by Kieran Scott
Hannah struggled for breath. She couldn’t pull in air. It was like she’d forgotten how.
“Breathe, Hannah. Just breathe.” Colin got up, tromped up the stairs, and knelt next to her. “Breathe.”
Hannah gazed into his eyes and concentrated on her lungs. She took in a breath. Then another. She tried to reach out for Katie, but she misjudged the distance and caught air.
Focus, she thought. Come on, Hannah, focus.
“I’m okay,” she told Colin. “I’m okay now.”
He released her and she brought her knees up and hugged them. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth, like after a big race.
“Good. Just keep breathing,” Colin said, his hand on her back. “You’re okay. You’re okay.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself rather than her.
“No, dude, she’s not okay,” Jacob spat. “There’s some kind of … some kind of … thing in that lake! And it just attacked Alessandra.”
They all fell silent as his words hung in the air.
“What was it?” Prandya demanded. “What’s out there? Where’s Ali? Do you think she swam off somewhere and can’t get back to us? Or is she—”
She clearly couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence.
“I have no idea,” Colin said throatily.
“We have to call the police,” Prandya said, pushing herself up, her eyes wide as if she’d just come to. “Where’s my phone? Where’s my—”
“I’ll get mine.” Jacob shoved open the door and barreled into the house. He was back ten seconds later, looking stricken. “The power’s out.”
“What?” Katie said. “How?”
“I don’t know, but without the booster we can’t call … or text.” He threw his phone down hard and it bounced on the ground.
“What the hell is going on?” Colin said.
Hannah had to say something. It was too late now, clearly, but she still had to say it.
“You guys, I saw something out in the—”
“Hannah!” Katie snapped.
“In the lake,” Hannah continued, ignoring Katie. She didn’t know what the point was of keeping the secret anymore. In fact, right now, she couldn’t fathom why she’d kept it in the first place. “I saw some kind of … monster.”
Colin’s jaw stiffened. “Tell us exactly what you saw.”
Hannah stood up because she had to move—had to do something to work out her adrenaline. “It was big and gray and, I don’t know … monster-like,” she blurted. “It almost looked like a whale or … or a seal, but deformed. It rose out of the water and sort of hovered there for a second before it dove back under.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Jacob demanded. He retrieved his phone and clutched it as Hannah began to pace the porch.
“Because! I didn’t think you guys would believe me. No one else saw it but me, and I’m the one who wanted to leave, right? So I figured you guys would think I made it up,” she rambled.
Hannah paused with her back to them. It had started to rain lightly. When she looked up, the moon was obscured by clouds.
“I wouldn’t think that,” Jacob countered.
“Oh, come on, Jacob,” Hannah shot back. “Yesterday if I’d said the words lake monster you would’ve laughed in my face!”
That was when the tears started falling. Alessandra was gone— probably dead—and it was her fault. Hannah began to convulse, tears running down her face. She couldn’t get control of herself as the guilt and the fear and the anger overwhelmed her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Colin make a move toward her to comfort her, but she turned away and suddenly found herself locked in Jacob’s arms instead.
“It’s okay,” Jacob said into her hair, running his hand over the back of her head. “It’s okay, Hannah. It’s going to be okay.”
“We have to do something. If we can’t call the police, we have to get to them somehow.” The words fell out of Hannah’s mouth before she even realized she was thinking them. She clutched Jacob’s shoulders and held on for dear life as she pictured Alessandra sinking beneath the surface over and over and over again—saw the blood pool up. Alessandra’s blood.
“We can’t,” Katie spat. There was venom in her voice, even though it was still thick with tears. “The only way to get there is to go out on the water, and there’s no way I’m doing that now, are you?”
A sudden wind howled through the trees and the branches overhead cracked and squealed. Hannah began to shiver violently and Jacob held her even tighter. Colin slowly looked around, then back down toward the water. The skiff and Prandya’s kayak bobbed on the now choppy surface.
