The Undrowned

by K. R. Alexander

  “What are you talking about?”

  She giggles then, high-pitched and childlike, and the phone goes dead.

  The moment it does, I hear a vibration coming from the living room. Two quick pulses, and then silence.

  Slowly, filled with dread, I hang up the phone and make my way toward the noise.

  It’s coming from Jessica’s phone on the coffee table.

  I don’t even have to pick it up to know that this is wrong. Jessica never goes anywhere without it—she wouldn’t have left it behind if she went outside.

  At least, not by her own free will.

  With a trembling hand, I pick up her phone.

  Instantly, an image comes onscreen.

  Jessica. Looking terrified in the middle of the woods.

  And behind her, with a ferocious grin, is Rachel.

  I swear my heart stops beating.

  I stare down at the photo of Jessica and Rachel, and a thousand thoughts war in my head.

  What is Jessica doing there?

  Where are they?

  What does Rachel want with her?

  But I know the answers to all those questions—I just don’t want to hear them.

  Rachel stole Jessica away. That was the door slamming I heard earlier.

  Rachel took Jessica back to the woods.

  Back to the lake.

  And as for why Rachel would want my sister …

  She wants me to know how it feels to be afraid.

  She wants me to feel as alone as she did.

  I turn off Jessica’s phone and slide it into my pocket. I take deep, slow breaths even though I want to panic.

  What should I do?

  Should I call the cops?

  Should I call my parents?

  Just the thought of reaching out to Mom and Dad makes me think of what I saw in Rachel’s house, the two human-shaped puddles on the ground behind her.

  I can’t risk my parents getting hurt.

  I can’t risk anyone else getting hurt over this.

  It has to be me.

  My nerves are electric, but I know this is what I have to do. I run upstairs and grab Rachel’s sketchbook. Water drips from the edges.

  As if it knows that the end is coming.

  As if it knows this is the final showdown.

  As if it knows I will lose.

  Before I can psych myself out, I leave my home and make my way toward the monster I created,

  the monster that I alone can face.

  Scenery flies by as I run to the lake at the edge of the woods. Maybe it’s adrenaline, but I barely notice the burn in my legs or the fire in my lungs. It feels like only seconds before the suburban landscape gives way to thick trees and cold, shadowed air. And then, after stumbling through the path that led me to this nightmare, I break out into the fresh air surrounding Lake Lamont.

  It’s empty.

  Bradley’s boat is still floating in the middle, and even though I swear there had been other families coming to the lake when I left barely an hour ago, they aren’t here now.

  No one is here.

  Not even ducks swimming or fish splashing or birds flying through the sky.

  The lake is eerily silent and still. If I thought the woods had been cold, the lake is downright freezing. The storm I’d seen earlier has drawn overhead, filling the sky with dark gray clouds that rumble with unspent thunder. And yet, it feels cold enough to snow. I’m honestly shocked that my breath doesn’t come out in puffs.

  Clutching the sketchbook to my chest and trying not to shiver, I follow the path out to the pier, to where I found Rachel drawing the other day. There’s no one there. No boats. No nothing.

  Where is she? Where are Rachel and my sister?

  A terrible thought crosses my mind:

  What if it’s all a trick? What if Jessica is already drowned?

  “I was wondering if you would show up,” Rachel says from behind me. I gasp and turn around. The sight of her almost makes me scream.

  Before, Rachel had looked mostly human. But that illusion is gone, replaced by the monster she has become.

  She wears a sundress that sags in tatters off of her skin. Her flesh is bleached out, translucent, revealing gray muscle and sharp white bone beneath. Lank hair hangs in wet chunks down her bony shoulders, framing a face that looks like a deep-sea anglerfish—her face is shortened, widened, and her mouth splits it in two, her teeth long needles, her tongue a pale pink worm. Only her eyes retain a semblance of her former self—sky blue but glowingly so. Even in the dark gray sky, her eyes burn with an inner fire.

