Witch's Pond

A Story by Bobby Madden

Psychological horror.

The three of us walked up the gravel trail that led up to the cemetery on a moonlit night. Ambree and Phil insisted that I see this place. Ambree was my kind of girl. She was a rebellious and beautiful metalhead, and she was a good friend. She had braces, long dirty blonde hair, silver horseshoe snake bites, and a silver septum ring. Phil was the bassist of my band and the epitome of the word “punk.” He had a small orange beard, a small orange mohawk, and his leather jacket had a genuine “do it yourself” look with patches, studs, and spikes. I was just a guy with a thirst for adventure. Practically anything could inspire an idea for a song or story, and so much of the world in which I lived was worthy of a photograph. My hair was long, curly, and black, and I had one silver horseshoe labret. All of us were wearing black band tees. I had Periphery, Ambree had Whitechapel, and Phil had We Came As Romans. These two, along with multitudinous others, were convinced this particular place to which we were heading was haunted, but to me, that was typical; it was a cemetery, after all. However, I was the skeptical one of the group. I disbelieved in anything supernatural, but my two friends were prepared to try to change that. I didn’t find it bothersome. I wouldn’t have come along if I did. Their attempts were actually amusing, as well as their reactions when they realized they failed. I loved these guys, and to me, this was just an adventure.

We came to this trail after climbing over a gate with a “no trespassing” sign on it, and our destination happened to be the site where the first Catholic Church in Virginia was founded. Also, it was a beautiful night. The moon was turning the clouds bright blue, and the early winter air was nice and cool. I enjoyed good weather, getting out of the house, and spending quality time with friends. Nothing was worrying me at the moment, and I expected that wouldn’t change. Even the vast pond to the right of the trail looked marvelous as the moon rays danced upon its surface. “All right we’re here,” said Phil softly. Phil was apprehensive about disturbing any wandering spirits. I on the other hand couldn’t help but wonder how a spirit could be disturbed by sound without ears. “Interesting place,” I said back. For a cemetery, it didn’t have that many graves. In addition to graves, it had a lot of wide open space, a few trees, and a stone table with a couple of brick steps in front of it and a brick wall behind it. It appeared as though a brick house once existed there, but if one did, eighty percent of the house had vanished. We all began to make our way to the stone table. “That looks cool,” I said, analyzing the table. “You know what that is, right? That’s a sacrificing table,” added Phil. He sounded as if he himself could be getting sacrificed on that table. “Why exactly would there be a sacrificing table in a Catholic church?” I asked. “To show that they’re willing to kill for God,” answered Ambree, as if she were dumbfounded that I would even ask. “You do realize there’s a commandment that specifically says ‘thou shall not kill’, right?” I asked, with a smirk on my face, feeling like I could debunk anything they could say. “I guess they just had their own beliefs about killing,” Phil remarked, with an expression that conveyed uncertainty. “Well I have my camera. Wanna take a pic of me on the table? My cam has flash,” I said, too fascinated by the mystery of the table to be intimidated by it. “No, man. That’d be disrespectful to the dead,” Phil replied, sounding dejected, but not angry. I was confused. “How exactly would that constitute disrespect?” I asked, hoping for a well-thought attempt at refutation. “Because, it just would,” Phil said, not relieving my confusion.

“I brought my camera for a reason, so you should take some pics of me before we leave. By the way, where are the graves?” I said, overlooking my surroundings and realizing this place didn’t resemble a cemetery at all. “There are some over there,” said Ambree, motioning towards the corner of the site that could be found if a person turned right in a 90 degree angle at the entrance. “They’re unmarked graves,” she added, with an eerie, monotone voice. I raised my eyebrows. “And why are they unmarked?” I asked, legitimately curious. “I don’t know,” she replied, returning to her normal voice. “Well, let’s take a look,” I suggested. I walked toward the direction in which Ambree motioned, and they followed behind me. I caught sight of some flat grey objects sitting horizontally in the ground that I assumed were graves, and as I got close to them, I saw something in the moonlight that made my eyes widen and my heart sink into my stomach. “Hey… do you see that?” I asked my friends, unable to look away from what I saw, as Phil came to my right and Ambree came to my left. The grave directly in front of me read, “In loving memory of Bobby Madden.” There was loose soil all around the grave. “Must be another Bobby Madden,” said Phil, his words conveying rationality but his tone conveying fear. “Phil, look at the dates,” I said, glaring at Phil, losing the fascinated mentality I had at the table and succumbing to a state of shock. “July 8, 1992 and February 4, 2013. Is it possible that another Bobby Madden who was born on my birthday died today and got buried right here on the day of his death?” I asked, trying to make Phil understand the absurdity of what he was suggesting. I began to think that this was some prank by Ambree and Phil as an attempt to convince me this place was haunted, and so, I was calming down a bit. If it was, I wondered how they managed to inscribe the letters and numbers on it so meticulously. They could have hired a specialist, but if they did, how hard was it for them to find one? I noticed there were two other graves on either side of the one of my clone, and I developed a certain expectation of what they said. My expectation was correct, and more convinced I was that they were conducting some elaborate prank on me. The grave to the left read, “In loving memory of Ambree Day” and the one on the right read, “In loving memory of Phil McNuss.”

