Chapter 3

The night winds whipped across the lake, causing ripples across its black surface. Reeds whispered their nighttime secrets as the air brushed by them. The crickets Hayden had heard as he remembered his heartbreak chirped louder and more insistently in the tall grasses where the black car was parked.

On the hood of the vehicle, butts being warmed by the heat of the engine through the metal, sat two young people sipping on a bottle of wine and passing a joint back and forth. Chad Rhine loved Elizabeth Lage and had done so since first grade. Elizabeth, or Lizzie to her family and friends, knew it. They sat underneath heaven’s shiny display, letting the booze and smoke hum inside their brains.

Elizabeth stole a glance at Chad and considered his boyish good looks for a second. His gaze was out over the water, and she knew that some romantic lines were being conjured in his marijuana shrouded mind. He was safe, harmless, kind, and would be a good father. Their families had known each other for ages. Those facts alone made Elizabeth want to run screaming in the other direction. She had been varsity cheerleader in high school, girlfriend to the great Chad Rhine, but they were adults now. And high school was over.

She knew Chad would never leave this place; he loved it here. The mountains, the skiing, the “get married and settle down” routine. The thought of that depressed her. She wanted a skyline, cars, and a life paced a little faster than the movement of Lake Veronica. And she wanted to head out west to California, to San Diego, or Hollywood, and get out of this cold air.

Chad looked over at her as she watched him and knew deep in his heart what she was thinking. High school had been great; they had started dating in the tenth grade. Yet around senior year, Elizabeth had started to become more distant with him. When friends would joke about them getting married, her eyes would glaze over, and she would disappear to a place he couldn’t reach. She had the same wanderlust that infected kids in small towns the country over. Still, he loved her. His heart broke inside that she would be leaving soon, and he decided that, if he really did love her and want her to be happy, that he would have to let her go.

Besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to keep her there. When she started bringing up the subject of her leaving, he did all he could to shut her down immediately. Of course, it would end up in a fight, and then she would get quiet, her eyes taking her down the road to places away from him. Then she had started filling out college applications to universities in the south and out west. Four acceptance letters sat on her dresser; she had chosen one in California and would be starting in the spring. Hell, she could have started this fall, but he thought she’d delayed it a while to ease him into the idea of her leaving. Nothing would help the hurt that would bring, and she was starting to clue into that as well.

“When do you leave?” he asked.

She smiled sadly, brushing her long blond hair back with one hand and flicking the rest of the cherry out into the lake. As much as he smoked and drank, he knew that this conversation was going to keep him sober.

“I’m heading out in October. I have my acceptance letter to the school so I’m going a little early to get familiar with the town, to find a job and a place to live.” This was surreal. She wasn’t anticipating this going as easily, and she looked at him in wonder for a second.

“What? Oh, come on, Elizabeth. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to go out there and do amazing things,” Chad said, his eyes bright with tears. A smile was plastered on his face but it looked so painful it broke her heart. She felt tears threaten in the back of her eyes as she watched him, barely holding it together. She scooted closer and was about to say something when she heard movement in the water and high grass. She spun her head toward the origin of the sound, listening. It had gone quiet, deafeningly quiet. The crickets no longer sang. Nothing moved, not even the wind. Elizabeth felt like they were being watched. Chad hadn’t noticed, and he leaned in and took Elizabeth’s hand.

Something moved in the reeds.

“Look, I love you Elizabeth, but…”

She put up a hand to silence him. He followed her gaze out into the water and, unlike her, heard nothing.

“Chad, I heard something,” she whispered. His Mustang was parked close to the water’s edge; they had purposely parked near the high grass to keep vehicles passing by from spotting them easily. This was the make out spot for most kids, but eventually a patrol car came and shooed them away. That was the last thing she needed, for someone from her father’s goon squad to tell him that she was out at lover’s point. He would go nuclear.

“Probably a catfish,” he said, looking past her. She seemed really uneasy, so he stood up and walked over toward the lake.

“Be careful, Chad.” Her stomach was in knots. Something felt off, and she didn’t know what.

Was the pot bad?

“I got this,” he said. He could barely see in the darkness and took a step back when he thought he saw a shadow move. He called to Elizabeth over his shoulder. “Hey, turn on my headlights.”

She sat there for a second and then slid off the hood and walked over to the driver’s side door, pulling it open. He waited for her, back to the wall of tall grass. She reached inside the car, pulled the knob, and the ground in front of the car flooded with the light of the car’s yellow headlights. Chad had to raise an arm in front of his face, as his eyes had adjusted to the dark.

Elizabeth stood up to see him raise his hand and turn his head to the side as she spotted the black figure in the flora behind him. It was about a foot from Chad, its green eyes brightly lit as it reached a hand out for her boyfriend. The man was soaked, his skin unnaturally pale and bloated. His eyes bulged, and his lips were split, his tongue thick between them. One of his pupils was blown, the lid drooping. His long-ragged hair was sopping wet, and his clothing clung to him. When he raised his head and looked at her, Elizabeth let out an earth-shattering scream and pointed.

Chad jumped and turned his head to follow her finger and laid eyes upon the figure. He was about a foot taller than Chad, and he dove forward to avoid being snagged by the assailant’s grip.

“Lizzie! Get in the car!” he screamed as he crawled forward, struggling to get his feet under him. He scrambled to his feet and reached the hood of his car before he felt a cold, wet hand on the back of his neck. His head was forced down onto the hood with a heavy thud as a burst of stars clouded his vision. He could hear Elizabeth’s screams as his head was brought down again and again, breaking his nose and busting his lip, and fought to stay conscious he was tossed to the ground.

The figure stepped beyond him and headed towards Elizabeth, who had finally listened to his directions. He heard her screams muffled inside the vehicle as he rolled over onto his back. The figure stepped away from the car and walked down to grab Chad’s feet. Suddenly he knew what was going to happen to him, and he fought with all his might.

Elizabeth screamed his name over and over again inside the car. She pounded on the window as the figure started to drag Chad toward the lake’s edge. The yellow headlights cast a glow far out into the black water. She heard Chad scream as he tried to struggle out from under the man’s grasp. She watched in horror, her mind slipping away from her, as the man walked out into the center of the lake with her boyfriend in tow. The screaming and the splashing were terrible. What started as shouts for help turned to high-pitched screams and then silence, the fear shattering her mind. When they disappeared beneath the surface of the water, her mind disappeared beneath the surface of reality, never to resurface again.