  “Do you like my new look?” Rachel asks. She gestures to her face, and even her hands are transformed— her fingers are long and spindly and tipped with sharp black nails, and a thin webbing stretches between her talons. “I should thank you. It’s all because of you.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say. The words come out as a sob, and I realize I truly do mean it. I hold her sketchbook to my chest like a shield. Not that I think the layers of paper would stand a chance if she chose to attack me.

  “Sorry?” Rachel says. “Why should you be sorry? We should be thanking you, Samantha. After all, if it weren’t for you, we would never have become like this.” She stretches her arms out to the sides and lifts her chin to the sky. “Finally, we feel strong. We feel powerful.”

  “But you’re a monster,” I whisper, even though I hadn’t really meant to say it.

  Her head snaps back to me, hair slapping against her skin. “We’re a monster?” she hisses. She takes a step toward me, and her voice changes, once more sounds like multiple voices in one, all scrambling to crawl out from the bottom of a deep, dark well. “How dare you call us a monster when you are the monstrous one!”

  “I know,” I say. I take a step back. “I know, and I’m sorry. I never should have been mean to you, Rachel. I never should have—”

  “What is done is done,” Rachel snaps. She smiles, tilts her head like a predator examining its prey. “Rachel is no longer here, Samantha.” Her voice sends chills down my spine. I take another step and feel my foot hit the edge of the pier. If I take one more step, I’ll fall in. “We have devoured her. As we shall devour all who oppose us.”

  I try not to think of what might be waiting in the water behind me, what might be reaching out with clawed hands.

  “Who … who are you?” I ask.

  Rachel gestures to the lake with her gnarled hand. At her beckon, the surface roils, as if there are thousands of creatures trying to get out.

  “We are those who lost their voices and their lives to this lake. We are the dead. The drowned. The lake is hungry. Can you not feel it? It is cursed. It has devoured so many lives and will continue to do so. But when you gave us Rachel, we found an escape. Through her, we can walk the earth once more. Through her, we can be human.”

  “What do you want?” I ask.

  She reaches out and presses one long nail to my cheek.

  “To be free,” she says. “To feel the sun on our skin, the air in our lungs.”

  It doesn’t sound horrible. I mean, if I had been drowned, I’d want the same thing. To be alive again. Her next words chill the thought from my mind.

  “That is why you will help us,” she says. “Why you will continue to help us. You will bring us more bodies. More hosts.”

  “What?”

  She doesn’t answer. Just smiles and points to the far edge of the lake.

  And there, on the grassy shore, is Jessica. Ropes bind her tight. And behind her are three people I never thought I’d see again: Bradley, Mario, and Christina. Even from here, I can tell they’re different. The sun glints off their pallid skin and their hair hangs wet. And their eyes … their eyes burn white.

  “What are you doing to her?” I yell out. I want to run over there, but there’s no way. I’m at the end of the dock and I would not only have to push past Rachel but make my way around the lake. I’d never make it.

  Unless I swam.

  “Don’t
worry,” Rachel coos. “We won’t hurt her. Much. She will be the next vessel. You brought us so many bodies, Samantha. So many.”

  “Let her go!”

  “Why? You don’t care about her. Just as you didn’t care about Rachel. You wanted her gone. And you want your sister gone.” She reaches her hand out and presses that bony talon to my chest. “Deep in your heart, you want everyone gone. That is why we were able to take over Rachel’s body. She wasn’t a mistake. She didn’t fall in by accident. You pushed her in. You wanted her to disappear. Your will allowed us to inhabit her. You allowed us to take her away and make her our own. Your hatred allowed us in.”

  “No, no, it’s not true,” I say. But isn’t it? I was so mad at Rachel that afternoon. So mad at everyone. The monster in front of me is right: I wanted everyone gone. And the lake gave me my wish.

  Rachel laughs.

  “It will all be over soon,” she says. “First, we will take over your sister. Then we will claim the lives of everyone in this town. Everyone who wronged us. Everyone who forgot about us. Just as you wanted. We will make everyone you hated disappear. You should be grateful. You are finally getting your wish—when we are through, there will be no one left to hurt you ever again.”

