Around The Lake
How far would you go for the one you love?
What a day, I thought as I pulled the car into the driveway. I put the car in park and exhaled, releasing the stresses of the week, ready to breathe in the sweet release of the weekend.
“I made it through another week!” I exclaimed as I entered the house. Silence greeted me. Not the reception I was expecting. I tossed my keys on the hallway table by the front door.
“Suiko?” I called out. Nothing. Odd, I thought. It’s not like her to not answer.
SLAM!
The sound of a door slamming, drew my attention to the stairs.
“Hun?” I call out to my wife again. “This isn’t funny. It’s kind of weird.” I head upstairs. The door to our bedroom is closed. Also odd. I hear a sound from behind it like a woman gasping.
“Suiko!” I burst through the door to find the room completely empty. I look around, checking the closet and under the bed as if expecting to find my wife hiding from me like a children’s game. I get to my feet and notice a folded piece of paper on my nightstand. My name is written on it. I pick it up and read the note inside.
“Sam, I’ve gone home to visit my family. I do hope you didn’t forget. Sorry, I left before you came home. I couldn’t get a later flight. See you in a few days. I love you.”
“Damn! Of course!” I said to myself aloud. It must’ve slipped my mind. I’d never been to her family home before. I’ve always wanted to visit Japan, but in the two years we’ve been married, Suiko insisted on visiting her home alone. She promised me that one day she would not only take me to see the place where she grew up, but also some of the more touristy locations in the country. But until then, I periodically had a weekend to myself in her absence. Still, there was an odd feeling I just couldn’t shake.
Just then, my phone rings. It’s Suiko.
“Hello, Love. Got your little note. I completely forgot -” The sound of sobs on the other end of the call cut my greeting short.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” I ask, my tone turning serious. All I could hear was crying and whispered mumbling.
“Babe, I can’t understand you. What’s going on? Are you okay?” The weeping whispers continued until they didn’t. Then the call simply ended. I tried to call back but the line was busy. How convenient. Welp, there was no way I was going to just sit here for the rest of the weekend and pray she comes back safe and sound. Three hours later, I’m on a very expensive last-minute flight to the other side of the world. Virtually no idea where I’m going. All I have to go on was a description Suiko gave me when we were still dating.
“Southern tip of the southern-most island. A beautiful home at the edge of a crisp blue lake.”
“Sounds wonderful,” I said to her across the dinner table. “I would love to see it one day. She smiled at me. And that was when I knew she was the one.
My flight is restless and uncomfortable. I tried calling her again at the airport, to no avail. It’s taking all of my strength not to turn off airplane mode and try her again, 30,000 feet in the air, come what may. I’m tired, physically more than mentally. Without sleep, my body is begging me for a break, but my mind is racing itself like a NASCAR time trial. Eleven hours later, I’m racing through a Japanese airport, looking for rental car kiosks. I run up to the first one I see and point to the picture of the first car on their list. I’ll take whatever they have. As long as it has an engine and four wheels.
I grab a map on the way out and head South. The map of the island I was on had one pretty obvious lake at the southern tip. That was my destination. It’s about an hour’s drive, less at the speed I’m traveling. I barely notice the time or the setting sun. All I could think about was what I might find. What could have happened? Did she get into an accident? Was she kidnapped and trying to call for help? Did she get into a huge fight with her family and have nowhere to go and nobody to talk to? My mind raced with endless possibilities.
What did I even expect to accomplish when I got there? Was I just going to find her, throw her in the car, and take the next flight back home? Probably. I would try at least. Whatever trouble she was in out here, surely it couldn’t follow us back across the globe. Before I know it, the lake emerges before me. It’s so dark and there are no street lights, but I can see the car’s headlights reflected off the water. A fog creeps in from the distance, as if the lake itself exhaled the thick mist. My phone rings. I struggle to pull it from my jacket pocket, trying not to swerve on the dark, narrow road.