I chuckled, shaking my head and looking at the ground. “And I suppose two other people with your names and birthdays died today and were buried here next to the other Bobby Madden,” I said, sarcastically, confident that I had identified their prank and embarrassed that I was even shocked in the first place. I looked up at my friends. Ambree and Phil were both backing away slowly, staring at the graves, unable to blink. “So,” I said, smiling. I crossed my arms and tilted my head to the left. “How long did it take you to get a hold of three tombstones with our names on them?” Phil and Ambree couldn’t take their eyes off of the graves. “Well, whatever you did, you did a good job. I’m honestly flattered you went to such lengths to try to frighten the skepticism out of me,” I said, sincerely. It was an act I had never seen anyone attempt before. Phil finally looked at me. His eyes were wide open, just like his mouth. He took a few steps toward me and lifted up his hands, humbly. “Bobby… I swear to you. We did not do this. I have no idea how those got there, and right now, I wanna go home,” Phil said, his voice ringing with what sounded like fear. I chuckled again. “Really? Already? You gotta take some pics of me first. Look, don’t worry about the spirits. If they do anything, I’ll kick their motherfuckin’ asses,” I said, trying to demonstrate the lack of fear I had. All of a sudden, Ambree ran up to me and violently grabbed me by the shoulders, startling me, and stared right into my eyes. “Bobby! We need to get of here!” The tone of her voice turned my heart into ice. If this was an act, it was Oscar-worthy. Ambree turned her wide-open eyes towards the direction of the pond by the cemetery, which was partially visible behind a row of trees. She inhaled sharply, she brought her trembling hands up to her face, and then she swung them down hard and let out a scream so loud that my heart stopped beating, and the look on her face was one that I would never want to see again. This was going too far.

“Jesus f*****g Christ! That really wasn’t necessary,” I said with conviction. “You need to just accept that I won’t believe what you want me to believe, okay?” Ambree began sobbing, her eyes fixed on the water, and she gradually walked backwards. Curiosity struck me and I instinctively looked where she was looking. I found nothing out of the ordinary. I saw trees and the moonlit pond behind them; I could find no merit in her exhibition of fear. “Ambree, what the f**k is your problem? Do you really see something? Because I don’t see s**t. If this is an act, just tell me now, because this is getting ridiculous,” I said. The graves were commendable, but her intention to persuade me seemed like an obsession. She couldn’t accept failure, and that was pitiful. Why did her persuasion of me mean so much to her? Phil said nothing. He was staring at Ambree, breathing heavily. Ambree continued to sob with her gaze towards the pond behind the trees. “You know what? F**k this,” I said, spitting fire. “We’re gonna go. This is the last time I’m coming here with you two. If the ‘spirits’ haven’t heard you by now then they’re f****n’ deaf, but I’m more worried that the cops heard you, ‘cause if they did, they’re already on their way. Let’s go.” I was walking towards the trail immediately after I was done speaking. My nervous system was completely overwhelmed. Whatever was going on, I wasn’t enjoying it, and I was already looking forward to lying in bed at home in complete silence. After I took about ten steps, I turned around to see if they were coming. They were still in the same places, Ambree looking towards the water and Phil looking at her. “Come on,” I said. “I don’t want Ben to wait nine hours for us.” Ben was our ride. Neither of us had driver’s licenses, so Ben elected to drive us here. He was waiting in the car, because he felt a little uneasy about trespassing into the cemetery, which was respectable. Suddenly, Ambree bolted off in the direction of the woods to my left. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Hey! Ambree! What the f**k?! Stop!” I ran after her, trying to catch up. If I had to restrain her, I would. Maybe she would just stop at the perimeter of the woods, turn around, and start laughing her a*s off for messing with me this whole time. I ran as fast as I could, I saw her come to the edge of the woods, and as if she had been sucked into a black hole, she was out of sight.

