Riapoke

by Bryan Nowak

  She snapped her fingers at him. “Hey, head case … let’s get with the program.” Kelley put her hands on her hips and smiled lovingly at him. “Dad, I think it’s time we talked.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Sweetie, I think I know how it all works. Remember, a flying stork really didn’t deliver you. Things happened between me and mom.”

  “Ewww … gross. No! God! What I meant was that you and I had a rough patch after Mom died. We sorta got lost, and I didn’t know how to get back.”

  He shook his head. “Yeah, I’m so sorry about that. I should’ve been there for you, and I wasn’t. You were there for me though.” Mike smiled at her. “My daughter came back for me.”

  “Dad, we came back for each other. When you saw what I needed, you put the cork in the bottle and saved both of us.” She gave him a warm hug. “I love you, Daddy. You’re the best daddy in the whole world. Don’t forget that. So, I give you permission. I’m letting you go. You’re all grown up now.”

  “You mean, like, to lunch?”

  “No, silly, I mean if you want to date and bring women home and introduce them to me, you should. I don’t want you to hold back because of me. You need … no strike that … you deserve happiness too.”

  He wiped away a tear forming in the corner of his eye. “Oh, sweetie, thank you. That means more to me than you can know. But … it isn’t that easy. Your mother was the only woman in this world that I loved in that way. I don’t even know if I can do this. It feels so alien to me.”

  She rolled her eyes and grabbed his hands. “Daddy, what’s not easy? Kyle and I had tons of time to talk, and it sounds like you’re both in the same boat. So you two can be nervous together. It’s alright. Go ahead, give it a try and I’ll bet you have a great time.” She leaned forward, adopting a more serious tone. “And Dad, I would bet that Mom would want this for you too. It’s time for you to find your happiness again.”

  He stared at the reflection in the mirror, linking his arm in hers. “Kelley, my daughter, I think I already have that.”

  She straightened up and stepped back from him. “Good. Now, go get the girl. And remember, standard rules apply. If you have her in here, please put a tie on the doorknob or something. I really don’t want to walk into the proverbial beast with two backs.”

  “Kelley, I’m not sure if I’m more shocked that you know about the tie thing or the reference to the beast with two backs.” He glanced down at his watch. “Oh, wow, time to get moving. I need to hustle to meet her at the restaurant.”

  Mike scanned the main part of the dining area. Not seeing Meghan anywhere, he took a seat.

  Kelley and Kyle planned to hang out down by the pool and meet other teens in the game room. Kyle seemed like a nice, level-headed kid, and it made Mike happy to see Kelley making new friends and having fun. This week, his daughter of old had emerged.

  The sommelier brought up a bottle of white wine from the cellar and put it on ice that morning. The wine stood out as the perfect balance to the fish special being prepared for lunch. Meghan mentioned a fondness for fish and white wine, so he’d made a calculated guess. The kitchen staff prepared anything he asked for and even things he didn’t expect. Owning a resort did have its perks.

  He glanced at his watch again. The big hand sunk a few ticks past noon. He shrugged. Being fashionably late wasn’t the worst thing in the world, he reasoned; it was the people who insisted everything run on schedule all the time that really annoyed him.

  At twenty past the hour, Mike resigned himself to the realization that he’d been stood up. His first at-bat in the dating game, and the pitcher hadn’t even thrown the ball. He ran through every word of their conversation the day before, searching for anything he might have said that could possibly have offended her. Draining the wine glass, Mike stood to leave when his phone rang. The caller ID read, Kelley.

  “Hey sweetie, what’s up?” Not really wanting to admit he’d been stood up.

  “Dad, is Kyle with you guys?” There was a surprising tinge of concern in her voice.

  His heart rate instinctively raced. “No, Meghan never showed. Why?” He winced at his confession, feeling the sting yet again.

  “Come down to the boathouse right away. This might be an emergency. I think something may have happened to them.”

