusting agent. There is no such thing as curses,” he remarked, his voice brashly edged.
Sam, his best buddy, concurred, “Besides, it’s just water. How awful might it be?”
The two girls in the group, Rose and Lily, looked apprehensive at one other but said nothing. The evening was frigid, and the appeal of proving their bravery kept them near the edge of the lake.
Alex dared Sam to swim across the lake as darkness drew near. Though Sam hesitated, his companions’ jeers and encouragement drove him to strip down and wade into the red sea. His body shivered, colder than fall air, the instant his flesh contacted the surface.
As Sam swam farther out, laughter reverberated across the forest, but it was stopped short as Sam screamed bloodcurdlingly. His skin blistering and boiling as though the water itself were burning him, his pals watched in fear as he thrashed violently.
Alex tried to swim out to save him, but the same searing agony seized him as soon he hit the waters. His body covered in severe burns and blisters, he managed to drag himself back to land. Sam, meantime, was not so lucky. He disappeared under the surface, his cries resonating in the calm evening.
There was panic. Alex’s skin sloughing off in parts, Rose and Lily drew him away from the sea. Desperate and scared, they crowded together as the night became darker and colder.
From the middle of the lake — where Sam had vanished — the water started to swirl fiercely. One appeared, but it wasn’t Sam. Rising from the red depths came an ugly caricature of their comrade. Its skin was patchwork of scales and decay, and its eyes gleamed a sickly yellow. It dragged itself toward the coast, hungry in its eyes, moving with jerky, unnatural gestures.
The friends yelled, running away, but the beast was swift, unnaturally so. Lily was dragged toward the lake by it from the ankle. She was taken under the surface, the water thrashing and bubbling fiercely, masked her shouts.
Now hardly able to walk, Rose and Alex stared in terrible helplessness. The beast turned to face them, but instead of attacking it halted and slanted its head as if listening to some unheard directive. Then it slithered back into the sea, disappearing as fast as it had first shown.
morning arrived and with it a rescue squad. Rose and Alex were discovered close to death, their bodies covered in inexplicable burns and injuries. The lake was motionless and silent; its surface reflected the pale morning sky as though nothing had happened.
Taken to a hospital, the survivors were never the same. Rose’s eyes hollow and far, she declined to talk about what transpired. Driven wild by shame and suffering, Alex kept saying, “The lake… it calls us.”
Owasso turned into a ghost town, the story of Crimson Mirror darkening with every year. Under cover of mist and mystery, the lake was silent, its red waters waiting for the next soul stupid enough to upset its cursed depths. And deep in its black core, the beast watched and waited, a defender of evils unspoken.