“Son of a B***H!” I said, slowing down to a halt before the tall dark world. Phil had ran up beside me, and we both stood there, trying to catch our breath and staring in the void of blackness and wood. My mind was having a strenuous time absorbing the reality of what had occurred in the last few minutes, and even at this point, there was still a modicum of hope that Ambree and Phil were just in on some charade, whether to make me believe in the supernatural or just cause me distress, but regardless of what the truth was, I realized it was that modicum of hope that was going to give me the strength to get through the rest of the night. I pulled out my phone with the intention of calling Ambree. It was dead. Damn it. “Call Ambree, Phil.” He took out his phone, gave her a call, and put his phone to his ear, his breathing audible and his chest rising and falling hard. “It’s not ringing,” said Phil, lowering his phone to his thigh and observing his surroundings as if to find an explanation for everything. I pocketed my phone and gazed up at the array of trees in front of me. The naked branches were black in the night. “I wanna go in after her,” I declared. I felt less sane as those words sunk into my mind. “You want to walk into the woods at night?” asked Phil, timidly. I continued to speak with my eyes on the trees. “You wanna leave without her? Can you live with that on your conscience? You and I will be back at home and Ambree will be wandering the woods by herself,” I explained. The more I spoke of this as if it were real, the more I considered this was not a prank and the more I felt like the darkness was some evil deity trying to torment my soul. What if she did see something? What if they were not responsible for those graves? I’m being paranoid. Yes. That’s all it is. “Let’s stay here and wait for her. She has to come out at some point,” said Phil, sounding neutral now, which brought me some relief. “What if something happens to her in the woods? She could trip over a log and get knocked unconscious or something. I can’t wait and do nothing,” I said, focusing more on my duty to act than my paranoia. “It is possible she might come out though. I want you to stay here on the perimeter and I’ll go in and look for her. Keep trying her phone. If she comes out, scream my name until I come back. If I haven’t found her in thirty minutes, I’ll come back here, we’ll walk back over to the car, tell Ben what happened, and he can help us look for her. He might even have flashlights and s**t in his car we can use. Are you cool with that?” I asked, looking away from the trees and into Phil’s eyes. “I don’t know,” Phil said, turning his eyes towards the ground. “This is too crazy.” He sounded anything but pretentious.

I turned and stood parallel to him, raising my hands up to illustrate the severity of my mood. “Phil, I wanna know right now. Be honest, because if you lie and I find out, I will never trust you again. Is this some kind of prank?” I asked. He looked back up at me. “No, Bobby. I swear,” he said, shaking his head with two creases between his brows. “I don’t know why Ambree freaked out and I don’t know how those tombstones got there.” To accept his word for the truth meant a frightening, unsolved mystery about those graves, but as much as I wanted a scenario where there was no mystery and no need to fear, my conscience could not consider that the word of my friend was insincere. “Doesn’t mean that Ambree couldn’t be f*****g with us,” Phil added, with a sense of optimism in his voice that suggested that fear was unwarranted. “Yeah, she could have put those graves there or gotten someone to do it for her, but I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. Stay here and look around for any movement, because it could be Ambree. Don’t leave, because I’ll be coming back here and she could be coming back here at any minute. Promise me you won’t leave,” I said, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Okay, I promise. I really don’t wanna be here by myself but I’m gonna do what I have to do,” Phil stated, with a vivid sense of integrity. “Alright. If anything bad happens to me, I’ll scream ‘fire’, okay? If you hear me scream ‘fire’, you run. You run as fast as you can and go find Ben. You go to the police and tell them your friends are in danger and they’re at this location. If the cops find me and Ambree we might get, but if any bad s**t happens before that, I won’t even give a s**t. I’d rather be in a cell owned by the county than a cell owned by a nutcase with a chainsaw. You understand what I’ve told you?” I said, hoping I was being both logical and clear. “Yeah,” Phil said, nodding with a smile that told me he was a loyal friend. It was time for me to do my part. I patted him on his spiked shoulders, turned to my left, and cautiously stumbled into the wooded area by the cemetery. Immediately, I was enveloped in shadow.

Even with the moonlight, my vision could not detect the area at my feet. There could be an ocean of snakes just rippling around me and I would have no idea, provided that they were exceedingly quiet. I looked in all directions and contemplated which direction to explore first, and I decided to move straight forward. I thought it’d be just as good of a direction as any other. The sounds of leaves rustling and branches breaking below me were as loud as smashing hammers. There was always the option of contacting the police on Phil’s phone, but the idea of asking the police to find someone I saw just run into the woods seemed like a fruitless endeavor. Besides, even if they found her, she would be arrested for trespassing along with me and Phil. I couldn’t even imagine what I would say to Ambree if I found her. If I was successful, I would put aside my frustration for another time and simply focus on getting her back home. I fancied the idea of having a nice long talk about the events of tonight while sitting on a couch within the security of four solid walls. Even I thought I was crazy for electing to immerse myself into this shadowy realm by myself, but I had to make myself useful. One pair of eyes at the edge of the woods seemed like enough to detect her if she returned to the cemetery, but in case she didn’t want to, I’d look for her here. What did I have to lose in the first place? It was just the woods. I enjoyed woods, and I even enjoyed darkness and solitude. I was giving myself thirty minutes, and then I’d be back with Phil. I just needed to make the most of my time. “Ambree!” I shouted. My voice echoed through the winter forest. I looked up and found infinite black branches reaching out at me like fiendish hands under the cold moon. I continued to survey my surroundings and called her name repeatedly. If she was ever lost, hearing my voice ought to solve that problem, but there’s no guarantee she would follow me. Ambree’s mind was a sheer enigma.

