Black Water

A couple go to the lake to have a lovely time. But the water is just a bit more black than they expected.

Black Water

 

Lissy and Thomas drove to the lake in their beat-up old Camry, telling jokes and chatting about life. Their friends had told them about the lake: cool enough to keep the heat at bay, without being too cold to bear. All kinds of wildlife lived around the lake. Once their friends had even told them they had seen a bear, but Lissy and Thomas chose not to believe that.

When they got to the lake, they got out, unpacked their picnic basket and swimwear, and set them on the ground. They took their bathing suits and changed behind separate bushes; they were still a new couple, and not so free with each other yet.

After they were done changing, they looked around. It looked great. Birds were singing in the surrounding trees, there weren't too many pebbles, and the water look nice and cool. A couple of grey rocks on the east shore of the lake added a nice artistic touch.

They had packed two sandwiches, a couple of ice cream bars in a freezer bag, and two bottled lemonades. These they finished off with vigor; they had been driving for a while on nothing but a bag of Doritos between them.

Lissy and Thomas packed their picnic things back up and approached the lake eagerly. Suddenly, they stopped and stared at the water.

"Do you remember it being as...black as it was when we got here?" asked LIssy uncertainly.

"No, but hey, we were at a different angle then. You know how the sun can change the color of the water."

"I guess so," said Lissy, unconvinced.

"Well then, spoilsport," said Thomas with a mock frown, "I guess we won't swim right now. I wanted to have a look at those rocks over there. There's something about them..." Thomas shook his head and said no more. So they walked over to the rocks, and when they got just a few feet away, they realized what they really were. Lissy let out a squeak that wanted to be a scream, and Thomas gasped so hard he coughed afterwards.

The boulders were two rabbits, grey naturally, but even whiter than their normal color. They had small, circular puncture holes all over them, and it seemed as though all the blood was gone from their bodies.

"What did this?" said Thomas with an edge of panic to his voice. I've heard of that dumb Chupacabra thing, maybe this is it..." When Lissy looked at Thomas in puzzlment, he said, "The Chupacabra is supposedly this thing that goes around killing goats and sucking all of the blood out of them. But I realized...that's for goats, though, and I don't know what made these marks..."

"I don't know either," said Lissy, spooked. "Let's just swim and get out of here."

They looked down at the water. It was blacker than ever now, and something seemed to be moving under the surface. But Lissy jumped in.

It was deeper than she had expected, and she kicked her legs to resurface immediately, but this didn't perturb her. What did perturb her was the feeling that something slimy was all around her. She shook this off and said, "Come on in, the water's fine."

Thomas moved as though to jump in, but instead he stared at something Lissy couldn't see. She turned around.

A huge, coiling, wriggling mass of something black was speeding towards her. Before she had swam an inch, they were on her.

Leeches, she realized with panic. Leeches that were smart enough to work in a colony. The whole lake shuddered as the eels converged on her. Little nips of pain made her wince. Feeling the strength literally being sucked out of her, she stretched out a hand and said, "Thomas...help me..."

Thomas grabbed her hand and began pulling her out. But the leeches wriggled from her body onto Thomas's hand, and soon he was covered. The two swimmers were dragged to the bottom and were losing strength.

Lissy was too far gone; she sunk like a stone and lay, unmoving. However, Thomas kicked and struggled, even reached the surface once for a bit of breath. Then he was dragged under again, and he was done for.

A few minutes later, the great oily mass heaved, twisted, and threw two white, unmoving shapes upon the shore. They were unrecognizable.

 

A month later, a couple drove to the lake on a recommendation from their friends. They had a picnic there, and made comments about the water being blacker than they expected. Then they saw two white boulders.

 

End.

Author's Note

I know it was a little short, but I still think I did a good job. What about you guys?

Reviews

[James Watts]

Short but sweet. Enjoyed the read.