Chapter 4

Crystal Lake was really little more than a runoff pond that had filled with silt and rainwater eons ago. It sat at the base of 3 hills, just below the back deck of the Crawford farmhouse. There was an old wooden pier with a little rowboat tied to it, and a floating wooden raft in the middle that the kids used as a jumping platform. The water was clear to about six feet down, then murky with mud and slime. Luke changed into a pair of shorts suitable for swimming and headed outside to join the others.

The sun was high and hot, and its rays danced on the surface. Luke sat at the edge of the pier and dangled his feet into the cool water that lapped gently at the supports. The girls screamed as Danny and Fisher did cannonballs off the floating platform, splashing them.

Luke swirled the water with his feet. The aquatic weeds waved and tickled his ankles. He leaned forward to peer into the deep. The memory of his last visit crept into his mind. He remembered sitting in this very spot, dangling his feet. The water was colder that day, and darker with an overcast sky. Luke recalled seeing a fluid mass drifting just underneath the surface. He had thought it might be a plastic bag or a stray piece of clothing so he stuck his hand in the water to retrieve it. As his fingers touched the silken object something solid and cold wrapped around his wrist. Startled, he struggled against it. He could faintly make out the shape of spindly fingers gripping him. He inhaled sharply to scream, but the creature tugged him into the cloudy lake.

"Hey, are you coming in or what?" Danny shouted, snapping Luke out of his creepy recollection. He shook off the memory and slid into the water to swim out. *It couldn't be real... I must have imagined it...what a silly little kid I used to be...*

Luke hoisted himself onto the platform causing it to rock. Shell and Marie clung to each other for balance as the raft tilted under Luke's weight. Danny popped out of the water on the opposite side and grabbed Shell's leg. She playfully screamed and toppled off of the platform. Marie sat down next to Luke, who was kneeling on the platform, trying to catch his breath. She tilted her head and inspected him quizzically, as if he were some foreign species. He felt her eyes on him and looked up.

Marie Dunmore was 13, but just a tiny wisp of a thing. She had dark hair like her sister, but it draped in soft waves around her shoulders. Her green eyes sparkled with flecks of gold and grey and her cheeks were sprinkled with a delicate smattering of tiny freckles. Luke swallowed hard and blushed, giant dinosaur-sized butterflies fluttering in his stomach.

"I remember you," she smiled. Luke felt his cheeks burning.

"You do?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded, "You're the one who fell into the lake and almost drowned."

Embarrassed, Luke shook the water from his hair and chuckled. "Yep, that was me," he sighed.

"Why were you even down here? It was so cold that day..."

Luke shrugged. He remembered now that he'd fallen in fully clothed. *...but I really didn't fall...* he thought. Marie sat silently staring at him as he drifted away in thought. That day four years ago, it had been an unseasonably chilly April, almost like Autumn. Luke was 7, almost 8. He was wearing his brother's old Notre Dame sweatshirt and jeans. The family had gotten together after Luke's grandmother's funeral. He remembered sitting at the big dining room table, picking at a plate of cold cuts and corn on the cob. Then he was outside on the pier alone. What had happened in between?

Luke looked around and realized that Danny, Fisher, and the girls had already started back toward the house. Danny motioned for him to follow. He stood up and felt the gentle rock of the platform on the ripples of the lake. A breeze blew against his back, through him, it felt, and he heard a faint whisper in his ear.

"Luke, come and play."

Luke froze in fright. His eyes darted from one side of the lake to the other.

"I'm going crazy," he muttered under his breath clenching his eyes shut tight as he jumped into the water.