I had to lift my legs over a few logs and walk around many trees but such was to be expected in this magical wonderland. I kept my ears open for any leaves rustling or branches breaking in places around me. Anything I heard could potentially be Ambree as it could potentially be a wild animal, but the only way of determining the source of a sudden sound was to walk in the direction of where it came from and investigate. I continued to call Ambree’s name as I moved onward in my conquest, and even if Ambree couldn’t hear me, I figured Phil could retain his comfort in his solitude by hearing my voice. I found no sign of Ambree, but I remained optimistic. I was in a polygamous marriage with optimism and vigilance as of now, and I did not want a divorce. Suddenly I perceived something in my peripheral vision. An aura of orange light arose from the ground far ahead as if a fire had just kindled, but then the aura had disappeared, as if someone immediately decided to put out the fire after it started. Someone was over there. Even if it wasn’t Ambree, maybe it was someone who had seen her. I continued my merry stroll, and eventually, a clearing came into view, which was where I assumed the aura originated. During my stride, my face ran straight into an unseen spider web. My initial reaction was shaking frantically in case any eight-legged creature was excited about finding a new home on my body, but after I calmed down, I realized there was only a single tree between me and the clearing, so I circumvented it, and I found myself standing on open grass with the sky in plain view above me. My head turned in several directions as I hoped to find the source of the orange light, but I couldn’t. “Ambree! It’s Bobby! Where are you?! If you can hear me please come out wherever you are! Let’s go home, Ambree! Please! Let’s go home!” I felt as if the entire earth’s population had been reduced to 1, but I could not allow that to negate my hope. I noticed that there was something propped up against one of the trees along the circumference of the clearing. My breath was taken away. It was a wooden sign that had three skulls on top of it, and they were drenched in a red substance that looked like blood. On the sign, there was a message in a similar red substance that looked like it was written by someone with Parkinson’s. “All ye who stand before these skulls are being watched.” I suddenly got chills.

My rationality was attempting to combat the dread within my flesh. This place was nationally known, and it sounded typical for tourists to come here from time to time and plant eerie exhibits like this in random places in order to horrify other adventurous wanderers. I turned in the direction from which I came and contemplated going back to join Phil so we could get Ben’s help, but after I had turned back towards those woods, something above me made a tremendously loud snap, and it made my heart skip a beat. I thought maybe a giant branch had broken from an animal falling on it, but when I titled my head back, I felt the most unspeakable sensation of terror that had ever fallen upon me. There she was. Ambree was hanging from a tree by her neck, directly above me. I felt the life get sucked out of me. My limbs were shaking and I struggled to stand up. My legs lost their strength. My knees fell to the earth and I threw up in the grass, and when I got it all out, I lifted my head, clenched my fists, and let out the loudest most painful scream of my life. When it was over, I shut my eyes and began to sob. All I could think about was the collection of memories that Ambree and I had made with our time together. My mind had become a nebulous orb of beautiful moments we had shared. My mind leapt from one image to another, seeing every color of every place we’d ever been to. I saw everything. I saw her, but she seemed so far away. It was as if she was only in my dreams, and I wanted so desperately to extract her so I could hold her tighter than I ever had.

My face was covered in fluids, and my eyes were burning from the tears. I opened my eyes, looked up toward the tree, got on my feet, backed up a bit, and took a good look at her, hoping it was just somebody who looked like her. I was cast to the depths of an ocean of devastation. I had never seen a deceased human being in real life before, and the first one I had laid eyes upon was my very own friend. She was just with me. I was looking right at her while her hands were positioned on my shoulders. Her last words to me were, “Bobby, we have to get out of here!” I couldn’t help but blame myself for my ignorance of what compelled her to do this and my failure to prevent it. Could I have prevented this? Was there anything I could have done? The impact of this got more excruciating with every second. I was never going to talk to her again. She would never hear my voice again. Her time on earth was over, and she didn’t die a peaceful death in her sleep. She hanged herself from a tree after running away from me and Phil as if she had seen a ghost that was ready to torture her. But where did the rope come from? Did Ambree have it on her person or was it sitting here in the woods? Did she premeditate this? I have been instantly traumatized. This sight has been carved into my heart with a rusty blade.