  She cackles and stares down at the water.

  There, under the placid surface, are hundreds of bodies. No longer fully human, their translucent skin and pale gray muscles sliding under the surface like eels. Eels with razor-sharp teeth and white eyes and long, spindly arms tipped with razor talons. They squirm and slip, clawing toward me. The entire lake is filled with them. So many lost souls.

  So many drowned.

  Rachel smiles down at them, then looks to me.

  “Soon, my friends. Soon.” She looks to Jessica. “Let us begin.”

  On the other shore, my sister screams.

  Jessica yells my name, struggling against the monsters surrounding her. Even from here, I can see the tears in her eyes. Even from here, I can sense her fear. The monsters around her push her forward, toward the lake. Hundreds of spindly hands reach from the water, reaching for her, clawing at her ankles, and there is nothing I can do to save her. She’s only a few feet from the water and a hundred feet from me.

  Soon, she will go under, and the monsters will devour her.

  No. They’ll take over her body. She’ll become one of them.

  “Don’t!” I yell. Resolve hardens in my chest. “It doesn’t have to be like this.” I hold out the sketchbook, flip it to one of the early pages, one with me and Rachel laughing and holding hands, drawn as our alter egos: me, the cat girl, and her with angel wings. “I know you’re still in there, Rachel. I know there’s still good inside of you.” I hold the sketchbook up to the monster’s face. “I’m sorry for abandoning you. But you were never forgotten. I was just hurt. I was scared. And rather than face that pain, I turned it on you. I’m sorry.”

  The monster’s face twitches. Her eyebrows furrow and her lips tighten. As if she’s fighting something within her.

  She squeezes her eyes shut and her face shakes at a terrifying speed, like a video fast-forwarding, and when she pauses it’s not a monster anymore but Rachel. The real Rachel.

  “Samantha,” she says.

  I want to hug her, but I can’t move. I don’t trust this.

  “Rachel,” I whisper. “I’m so, so sorry. I never should have been so mean to you. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. I know you only wanted to be my friend.”

  Rachel smiles sadly. “It’s okay. I forgive you. I forgave you months ago. But, Samantha … this thing inside me. I can’t fight it. You have to run. You have to—”

  “NO!” she roars. Her face snaps, and once more she is a monster, all razor teeth and burning eyes. “No! You will not win. You cannot have Rachel back.” She thrusts her arm out to the shore, to where my sister is still struggling against her captors. “Take her!”

  The monstrous kids push Jessica forward. She’s so close to the water, the monsters can claw at her ankles.

  “No!” I scream out. I look back to the monster of Rachel. “Please. Don’t hurt her. Take … take me instead.”

  The words spill from my lips before I even realize what I’m saying.

  I expect the monstrous Rachel to stagger back. To vanish in a swirl of shadows. Instead, she just starts to laugh.

  “Oh, Samantha,” she says. “Don’t try to be all heroic now. That’s never been your style. Of course I’m going to take you. I’m going to take both of you.”

  She gestures, and on the other side of the lake, Jessica is pushed into the water with a scream and splash.

  I scream out as Jessica gets dragged under.

  “No!” I yell. I look back at Rachel. “Rachel, please! Don’t do this! Fight her, Rachel. Fight her!”

  The water thrashes behind us as Jessica tries to swim free. Rachel howls. For a moment, I think it’s a cry of victory. Then her head twitches, and it’s the old Rachel looking back.

  “You have to help her!” Rachel yells. “I’ll call them. You have to save—you have to—aagh!” Her head twitches, and this time she’s half Rachel, half monster. “No!” she growls out, looking to the lake.

  And then I realize what she meant by call them.

  The water roils and seethes around us as the drowned creatures below flock to the pier. Bubbles and fins and talons churn from the water. On the opposite side, Jessica struggles up the shore. Bradley and the others have left her alone; they leap into the water, paddling our way with lightning speed. Paddling toward Rachel and me.