“Hello? Suiko? Are you there?” I hear Suiko sobbing and mumbling something in Japanese. I curse myself for not sticking to my Japanese classes. She’s mumbling something over and over and I can’t understand her.
“Sweetheart, what are you trying to tell me? Please, tell me you’re okay. I’m almost there!” Tears stream down my face and a lump lodges itself in my throat. I’d do anything for this woman, yet I feel so utterly helpless. I press the gas down to the floor and the car roars as it picks up speed.
“I’m coming! I’ll be there soon!” I cry into the phone.
“NO!” She suddenly screams. The surprising sound pierces my eardum like a knife, forcing me to wince in pain and pull away from the phone. Instinctively, I shut my eyes and as I open them, the figure of a woman appears in the road. Her long black hair looks damp and matted and shes in a white gown. Suiko? I wonder just as I realize I’m going way too fast to brake and instead, swerve off the road, missing her by mere inches.
I slam on the brake anyway, but it does me no good, the car plows through shrubbery and careens into the lake. Everything goes black.
When I come to, I realize I’m sitting in water. I look around but its so dark. The car is resting at a sharp incline and I realize I’m in the lake. I fight to stave off the panic, but I’m quickly losing the battle. Its so dark…and so cold. How a lake could be this cold in the middle of July, I have no idea.
THUD!
Something slams into the car, cracking the windshield. It moved too fast for me to see and it’s way too dark. I wait a moment to see if it comes back. Might have just been a huge fish bumping into the car. Dark as it is, it may have just been an accident. Whatever it was, I have to get out of here before it comes back and finishes what it started.
I undo my seatbelt and kick out the windshield, bracing myself as the cold lake water crashes in. The water is dark as ink and feels almost as thick. With a deep inhale, I force myself out through the windshield and kick with all my might. Breaking the surface of the lake, I take in a deep breath of fresh air and make for the bank where my car left the road. Back on solid ground, I look around for the woman I almost ran down, but the road is deserted. The fog is in full force now and somehow seems to add to the cold. My clothes are soaked and I’m shivered from head to toe. I look back out to the lake and it’s so calm, you would never believe a car just sank in it. Looks like I’m walking.
Not sure how much farther I have to walk. I know the house should be at the other end of the lake. It’s at least a few miles away. I pull my phone from my jacket pocket, its soaked, but somehow still working. No signal…nevermind. Better keep it moving. The dark road and whistling wind reminds me of the story of Sleepy Hollow. Can’t help but listen for the clop-clop of the Headless Horseman emerging from the darkness. Need to focus but the cold is making it difficult.
“SAM!” What sounds like my name whispered in my ear is just the wind blowing, or so I hope. I look around, toward the tree-line, trying to find some semblance of life in the distance. My mind must be playing tricks on me now, because I could’ve sworn I just saw a woman disappear into the thicket. Could’ve been the same woman I almost hit with my car.
“Hello?” I call out, but nobody answers. Just the wind whispering sweet nothings to my nearly hypothermic brain. What if I never find this place? What if I’m destined to wander in circles until I freeze to death or this darkness swallows me whole. I don’t know if I can go on any longer. Feels like I’ve been walking for an eternity. And its just so damn cold!
I look up, and to my surprise, the house stands before me. However, its not at all what I imagined. It looks old, empty, abandoned even. No lights, no cars, no voices. Doesn’t matter. If Suiko is in there, I’m going to find her. I walk up the creaky steps and approach the front door. I’ve never been here before, who am I to judge how it looks on the outside? I knock on the door and it groans loudly as it slowly swings open. That’s always a good sign. The door sounded like it was ready to fall off its hinges. I look around as I enter what must be some sort of living room. Everything is decrepit and covered in cobwebs. Windows are broken. Walls and floors are rotting. It looks as if it hasn’t been inhabited in years.