I wiped away my tears because they were burning the s**t out of my eyes as they always did. How am I going to tell Phil? How am I going to tell anyone? Should I climb the tree, untie the rope, and carry her to Phil? I can’t leave her here. I went up to the tree and analyzed its anatomy. Then, I put my hands on the highest branch I could reach and lifted myself onto the bark. It had been a while since I climbed a tree, and it wasn’t too easy to accomplish, considering my bones felt like gelatin after what I had witnessed. My ascension continued until Ambree came into eye level. For a moment, my body was frozen. I couldn’t blink. I couldn’t breathe. The spectacle of a person hanging by the neck was one of the most mortifying spectacles I could ever behold. Seeing it in a scary movie freaked me out enough. No one could imagine what it was like in real life unless they experienced it themselves, and the fact that it was a dear friend of mine didn’t make it any better. I was drowning in a cocktail of sorrow, guilt, and horror, and I had to persevere through it for the sake of Ambree’s friends and family. I climbed onto the branch that was closest to Ambree and reached over to her. I got a grip of her shirt, pulled her over, took her in my arms, untied the rope, and held her close. The tears were falling again. The burning was back. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. Guilt was tying my intestines in multiple tight knots. I wish I had been faster. Maybe if I had ran after her without hesitation, I could have hindered her from her tragic fate. I will never know, and the past can’t be undone.

Phil was waiting. I kissed her on the cheek, lifted her onto my right shoulder, and began my descent to the ground, trying to balance her on my body and maneuver myself onto each branch. Climbing down a tree with a corpse on your shoulder wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but I could manage. My feet touched the ground, and I made my way back into the wooded area, feeling my shoulder become sore and knowing I had to fight through that. The moonlight would be the only light source for my second stroll through the forest. I was going to need thick skin to handle Phil’s reaction when he saw Ambree’s body. If I hadn’t retrieved her, he probably wouldn’t believe she was gone. I hoped he wouldn’t think I did anything to her. The last thing I needed after the death of a friend was to have a live friend hate my guts for thinking I was a murderer. As I walked through the forest with a grieving heart, I noticed I wasn’t the only thing creating the sounds of rustling leaves and breaking branches. I stopped. My spine was electrified. It sounded like there was a hundred small animals lurking through the fallen leaves in all directions. It was as if a massive downpour of invisible hail had begun to assail the forest floor and I was immune. I didn’t know whether to remain still and wait for the noise to subside or march through the woods as fast as possible. I chose the latter. I had my right arm around Ambree’s right leg, and I lifted her onto both of my shoulders with my left arm around her neck. I couldn’t reach my maximum speed, but I could speed walk adequately. I tried as hard as I could to rationalize the disquiet on the floor of the forest as I moved back through the wooded darkness, but my rationalization button was jammed. Walking through the woods used to be something I found peaceful and inspiring, but if I lived through this night, I wouldn’t be able to look at a single tree without having a panic attack. I couldn’t determine if I was more afraid of my heart exploding inside my body or something in the forest bringing me harm. I needed to get out. I needed some happy thoughts to dwell upon for me to get through this. I thought about the time Ambree and I took a bus to Triangle, VA. We sat next to each other, and we held each other on the way there. I remembered the warmth. I remembered the joy, and I knew I would remember them for the rest of my life. If anything was to ever end my life, the memory of Ambree’s embrace could be my final thought. Not long after I concluded that, I realized I was back in the cemetery.

I had escaped the forest unscathed with Ambree secure on my person. The noise had ceased. I stood still for a few seconds so my body could get as close to neutral as it could. I looked around for Phil, but he was gone. “Phil!” I screamed. I remained quiet and heard no response. “Phil! Can you hear me?” Silence had befallen this land. Perhaps being alone in the cemetery was too much for him and he had left a little earlier. I wouldn’t begrudge him for breaking a promise. I started to walk back towards the trail with the intention of returning to Ben’s car. I swear if Phil isn’t there when I get there, I don’t know what I’ll do. What if Ben was gone too? The earth was fairly lit by the luna light behind the clouds. I strolled onward past the bark that reached for me with skeleton hands, and I stepped foot on the trail. There was something I began to understand about tonight. This night was a pebble in the lake of my life, and its ripple effect would persist until the lake dried up. A cyclone of unanswered questions was spiraling in my head that would never receive answers. I had been buried in an avalanche of a psychological curse, and I would never be excavated. I could see the pond from the corner of my eye. My shoulders were aching from carrying Ambree, so I stopped, put her on my forearms, and lowered her to the ground. I got on my knees and looked at her as I gave my shoulders a rest. “Even in death, your beauty is unassailable,” I said softly. “I’ll always miss you. I don’t know why you ran off. I don’t why you did this, but you made your own choices. Every person should be in control of his or her own life. No one is obligated to deem their life worthy of living. You left me behind, and I bear sadness, but not anger. I forgive you, Ambree.” I ran my fingers through her hair with my left hand, and I took her left hand in my right hand and laced our fingers together. Her heat-deficient flesh turned my hand cold, but the fact that I was holding it still delivered some light into this dark time. Then, all of a sudden, a gargantuan splash in the pond nearby violently struck my nerves. “Goddamnit! What now?!” I leaned down, lifted Ambree back onto my shoulders, and I continued on the path, with my eyes fixed on the pond. Eventually, it came into full view, and as it did, a thick layer of fog escaped from the woods behind it and floated over the surface. I couldn’t tell what had caused the splash but it was heavier than a small stone. It sounded like a body. I surveyed the foggy waterscape looking for anything suspicious. I wasn’t afraid of whatever it could be. I had undergone so much aggressive stimuli that fear had vacated of my mind. There it was. There was something in the water. It grabbed my attention with razor sharp claws. It was a body. It was face down, and it was dressed exactly like Phil.

