The lake lay before me still and perfect, as if it had been frozen in time. The clouds rolled across the sky and a distorted version followed across the water’s surface. It was noon, the weather was crisp and warm and my cheeks had started to turn pink. I’d craved adventure, something new, something different, something true, something real. I’d impulsively packed a picnic and driven north. I hadn’t any specific plans, just a general direction - elsewhere.
The week had been just like all the other weeks before it. Filled with the monotonous, the predictable, the boring and I had realised at some point I had become… unexceptional. Ordinary.
In a sudden desire to change things, I’d gone to the library and impulsively filled my head with big ideas that I wanted to try out. Impulse was the key criteria.
I had heard about the lake previously so perhaps I had subconsciously directed myself to it. It had seemed dark and mysterious and I hadn’t felt mysterious in a long time.
The lake was deserted apart from a small boat in the middle but it was too far away to matter. I sat beneath a large tree, the branches of which reminded me of my grandfather – old but comforting. The food I’d packed had become cold on the drive, but it didn’t matter. I felt like I was the only person in the world. The solitude and nature was what I’d been craving.
The warm afternoon sun and food had made me drowsy and I soon fell asleep. It was a deep, dreamless and refreshing sleep, like I hadn’t slept in years. I awoke many hours later and was surprised to realise night had fallen. The moon was not quite visible but its presence was a milky white glow across the water. A light breeze created small ripples. It was calm and quiet.
I tried not to panic and started to gather the picnic up, when a movement from the lake caught my eye. I thought it might have been the boat returning to shore, but it was a shadow, a tall shadow, then multiple shadows. The shadows were walking out of the lake. Although they were moving and they were close, it was silent.
I froze in horror hoping that I would suddenly become invisible. I’d wanted adventure and mystery, but not monsters.
I could make out that they had two long legs but that was it. Once they got to the rocks, they ran into the woods. I couldn’t hear branches crack or leaves rustle. It was if they were invisible. Perhaps I’d gone mad. Perhaps I was dead? I pinched myself and it hurt. But I wasn’t convinced.
They creatures didn’t appear menacing, not like the monsters I’d see in the movies. They were somewhat gracious in their long, silent strides. Although the moon was full and bright now, I never saw any of their faces. Maybe they didn’t have faces. Perhaps it was better this way; the procession was beautiful and haunting.
Transfixed and frozen in the same spot, the evening passed quickly and the purple of dawn seeped at the horizon. I’d witnessed one of the most mysterious things. Who were the creatures, where were they going and why was I still alive? My misconceptions on these creatures had been shredded to pieces, like I imagined I would have been.
The light of sunrise made it easy to walk back to the car which thankfully, was still in the parking lot. I was strangely not tired.
As I turned onto the highway, the morning news came on. It was the 1st of November. A number of mysterious deaths had occurred the previous night and police were hunting a number of what was described as hooded men. No-one had seen their faces but had seen dark shadows running off, leaving their victims with horrific injuries.
Had I been wrong about what I’d seen? As I drove I became confused, worried and sceptical. Perhaps it was coincidence. The creatures had seemed harmless.
They didn’t know I was there.
The thought lingered as I drove, glancing across into the woods, expecting every shadow to be one of them.
All of a sudden something appeared on the road up ahead. It was the monsters. I still couldn’t make out their faces, but they were standing tall in a row that stretched across the road. By the time I realised I was going to hit them and I should slow down, it was too late. I braced myself for impact.
Nothing happened. I was alone on a straight stretch of highway. The shadows had disappeared. It was all so strange, mysterious. My craving of adventure had led me into a strange place, where the real and the unreal seemed to collide.
The news reported a few days later that the police had caught the Halloween attackers and no-one else mentioned anything resembling what I had seen. I had been so close to them and was convinced that what I had seen was real and there was something that lives at the bottom of the lake.
I still don’t know what it was that I saw that night, but something draws me back each year, at the same time, to sit in the same spot beneath the old tree.
