"Silent Waters" *written 11 November 1997*
The light, cool breeze gently blew over the still black water. The birds were slowly beginning to come to a hush around the lake. The silence throbbed throughout her body, entrapping her thoughts. She gripped the rope a little tighter in her sweaty palms and glanced up at the tree branch that was eternally bound to hold it. She could feel the eyes staring at her back, eating away at her conscience bit by bit.
"Go ahead, Janie. Jump." The short, plump boy glared at her accusingly as his mouth moved. But she didn't hear his words. The horrible memory of this lake, this monster, was encompassing her thoughts, her reality...
She remembered back to the summer before. The air was hot and sticky that summer. She had been standing there, where the boy was standing now, saying those words. "Go ahead. Jump." Then she remembered hearing a splash as a small framed girl let herself loose from the rope and made contact with the water. She remembered seeing her head pop back up above the water, her wet brown hair in her eyes, with a big smile on her face. Then she had looked away.
She had looked away.
She remembered preparing to leave with her friends, and finding the girl was missing. She was nowhere. Everyone had thought it was just a joke. But no one remembered seeing her come out of the water. They had searched for about thirty minutes, when someone decided to go call the police.
No one had seen her come out of the water.
She snapped back into reality as the boy tantalized her.
"Janie! Just jump!" Whispers swept through the small group of teenagers, as she stared at the dark, mysterious water of the lake.
It had taken 12 hours for them to find her lifeless body at the bottom of the murky water. She could remember her family crying. There was so much anger, so much sorrow.
She had been too young to die.
She could remember her friend's voice on the telephone line, whispering to her late into the night. "She's gone," she had whispered in disbelief. "She's really gone..." The voice in her thoughts slowly faded as she came back to reality.
A tall, slender blonde girl softly walked to her side and whispered, "It's okay, Janie." Janie looked at the blonde girl curiously. Doesn't she remember?
The girl looked at her and gently pulled her hands off the rope.
"I'll go first," she said. Janie stepped back and looked at her, seemingly in a sort of trance. She watched as the girl placed her hands on the thick rope, pulled back, and gave a little jump into the air.
She swung high out over the water and let go. Her body splashed as it made contact with the cold water and Janie's mind flashed back to the familiarity of the splash. It sounded the same...
The crowd stared at the water as the ripples slowly died away. Their eyes scanned the surface of the lake, watching for the slightest movement, the smallest ripple.
Nothing.
Janie's tension grew as the thought of her best friend being the next victim of this monster of a lake flashed through her mind. She sprinted wildly to the edge of the jumping ledge and yelled her friend's name over and over. Louder. Louder.
Nothing.
The teenagers began to get panicky and all ran to the shore's side, all yelling out her name. The sound of her name echoed through the area, flowing over the top of the still, cold water.
Still nothing.
Janie ran to the rope and screamed a loud "move!" to the people standing in front of her as she pushed off with her feet. The rope swung out high, making the tree branch creak under the weight. It reached mid air and she let go. The air swept around her body as it picked up speed, flying through the air and hitting the water.
The splash echoed throughout the silent forest.
The ripples slowly faded. The water became still.
And then there was nothing.
The teenagers stared at the water in a hushed silence. Everything surrounding them was still, no wind, no birds. Nothing. The only sound was the sound of the rope swishing the air as it slowly came to a stand still.
Then her head broke out of the still water, gasping for air. She quickly glanced at the crowd accusingly before disappearing below the water once again.
The ripples slowly began to fade once again.
The water was so black, so cold.
Janie swam below the black water. It slowly got darker and colder until she saw a flash of something light out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes were surprisingly starting to burn, as if something didn't want her to see what was down there with her.
She swam through the cold water until she saw a body slowly floating toward the bottom of the lake, into the darkness. She had to hurry. She couldn't stay down here much longer.
She grabbed the arms of the body and swam with all her might toward the light above her. It was so dark. She followed her bubbles, leading her to the surface. But something seemed to be pulling the body back down. She pulled with all her might, kicking her legs wildly around her, causing her to lose her breath even quicker. She had to hurry.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something whoosh by her, causing a cold stream of water to hit her body. The cold stream seemed to wrap itself around her legs and it started to pull her downward. She flipped around to see what it was that had passed by her so swiftly, but there was nothing there but black water.
She pulled the body toward the light. The force that had been pulling it seemed to let go just long enough to let her get her head above water, and lift the body with her.
The water broke around her. She emerged with the blonde girl's lifeless body in her small arms. She struggled, swimming to the shoreline, pulling the lifeless body along with her.
The crowd quietly rushed to the shore. Their thoughts were all the same, thinking that the blonde girl was the captain of the swim team, the best swimmer in the local high school. How could she have been sucked under?
Janie pulled her body close to the shore and suddenly there were hands on her and the lifeless body she was holding, pulling them onto the shore. The teenagers couldn't help but notice how cold the water was that dripped off their bodies. It was too cold for the middle of summer.
Janie sat aside as two boys quickly performed CPR on the lifeless body. Her mind was dark and empty. Had she seen something down there? Had she felt an extra cold current start to wrap itself around her feet and pull her down, almost as if it wanted to hurt her?
She glanced sideways at the still body. It was as still as the water had been.
She was staring off, in a sort of shock, when she heard a cough. She jumped up and ran to the blonde girl's side. The girl opened her eyes and looked at Janie. Her eyes pleaded with her, as if she hadn't wanted to be pulled from the water. Then they closed again as she lost consciousness.
The ambulance that had been called for came pulling up just then. Two men in blue uniforms jumped out and took over. They said she was breathing, but barely. They put her on oxygen, lifted her into the ambulance and sped away. Janie could hear the sirens, but her mind didn't really register what was going on. There had been something in those eyes. Something horrible...