I instantaneously set Ambree down and jumped into the pond like I was on fire. The coldness of the pond knocked the wind right out of me, and the taste of the water was revolting, but I swam like I had a great white shark right on my a*s. Within a matter of seconds, I reached the body and turned it around. Unless Phil had a twin brother, Phil was lying in front of me on top of the pond. “Phil! I’m here, man! Wake up! Come on! Wake up!” I got no response. All I could think about was getting him to land. I was never experienced at extracting a person from a body of water, but I had just become a lifeguard. I had him in my arms and hoped I could tread water until I reached the bank. “Don’t worry, Phil. You’re gonna be ok. Just hang on.” I used every conceivable ounce of energy I had to get Phil back to land, and the next thing I knew was I had Phil lying on his back on a wet bank of mud and vegetation, with me on my knees hovering over him. “Come on, Phil! Wake up! Please! Goddamnit, wake up!” I slapped his face repetitively in desperation, but nothing happened. I swallowed hard. I set my hand upon his chest and could not feel it rise or fall. I put my fingers to his neck, hoping I would feel a pulse. “Phil…” There was no pulse. “No…” My jaw was quivering. I clenched my fists and squeezed my eyes shut. “This can’t be happening…” I felt like I was going to vomit my actual guts this time. “What happened…? What happened…?” I checked for a pulse again and I was not successful. “Not you. Not my brother…” He couldn’t have done this to himself. He couldn’t have. There’s something here… I rose to my feet, examined my surroundings, took a deep breath, and let my voice smite the earth like a crash of thunder. “WHERE ARE YOU?! SHOW YOURSELF! I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE! YOU TOOK MY FRIENDS AWAY FROM ME! COME ON! WHY STOP THERE?! I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU! YOU WANNA KILL ME LIKE YOU KILLED THEM?! GET THE F**K OUT HERE AND TRY! I’M RIGHT HERE! COME AND F*****G GET ME!” If I screamed another syllable I would lose consciousness. The world was idle. I turned to the pond and saw that it was still adorned in fog, but fog wasn’t all I saw. There was a dark figure in the water. I marched over to the pond and stood at the bank. “I see you,” I muttered. Only the figure’s head was visible. It was dark. That must have been hair I was looking at. This figure was either a human or a humanoid. Either way, I wanted to know what it was, and it was drifting closer to me, with only a head concealed in black hair above the water. I was not going to flee. That was not an option. I had no predictions of what would transpire if I were to have a face to face encounter with this grimly water creature. If it took me, so be it. I lived a good twenty years, and I knew many people would miss me, but two of my friends were lying lifeless in the dirt and I had absolutely no explanation as to why. That was unacceptable, but I was telling myself that if I stuck around for a while longer, I would suddenly understand why.