  The pier shudders. Tilts. The drowned below scratch and claw at the old wood, trying to get up. Trying to drag us down. I stumble. Topple against Rachel.

  “This is your fault,” she growls. And then, “Hurry! There isn’t much time!”

  The dock shifts again. Great chunks of wood splinter away. Rachel howls and grabs for me, but I shove the sketchbook at her. She latches on to it, twists it away, but I don’t let go, even though it nearly topples me.

  I wait until the dock shifts again. This time, I yank the book toward me, toward the lower side of the dock, and spin out of the way just in time, releasing the sketchbook as she tumbles past me.

  She yells out once. Throws the book high into the air as she plummets forward.

  As she falls into the water.

  I stand there, at the water’s edge, looking down as she is dragged under by the drowned. As they claw at her, surround her.

  The last thing I see is her face—Rachel’s face, her true face. She is smiling at me.

  Then the monsters swarm her, and she is carried below the water forever.

  I don’t know how long I stand there, staring down into the water’s depths. Mud and silt cloud the water, obscuring everything below, but the water is still. Silent.

  No one comes to the surface. Not the monsters. And not Rachel.

  Moments pass, and the water ripples once. But not from a creature coming from below. No. From the tears falling from my eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper to the water. “But thank you for saving me. For saving us.”

  I feel horrible. I couldn’t save her. And she sacrificed herself to save me.

  The dock tilts and I jolt, expecting a monster to be dragging itself to the surface. But it’s just Jessica. She shivers in the cold afternoon air and tentatively makes her way over to me, avoiding the gaping holes the monsters left in the pier. She pauses halfway toward me, leans over. Picks up the sketchbook.

  “Is it … is it over?” she asks me.

  I turn away from the place Rachel fell in and make my way to my sister.

  “I don’t know,” I say honestly. I reach for my sister and pull her in for a hug. She is so warm against me.

  For the first time in ages, I let myself cry against her.

  She doesn’t say anything.

  We don’t say anything.

  Not until the sun comes out from behind the storm clouds and casts its rippling light over the lake
. Jessica steps to my side, and we stare down at the lake in silence.

  “I’m sorry,” I finally whisper. “For everything I did to you. I’m so sorry. And I’m … I’m grateful you were my friend. I never said that. But you were my friend, then and always, and I’ll always be thankful for that. You never should have sacrificed yourself for me. But I’ll make sure … I’ll make sure it wasn’t in vain.”

  Then Jessica takes my hand, and together, we turn and make our way home.

  The entire weekend is filled with police interviews and news reporters. It hadn’t taken long for word to get out that Bradley and Christina and Mario and Rachel had gone missing—once the empty boat was discovered floating in the middle of the lake, it was pretty inevitable.

  Once people started investigating, they realized that Rachel’s parents, too, were missing. No one quite knew what had happened. All they knew was that it had to do with the lake.

  No one had linked me to the boat, though. No one had known I went out there.

  I wasn’t questioned because I was a suspect.

  I was questioned because Rachel had once been my friend.

  Thankfully, my parents had finally stopped fighting long enough to step in and tell the reporters and the cops that I didn’t know anything.

  Jessica remained silent—she didn’t tell anyone she had been dragged to the lake. I didn’t even need to bully her into it. She was smart. She knew that no one would believe that Rachel had become a monster. That Rachel had summoned hundreds of other monsters and nearly killed both of us.

  No. She stayed quiet, and I kept to my story—that I had barely spoken to Rachel since we had our fight. And that, at least, was true.

  Whatever I’d been speaking to since I pushed Rachel into the lake was definitely not my friend.

  At least the monster was finally gone.

  * * *

  At noon on Monday, they call an assembly.

  I sit on my own while Principal Detmer talks about what the police thought happened. About the mayor’s plans to close down the lake for good. He talks about being there for each other during difficult times. Supporting each other. Being true friends.