A crunch underfoot stops me in my tracks. I look down to find a small photo on the ground, the frame broken. I pick it up and examine the sepia-colored photo. A Japanese man and woman in old traditional garb pose on what looks like a dock. Strangely enough, the eyes of the man and woman look like they’ve been burned out. The sound of sobbing draws my attention away from the photo. It’s coming from the back of the house!
“Suiko!” I run through the dilapidated lakehouse, to a door at the back. The sobbing intensifies and I rush outside behind the house. A dock lies before me, stretching out into the eerie, foggy blackness that is the infamous car-swallowing lake. I realize its the dock from the photo. I can tell from here it’s old and in bad shape. Boards are warped, some broken or missing entirely. The sobbing continues and it’s coming from the end of the dock. I can just barely make out the silouette of a woman standing at the edge.
“Suiko!” I call again and the sobbing stops, it must be her! I run out to the dock and Suiko turns toward me.
“You came!” she says in a voice that doesn’t quite sound like her. It’s a little too raspy but carries the same lilt Suiko has in her voice when she’s excited about something. She holds out her arms and I’m utterly compelled to enter them. I run toward her, the fog blocking my vision. I stumble on a broken board and can feel the jagged wood cut into my leg. Fortunately, it’s so cold that I’m numb to a great deal of the pain. I struggle to my feet, weak from the accident and the walk, when I hear a splash a few feet away. No! I think to myself. She must’ve fallen in! I limp to the edge of the dock, avoiding more busted boards. As I peer into the inky blackness, my phone rings.
“Hello?” I answer, completely bewildered.
“Honey? Oh thank goodness I reached you. I’m so sorry, I didn’t call sooner. My phone died and I left my charger home.”
“Suiko?” Was all I could utter through my hazy confusion.
“I had to go buy a new one. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Her sweet, melodic voice cut through my exhaustion.
“I-it’s fine. No worries. I came to see you,” I stammer. “After you called, I came right away. I’m here at your family home now. O-on the dock.”
“Sam, I didn’t call you, I couldn’t have. My phone was dead. And you’re not on the dock, I’m standing on it right now talking to you. How would you even know where to go? I’ve never brought here.”
“It’s just like you told me. House on the lake at the southern-most tip of the southern-most island,” I reply, feeling light-headed.
“Northern-most island,” she corrected.
“Then who’s house is this?” I ask, looking around.
“Sam, you need to leave, right now!” she says, her tone instantly turning serious. “There is an old legend of a house on a lake to the south where a family was murdered. They say the daughter did it because her body was never found. There have been disappearances around the lake ever since.”
A chill ran down my spine and my breath was visible in the crisp night air. “How long ago was this?” I ask.
“About 70 years ago,” She answers. “Sam, honey, please get out of there now!”
I turn away from the lake, heeding her words, only to see a woman before me. She was hunched over and her black hair covered her face. She wore a soaking wet, white gown. I had just enough time to inhale before she was upon me. She moved so fast. She wrapped her hands around my neck and her fingers felt like icicles digging into my skin. She whipped her head back and stared at me with bright, bloodshot eyes. The pupils dilated to tiny dots, as if to prevent any light from entering those dark windows.
She pulled me in close and bellowed a banshee scream. My ears deafened and I could feel a liquid dripping from either side of my head. It felt like a hot knife was cutting through clean through my skull. I drop the phone and heard it plop into the water.
“Sam? What was that? Sam? SAM!?” I could barely hear Suiko calling to me through the phone. Her voice fadeding away as it began to sink. I could barely lift my head anyway, let alone call for help. The pressure on my neck dissipated as the cold numbed my skin. I could feel myself being dragged, but the sensation grew lighter and lighter. I entered the water, unable to move a muscle. A tiny light in the distance below was the only thing illuminated in the blackness of the lake. The grip around my neck tightened and I could feel the embrace of the creature around my body. The little light in the distance winked out and I knew my phone was gone.
I was fully enveloped by the cold and could no longer feel anything at all. The darkness so complete, there’s no way to tell if my eyes are open or closed. It no longer matters.