The figure began to rise from the water as the distance between it and the bank decreased. Things came into view. Arms were exposed. Breasts were exposed. This was a girl. I didn’t even back up. I stood exactly where I was. If she laid a single hand on me I would snap her neck and cast her into the depths from whence she came. I was staunch. I was unbreakable. She got closer. Her face was lowered and hidden by her hair. She came to a halt and stood before my eyes. “Show your f*****g face,” I said fiercely. She raised her head and her wet hair slid off her face. “Ambree…!” My legs went numb, and I fell to my knees, with a cold wet slop on the bank. I turned around, looking for Ambree’s body where I had put it, and it was gone. “What… the… f**k…?” I swerved my head back towards the entity standing over me. “Ambree…” I lifted my hands. “You’re alive…?” The being that resembled Ambree with such perfection titled its head and pushed her eyebrows together. “Of course, Bobby,” it said, seeming confused. “Jesus f*****g Christ,” I said, putting my face in my hands. I rose to my feet, breathing heavily with ultimately no idea what to think. I approached her, slowly. “Ambree! I went looking for you after you ran away from me, and I found you hanging from a tree! I untied you, carried you down, and brought you here! I thought I would never hear you speak to me again!” I was pouring my heart out in front of her, and Ambree was just staring at me like I belonged in an asylum. “You know what? You can think I’m crazy all you want, but I’m the happiest crazy f**k in the world! If you’re still alive, maybe Phil is alive too! Maybe I can go home tonight with both of you!” I looked to my right expecting to see Phil, and Phil was not there. “Bobby, who is Phil?”Ambree asked. I thought my ears were deceiving me. I was looking around frantically trying to find Phil. “What?” I turned back to Ambree. “What? What are you talking about? You know who Phil is. He was just here. Where is he?” My eyes gazed in all directions. “Bobby, I have no idea what you’re talking about. We don’t know anyone named Phil,” she said. “The f**k, we don’t! All three of us walked here together. I had him wait outside of the forest after I went to look for you in case you came out! And I just f*****g pulled him out of the goddamn water!” Insanity had hit me like a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. I turned away from her and I was on my knees once again, pulling my hair out and breathing morbidly hard. I heard a chuckle from behind me. My consciousness sharpened. My breathing stabilized. I rose to my feet and stared at Ambree with eyes like fiery stars. “What… is so funny?” I asked. Ambree smiled and turned away from me to face the pond. “This place has a name,” she said, with a voice like an artic wind. “Witch’s Pond. You know why they call it that?” She turned back towards me. “Do you know, Bobby?” She tilted her head and took small steps toward me. “Do you?” She stopped in front of me, grappled my neck with an iron grip, squeezing the life out of me, and she pulled me in close, screaming louder than any human could possibly scream. “DO YOU KNOW WHY THEY CALL IT THAT?!” My hands were on her hand trying to pry it off so I could breathe, so I could live, but her strength was unlike anything I had ever felt, and I could feel the chill of the pond water on her flesh. I could feel my Adam’s apple being crushed, and her fingernails were slicing skin. Her eyes were piercing through my soul, unblinking. I had to shut my eyes. I couldn’t look at them. Those weren’t her eyes.

She spoke softer, finally. “What do you know, Bobby? What do you know?” She laughed menacingly with her grip still on my neck, maintaining eye contact with me. “Want me to tell you what you know? Come here.” She leaned in and positioned her lips in front of my right ear, and I could feel the warmth of her breathing, which did not calm me down. “You… know....” Cold wet lips delicately kissed my cheek before she let out another chuckle. “…NOTHING!” An inhuman voice shot through my ear with a volume so high that it shook the earth, and I had plunged into the water, so fast I didn’t see it happen. I couldn’t breathe. Two hands were holding down my head. Black water had engulfed me entirely. I was going to die. I was waiting for it. The air in my lungs would escape. I would gasp. I would drown. I fought to no avail. This would be the end of me. I accepted it. I closed my eyes, felt my lugs run out of air, but then my head was back above the surface. I inhaled. I coughed. I wasn’t dead. I didn’t understand. I was sure I was a goner. I saw no sign of Ambree. I looked around. I saw no fog. I was catching my breath, and I swam back to the bank with what minimal energy I had and just let my wet carcass fall into the wet soil. I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen if I did. I wasn’t ready to face the other horrors that waited for me. For now, I cherished this moment. I was alive. I felt safe. Peace was upon me. This would not last forever, and there was no reason to shorten its duration. My eyes closed and I just drifted away. Suddenly, I heard someone call my name. It sounded like Phil.

“Bobby?” Again, my alertness was sharpened. My face was pulled in the direction from which the voice came, and there he was. Phil was approaching me from the trail, and Ambree was with him, completely clothed, like she was before. She was herself. “Bobby! Phil shouted, with shock in his voice. He ran up to me, with Ambree alongside him. “Bobby! What happened?! Are you ok?!” he asked, placing his hands underneath my arms and lifting me up. “Did you go for a swim when we weren’t looking? Dude, be more careful next time, would ya?” he said, sounding concerned, yet playful. I could barely stand. My vision was blurry. I tried to get a look at the people in front of me, and when I saw them, I felt an even greater sense of safety and peace that I did when I emerged from the water. “Phil…” I whispered. I wrapped my arms around my friend and held him as tight as I could. “I can’t believe it’s you!” I was surprised I had any tears left in me after all that I expelled tonight. “Okay, you’re scaring me, bro, and now my clothes are wet,” he said, not surprising me with his words, which I was fine with; I was done with surprises. “Damn, Bobby. Are you ok? Did you hit your head or something?” said Ambree, sounding like the way I remembered her. I looked over at her while my head was on Phil’s shoulder. She was clothed. She was dry. She was… alive. “Ambree!” I took my arms off of Phil and latched myself onto Ambree. It was must have been a dream. I must have swam, fallen asleep, and had a nightmare. That’s what it was. I pulled myself from her so I could look into her eyes. I placed my hands on her shoulders, and she did the same to me. She looked perplexed. “Bobby, you got me wet,” she said, causing Phil to laugh. “If anything ever hurts you or scares you, please tell me! I will do everything in my power to extinguish that which brings you pain or brings you fear!” I told her. I stood back with my right hand on Ambree’s left shoulder and my left hand on Phil’s right shoulder. “I love you guys so much. Thank you for all the joy you’ve ever given me.” Ambree looked like she was gonna cry. She smiled, her beautiful braces making me smile. “B- Bobby…” She hugged me softly, and I wrapped my whole right arm around her, petting her gently. Phil replaced his confused expression with a joyful one. “I love you too, man! You must have hit your head on something pretty hard but if rocks can make people this nice I’ll be throwing rocks at b*****s every day,” he said, like his usual self. I laughed hard, getting tension out of my system. “He probably just went for a swim and was getting too weak to tread water and got scared,” Ambree said, rationally. I was so thankful to have my friends. I was infinitely happy I didn’t have to miss these guys just yet. “Let’s go get food,” I said, motioning towards the trail. We simultaneously started walking back the way we came, as I continued to hold Ambree with my right arm. Then I saw a light begin to shine on us from down the trail. “What are you kids doing here?” S**t. A cop.

