The lake always gives off that feeling like you’re never alone, or at least that’s what Amanda always thought since the first time she had come here. She thought back to the first time she ever visited the lake:

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒌𝒆.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕.

𝑰𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒃𝒆, 𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.

𝑨𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒐𝒐 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏...𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒂𝒔, 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐.

Amanda had heard about the grizzly murders that took place years ago. A bunch of girls on a camping trip, suddenly disappeared without a trace…until two years later, when a hunter came across what looked like a mutilated animal that had been long dead. Upon closer examination though, he realized it was human remains. After many tests by the police and forensics, it was determined that it was the human remains of a young girl, so badly butchered it was almost impossible to to tell that was human…𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕.

What gave it away was a distinct piece of clothing worn by one of the girls. A medical bracelet. The bracelet caution that it’s owner was asthmatic, and the paramedics be called immediately if an attack was taking place. It was badly faded but the police were still able to make out what it said. Said girl and owner of the bracelet was Mercy Black. Amanda was surprised at that. Everyone either hated Mercy or feared her. The girl was hardly anything to be afraid of. If anything, she was a loner. Which made it all the more strange that she had been “camping” and with “other girls” doing normal things.

Mercy Black was not normal.

They never found the other girls. It’s as if they completely vanished into thin air. Nobody knows for sure who killed them or if some other force of nature had been involved. Out pure curiosity, Amanda had decided to go back, despite the unpleasant feeling she got, and do some investigating of her own.

𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑵𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻....

Amanda walked slowly and carefully along the edge of the water, her flashlight scanning the water as she passed. She was hoping to find some clue, anything that would tell her what really happened all those years ago.

𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒊𝒓.

She decided to head for the dock, but froze before she could even get close. On the very edge, legs dangling and feet barely grazing the water, sat what appeared to be a girl. Amanda could not make her features, it was too dark, but could tell it was a female by the frame of her body. She was slight, frail looking almost. She sat motionless, shoulders hunched in, as if a massive force were about to strike her down and she knew it was coming. Amanda dared to speak. “Hello?” She called into the darkness. Her voice echoed and reverberated off the water, startling her. She shined her flashlight on the figure but there was nobody there. Just as she as she was about to call out again, she heard a voice, soft and whispery.

𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆...

Before she could respond, she heard weeping, which then gave way to sobbing.

𝑯..𝒉..𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒎𝒆...

Then the girl was in front of her. The girl was her. Long dead and rotten, crying from beyond the grave. “How…” she stuttered, but couldn’t finish. She was being strangled and butchered to death by the girl that was her.