“I want to go home,” Prandya said quietly.
“Let’s do that. We’ll go to Prandya’s house,” Jacob said.
Thunder rumbled in the distance and Hannah’s stomach clenched. “But that also involves going out on the water.”
“Or if Prandya stays here, maybe her parents will come looking for her?” Katie suggested.
Prandya shook her head. Her eyes had an eerie, vacant look. “They’re not home. They had a charity event in Dearborn. And Raj is staying at Nick’s for the night. No one’ll miss me.”
Hannah’s throat itched. No one was coming to help them. No one even knew anything was wrong.
And for all they knew, Alessandra was dead.
Eventually, the rain got so bad that they had to go inside the house. But no one slept. All night long, the storm raged, and all night long Hannah and Katie tossed and turned in bed next to each other. Hannah knew her stepsister was awake, and felt totally awkward lying there in the dark not speaking, but she had no idea what to say. All she could see in her mind’s eye was Alessandra being yanked under the water, and she definitely didn’t want to talk about it.
Hannah rolled from her right side to her left for the millionth time and Katie let out a loud sigh.
“What?” Hannah said.
“What, what?” Katie replied.
“You sighed.”
“So?” Katie said. “You’ve been sighing all night.”
Hannah gritted her teeth. “I’m sorry. I just …” She took two short breaths and closed her eyes. “What do you think it is?”
There was a long beat of silence. “What do I think what is?”
“The thing in the lake. The thing that …” She couldn’t say killed. She just couldn’t. “Attacked Alessandra?”
Katie groaned and sat up straight, punching her pillow behind her to fluff it up. Hannah could barely see Katie’s outline in the darkness as she stared straight ahead.
“I don’t know,” Katie said. “You’re the brains of this operation. And you also apparently saw it. Where do you think it came from?”
“Maybe it’s some sort of fish?” Hannah suggested. “Something, like, deformed by years of swimming in polluted waters?”
“This lake can’t be that polluted,” Katie asked. “At least it doesn’t seem like it is. Especially compared to some other lakes in the world.”
“True,” Hannah said. “I bet Jacob thinks it’s an alien.”
Katie snorted a laugh. “He does love his alien invasion movies.”
It stung a bit, Katie having this insider knowledge of Jacob, but Hannah let it go. “Maybe some extraterrestrial ship visited the planet eons ago and left behind one of its own to troll Dreardon Lake for all eternity,” Hannah said, surprised by her ability to strike a light tone.
“Or maybe it’s a poltergeist,” Katie joked. “Some freaky manifestation of negative energy left behind after all those drownings in the lake.”
They both fell silent. Hannah shivered. Because somehow, that actually seemed plausible. How could that much sorrow and despair and death not have an effect on a place?
Outside, thunder crashed. The storm had only picked up since they’d come up to bed. Rain pelted the windowpane and wind lashed the house so violently, Hannah could swear she felt the structure sway beneath her. The wind whistled through the ea
ves, making a painful, howling sound that stopped her blood cold.
“Is it ever going to end?” Katie asked, glancing toward the window.
“It’s like a cruel joke,” Hannah said. “What time is it?”
“After two,” Katie said, checking her phone. She yawned. “I wish I could sleep.”
A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder punctuated her words.
Hannah grabbed her book off the bedside table and flicked on her phone’s flashlight. Maybe if she could just lose herself in the story …
“Oh, come on!” Katie said with a groan. “No way. If you want to read, go down to the kitchen.”
“Fine,” Hannah said.
She flung the covers off, nearly vibrating with anger and fear and exhaustion, then tripped on the lip of the throw rug, jamming her knee against the corner of the dresser. She cursed under her breath and fumbled for her book, which she’d dropped in the process. When her fingers found it, she grasped the spine and stood up straight again, coming face-to-face with the rain-drenched window. Another flash of lightning lit up the lake and Hannah gasped.
“What now?”
“It’s out there.”
