Short Story: The World Below

 A Short Story. 

Lake Serenity painted infinite hues of red the day she chose the sea.  

Kara Wright was her name. A woman sworn to the sea, sworn to the language of waves that prevailed over the echo of Luis’ gravelly voice stay away from the water, the lake is off limits. But he didn’t understand, she had hair like killer waves and moved with such grace, like the beach where the water flows just softly enough to caress your toes.  

It was the third week of August. Summer was drawing to a heart-wrenching end and like many Kara, Carmela and Wren did all they could to cling onto the warm season. So, with a thrilling blare of her car horn, Carmela was well on her way to her grandfather Luis’, treasured cabin. He was wary, and at first Carmela didn’t understand. Perhaps he worried for burglars, or the power being out since the residence wasn’t accompanied by any neighbours. However, from the dark frown that danced on his lips, she’d fed the flame of fear that burned in his stomach.   

“So, your grandfather hasn’t visited since...?” Kara queried. Her dark, dreamy eyes roam from the soil to the tip of the roof.  

Carmela, spectating in an identical way, leans against the driver’s side of the ancient mustang, opposite of Kara. “Since the summer he went missing. No one has.” Lighting a cigarette, her memories of childish, exhilarating joy at Lake Serenity was a blur — faces, brisk air, bonfires all replaced with search parties and tears. Determined to create happier memories, she was determined to host the girls’ weekend getaway at the beautifully crafted home.  

They had roamed every inch of the space designated for them, all except the lake. The forbidden lake of which Kara’s bilious brown eyes never skipped over. Sometimes, she’d stand by the window, lurking like a predator over the glacier waters. She could feel the waves beckon her with each steady ripple — tug, tug, tugging her an inch closer as each day passes.  

With the blaze lighting up the night, softly warming their simple faces and rushing to their core, the bonfire kept them company every night.  

“Ghost story anyone?” Wren asked. Her eyebrows raised offensively as a chorus of heavy groans repressed the crickets chirping. The duo wasn’t entirely in favour of her poorly told stories. “This one will be different.” She prevailed.  

As Wren hunched over in suspense, her eyes bulging out of their sockets every now and then, Kara’s eyes flitted to the placid lake. A white shape emerged contrastingly from the pitch black. The longer she stared into the far distance, the more she could decipher that the white shape was attached to a stringy disarray of hair and dark pools for eyes. Slowly tilting her head curiously, Kara pays attention to the still movements of the woman — never once averting her sight from her opponent’s flint-eyed gaze.  

“Kara? Kara.”  

“Hm?” Jolting up, the mystified woman blinked furiously. 

“You were gone for a second." 

“Longer than a sec. Are you okay?” 

“I don’t know. I saw something, out... there.” Her voice trailed. She was gone. A stranger so fascinating yet so dangerous. She had so many questions. Letting her arm fall loosely by her side, Kara was confused. “That’s weird. I swear she was right there.”  

“She?” Carmela grew slightly worried. “We’re the only ones around here, at least for a mile.”  

Kara instantly decided to drop it, blaming it on the glass of wine. Perhaps she’d been seeing things, after all without the fire it would have been pitch black. Perhaps, the fierce fire conspired with Wren — conjuring a woman of water to frighten her.  

That wasn’t the first of Lake Serenity’s anomalies.  

Kara’s uneasiness dissipated with the bright morning that rolled around. From the faint image of her face against the window, the beams of light enhanced the bronze shade of her blemished skin. Sliding the glass door open, the sharp salty smell of the air tickled her nostrils and shifted her gaze to the culprit at hand. The lake was bluer than yesterday, bluer than the day they arrived — so blue and so inviting, she wanted nothing more than to let the slow rhythm of the waves guide her along.  

Throwing her chin on her shoulder, Kara's ever-growing smile, traced with hints of eagerness and mischief, prompted the eyebrows of her friends to lift curiously.  

“Kara, no.” Carmela warned. Her grandfather was very clear in his rules.  

“Come on.” She urged, “Don’t act like you didn’t bring bathing suits.”  

How foolish she was to assume she was powerful than the lake and it’s obscure tale.  

Water moved around the bare limbs of the women, summoning soft ripples and a feeling of liberty. It envelops Carmela’s once tense body and pushes away the anxiety disguised as a warning. They treaded the tranquil waters until their fingers turned as wrinkly as an old parchment, until they had enough — all except one.  

“You guys go ahead. I’m going to stay back for a second.”  

“Don’t get swallowed up.” Wren quipped, rashly lifting her body up onto the deck.  

Like every twilight, the trees dance to a soft tune, dark greens casting over the house. As they watch her float like a starfish, Kara breathes in the clean, crisp air. Like a sweet song for the eyes, the blue haze of the day entertained her with its enthralled stars. So enthralling, she almost missed the sudden sting on her right arm.  

Oozing from her frigid skin, fresh, thick, red liquid leaked into the dark waters. In a frantic matter, Kara lifted her body right ways as she examined the cut. Inky claws of some kind had engraved a deep mark into her skin. Barely giving her enough time to collect her disarrayed emotions, it happens again, and again, and again. Her legs, her back, her feet. Until she’s left thrashing violently in the circle of frothing water. Until the red stained water mocks her pain and anguish.  

An eerie stillness flooded the atmosphere. Kara’s heart hammered against her ribs. Her legs felt like jelly as they struggled to bring her back towards the star-speckled sky. A cry tore from her throat, a cry for her friends’ attention in the warmly lit cabin. Instead, it caught the attention of her predator.  

There wasn’t time for her eyes to adjust to the swift change of scenery. Distant music, chatter, birdsongs, they didn’t exist down below. Kara wasn’t just drowning. Something or rather someone was dragging her down. And as she opened her eyes, her gaze fixated on a creature — a creature that lit up the murky waters with a flaming plume that scorched evil and withered it.  

Kara’s eyes stung with how wide her brown orbs expanded. This siren-like monstrosity possessed dark strings of hair, cruel knives for teeth that brought out a hair-rising sense of mischief, and gleaming brown eyes. In all her twisted beauty and disfigurement, it was like looking in a mirror.  

All illusions of surviving sunk with her lifeless body, taking her thoughts and burying them beneath the seabed.  

Water drips from the naked, cold body of Kara’s replacement — eccentric eyes roaming the forbidden land from the end of the dock.  

“Kara?” A distant voice travelled.  

Blinking furiously, the being tilted her head.  

“We heard screaming. What — where are your clothes?”  

Like a newborn deer, she places one foot in front of the other, passing the concerned pair.  

The sea connects everything, after all, it gives as well as takes. Death to life and light to darkness.