I looked at Phil and Ambree, and I could tell they felt the same way I did. He drew closer as we stood still. He got close enough to where I could study his features, and he stopped, shining a flashlight in our faces. He looked like he was in his fifties, with long hair, a mustache, a sheriff hat, and a body that made him look out of shape, but not fat. Maybe he’ll go easy on us. “Sorry officer. We were taking a dog for a walk and he got loose and walked up the path,” Phil said. The cop got closer. “You think I was born yesterday? Hands above your heads!” he said, with a furious southern voice. The officer aimed a gun at us with his right hand and a flashlight with his other. I raised my arms just like he said, and so did Ambree and Phil. He walked up to us. Then, he walked behind us. He turned off the flashlight, put it away, holstered his gun, and started fidgeting with something that sounded like handcuffs. After that, he took my hands, put them behind my back, and I felt cold hard bonds lock onto my wrists. I was too intimidated to speak. I had never been in a situation like this. The cop said nothing. He locked handcuffs around Ambree and Phil, walked in front of us, and resumed aiming his firearm, with no flashlight this time. I wanted to break the silence. “Officer, I’m sorry we trespassed. It was wrong. If you let us go, it won’t happen again. I promise,” I said, hoping it would persuade him, but not expecting it to. The cop got a little closer, grabbed me by the shirt, and pulled me over to his face, with the gun pointed at my neck, suddenly making me fear for my life, once again. I could feel the anger in his eyes, with a heavy scent of tobacco washing over me. “Boy, don’t you say another word. After everything you’ve done, trespassing is the least of your worries,” he said, disturbing me with both the sadism in his voice and the notion that I had done something more serious than trespass. The barrel of the gun touched my temple, and my heartbeat escalated. “You make me sick. How could you do something like this? You are without a doubt the lowest scum on the face of the earth, and there is nothing that could be done to you that could punish you enough for what you’ve done to them,” he said, with a whisper of fury and disgust, his saliva hitting me repeatedly. I was in total shock. I wanted to see how Ambree and Phil were reacting to his words, but when I behind me on both my sides, Ambree and Phil weren’t there, amplifying my shock thousand fold. “Ambree?? Phil?? Where are you??” I screamed, looking around, in despair. “Shut up! You know goddamn well where they are, and don’t you pretend like you don’t! You knew very well, just like you know what will happen to you now, Mr. Madden!” he barked, now positioning the barrel under my chin, causing me to lift it. My eyes were wide open. My stomach felt like it had been contaminated by a deadly poison. “I don’t know where they are, sir,” I said softly, unable to stop myself from conveying honesty in spite of my doubt of its potential benefit. The officer scoffed. “What DO you know, boy?” I felt a tear fall down my right cheek. I was silent for a moment, feeling his menacing gaze and listening to him inhale and exhale hard through his nostrils. I looked upward, catching the sight of the luminous moon, once again, one thing about this night that never brought me any harm. “Nothing,” I confessed. I began to recollect on all the events of tonight and remembered the tombstones. One said “Ambree Day” and one said “Phil McNuss.” There was a third. It said “Bobby Madden.” I heard the cocking of a gun. I remembered Ambree’s embrace on the bus, and I closed my eyes.

© 2015 Bobby Madden

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Reviews

JoJo Hallows

So, this is what made it awesome. It had this element of 80's camp-humour to it then it turned into this psychological terror. What made the experience reading this really indepth was the fact I know the characters, mostly Phil. You described them how I know and iamgine them to be. Then I could hear you telling me this story. This is not a bad thing. I think it added an effect of really horror because it suddenly became real. I imagind us sitting outside the amll lot and you telling me this. By the end, you suddenly disapear and I'm left alone under a tree. I was honestly disturbed for a moment. I have the benefit of knowing the locations and people invovled, addind great effect to this story. ( By the way, only I get to do the disapearing acts.) Lastly, this reminded me of the short story book collection the used to have at my elementary school. The book combined some of Poe, Hitchcock and others. This mirrored that for me. Thank you for taking em back to that.