Hannah took a staggered step backward. In the moment of light, she’d seen the monster, hulking and deformed and menacing, reaching out of the lake.
“What? You saw it again?” Katie scrambled out of bed and over to the window.
Hannah struggled to catch her breath. “Oh my God, Katie. What about Alessandra? What if she’s still out there and—”
“I don’t see anything.” Katie leaned bravely toward the window, squinting out at the night.
“Of course you don’t see anything now. It’s pitch black.”
The two of them stood at the window, waiting for another flash of lightning. Hannah’s mouth was dry and she wished fervently to be anywhere else.
Home. I just want to go home.
Lightning flashed, accompanied by a crash of thunder so loud Hannah stumbled back from the window. Katie stared, pressing her fingers to the glass.
“Did you see it?” Hannah asked. “Did you see it?”
Katie turned around slowly and looked Hannah in the eye. “Stop trying to freak me out,” she said. “There’s nothing there.”
Katie flopped back into bed and pulled the covers over her head. Hannah’s free hand curled into a fist and she clenched her teeth to keep from screaming in frustration. The monster was taunting her. That was the only explanation. But she wasn’t going to let it scare her anymore. First thing in the morning, she was getting into that boat—alone if she had to—and going to the police.
She could only hope to make it across the lake alive.
Dear Future Me,
The Summer People are starting to arrive. That’s what the locals call them: “The Summer People.” They say it with a little bit more sarcasm in their voices than they use when they say “The Winter Lodgers” or “The Foliage Folk.” It’s almost as if “The Summer People” are some evil race of zombies coming to pillage the town and eat our souls.
But they’re not. They’re really not. I can vouch for them because I’ve already met one of them and he is no zombie.
Okay, before you freak out, no, I haven’t broken up with N. But he’s been so moody lately. Ever since that night when he told me about Miranda, it’s like I never know which N I’m going to get. The N I first met who was all sweet and attentive and into me, or the N who refuses to look me in the eye and scowls all the time and actually grunts when I ask if he wants me to bring over cookies or cupcakes. Who grunts at the choice between homemade cookies or cupcakes? I care about him—I do—but I just don’t know if I can do this anymore. And I was thinking that well before S.B. came into my life. (S.B. = Summer Boy!!!)
Unlike N, S.B. walked right up to me the second we met and introduced himself. He said he’s going to be here for a few months and he wants to meet some people and I look like the kind of people he wants to meet. I mean, come on! Who says stuff like that? I was about to go on my break, so I gave him a little tour of the town, and it felt kind of nice, you know? Being the person who knew stuff for once. He doesn’t know that I haven’t even lived here a year yet, and he kept asking me all these questions about the town and I actually knew the answers. And the whole time we were together I didn’t once think about Drowning Lake or Miranda or even about N. I just had fun.
I mean, school hasn’t officially let out for us yet, but it’s almost summer, and that’s what summer’s supposed to be for, right? Fun?
The next morning, when Hannah opened her eyes and saw gray light, she was completely disoriented. She couldn’t believe she’d dozed off long enough for the night to end without her noticing. She got out of bed and the journal fell on the floor. Right. The diary. She’d retrieved it from her bag last night after Katie had fallen asleep, and had managed to read some of it before passing out herself.
Hannah shoved the diary back into her cross-body bag and went to the window. It was still pouring down rain outside, and there was so much fog clinging to the lake she couldn’t even see as far as Mystery Island.
“Katie, wake up,” Hannah said, reaching out to shake her stepsister’s shoulder.
Katie awoke with a start and her eyes went wide. “What? What’s wrong? Is Alessandra okay?”
“I don’t know.” Hannah swallowed thickly. “It’s morning.”
“Is the power back?” Katie swung her legs off the bed and tried the light switch. Nothing.
“I wonder if anyone else is up,” Hannah said. She walked into the hallway and slammed right into Jacob’s chest. The scream was halfway out of her mouth before she even realized it was him.
“Shhhh! You’ll wake up Prandya!”
Hannah smacked Jacob’s shoulder as hard as she could. Since when did anyone wake up before her?
“Ow! What did I do?” he complained.
The master bedroom door flew open just as Jacob’s door creaked open, too. Katie and Colin looked out at them from either side of the hall, Colin wide-eyed and alert, Katie annoyed.
“What’s with the yelling?” Colin grumbled.
“What’s going on?” Katie added.
“We haven’t heard from Alessandra, have we?” Hannah asked, looking from Colin to Jacob. The boys shook their heads mournfully.
“We have to go to the police,” Hannah said firmly.
“Um, yeah … about that,” Jacob said.
“Jacob! I know it’s risky going out on the lake after what happened, but we can’t just sit here,” Hannah said, her adrenaline pumping.
“I understand.” Jacob used the towel in his hands to rub at his wet hair. Apparently he’d already gotten cleaned up, and it occurred to Hannah that he might not have slept at all. “It’s just, I can’t take you. The boat’s gone.”
“What?” Hannah and Katie blurted in unison.
“It’s gone,” Jacob said flatly. “And so is Prandya’s kayak. They must have come untethered in the storm last night and floated off.”
Hannah and Katie exchanged a panicked look. Then Hannah shoved Jacob aside and ran down the stairs. Prandya was still asleep on the couch as Hannah slammed through the front door, then the screen door, and careened outside, where the rain was crashing down. Sure enough, the dock was empty. Heart pounding, Hannah jogged down to the very last wood plank, letting the rain soak her straight through. She searched the water. There was debris everywhere—pieces of driftwood, a couple of broken chunks of white Styrofoam, a random beach ball. The coastline was dotted with more junk. The storm had definitely left its mark. And Jacob’s little metal skiff was nowhere. Because of the weather, there were no boats on the lake at all—no jet-skiers, no fishermen—nothing.
And no sign whatsoever of Alessandra.
“This is not happening,” Hannah whispered under her breath, tears prickling at her eyes.
What if the boats didn’t just float off in the storm? What if the lake monster untethered them? Hannah thought. Or sank t
hem. Or got rid of them some other way.
She turned around to find all four of them were out there now—Katie, Jacob, Colin, and Prandya—watching her from the dry safety of the front porch.
“That’s it. Give me your phone.” Hannah stormed up the hill and held out her hand to Jacob. “I’m calling my father.”
She no longer cared about looking like a loser, a wet blanket, a goody-goody. This was an actual emergency.
“It won’t do you any good,” Jacob said. “The power’s still out.”
Hannah groaned so loudly and emphatically it ended in a growl. She’d spaced on the power. Her heart began to pound beneath every inch of her skin. There was no way out. Nothing she could do.
“Oh my God,” Hannah blurted, her stomach turning. “Oh my God.”
Prandya edged down the steps. “Hannah, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Hannah shouted, backing away from the girl. “You’re not my friend! You don’t get to tell me to calm down!”
“Hannah, you’re freaking out,” Jacob said. He kept his distance, as if she were a strange animal he wasn’t sure how to approach. Something about the look on his face broke her heart. It was as if he didn’t even know her, even though he was the person she’d known longer than almost anyone else on earth. He was supposed to be her best friend, but at that moment, he looked exasperated with her, like he wanted to just tell her to shut up. Or worse—like he wanted to walk away.
And Katie looked scared. Pale and wide-eyed and scared. Which somehow made Hannah feel even worse.
“Of course I’m freaking out!” Hannah shouted. “We’re trapped! We’re trapped here and there’s something in the water. Alessandra is … she’s … And now someone … or something has taken our boats.”
Hannah’s teeth chattered and she shivered in her drenched clothes. Colin grabbed a towel off the pile on the porch swing and shoved between Katie and Jacob to jog down the steps to her. She flinched away from him at first, but then he threw the towel around her shoulders and started rubbing her arms up and down as he pulled her back up onto the porch.