  He jumped up from the table and ran out the side door. The rain reflected his sudden worry, pelting him even harder. The parking lot in the distance had flooded with rainwater, and beyond that, Lake Oleander roiled in an angry gray mass.

  He sprinted across the yard, and the docks, entering the boathouse. Bill stood by in his rain slicker, along with Kelley and a couple of her friends.

  Kelley spoke excitedly. “Bill, tell my Dad what you told us.”

  “This morning, that lady and her son took one of the boats out,” he obliged.

  “Yeah, they told me they were going out, so what?”

  “Mike, that’s the thing. They haven’t come back.”

  “We got worried when Kyle didn’t show,” Kelley added. “We called up to the room and no one answered. Ricky saw them rent a boat this morning, so we went over to the big picture window and saw one boat still out. That’s when we ran down here, and Bill told us it was their boat.”

  Mike’s heart fell through the floor. His date was apparently in mortal danger. His eyes darted out the door, onto the lake. It was stunning how quickly the visibility vanished to only a few feet from the dock. If anyone was out on this lake right now, they’d be in serious danger. Lake Oleander wasn’t terribly wide, but it was spring fed. It’s notoriously cold water could easily induce hypothermia, even in the heat of summer.

  Mike turned to Ricky. “You’re right to worry. Do you remember which direction they headed?”

  A skinny boy in the back spoke up. “Yes, sir. They headed toward The Trough.”

  Mike nodded. The Trough was a local euphemism for where Lake Oleander reached the southern end of its curve.

  “We have to go search for them, Bill,” Mike said, fighting the dread turning his insides to mush.

  The old man threw up his hands, exasperated. “Mike, there’s no way. Then we’d have two boats missing in this. We have to wait until the storm stops. Why don’t you call the police over in Riapoke? Let them know to look-out for them.”

  “That’s part of what I’m afraid of … them ending up over in Riapoke.” Mike had heard the stories over the years and met a few of the residents. Rumors abounded of people finding their way into town and vanishing without a trace. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing, Bill. We have to go after them.”

  “Dad, no,” Kelley yelled out behind him. “The rain is too much. You have to wait until this storm blows over. You know that’s true.”

  Bill moved the window shades out of the way and scanned the surface of the lake. The early afternoon had taken on more of a dusky grey. “Sorry Mike, we don’t have a choice. To go out in this would be suicidal. We need to hold off for better weather.”

  As if to drive home his point, a large log floated by, looking like an alligator who’d made his way too far north and took up residence in the lakes of Virginia. An unseen current pushed it along to an unknown destination, waves fiercely lapping over it.

  While changing into thicker, more practical clothes, Mike called the authorities in Riapoke. Apparently the local conservation officer, who had jurisdiction, was out on another weather-related call and wasn’t expected back for some time. The dispatcher assured him people had survived worse and he should try and relax until someone contacted him. Mike said, “Okay, thank you,” and hung up the phone not feeling very assured. In his heart, he wanted to reach through the phone and slap the dispatcher for being so dismissive of Meghan and her son.

  An hour after learning they hadn’t returned, Mike watched Bill place a few items into the boat they’d need to mount a rescue operation. What Mike understood about the law, he lacked in the understanding of lake shore living. Every few minutes Bill told him to mo
ve out of the way, muttering to himself, “It’d be easier if you just stayed in the office while I did this.” Mike finally got the message.

  Not meaning to be in the way, he reluctantly backed off, but not far. He silently willed Bill to finish quickly so they could get underway. Finding Meghan and her son were the top priority. Part of him knew instinctively the situation carried a strange gravity, not unlike a detective investigating a missing persons case; the longer they lingered at the dock, the less chance they had of bringing Meghan and Kyle back safely.

  Finally, Bill indicated all was ready.

  “What do I do, Bill?”

  “You sit there with these binoculars. Scan the water for any sign of the boat, or …” Bill hesitated to finish his statement.

  “Or what?”

  “I’d rather not say. Just keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.”

  Mike’s expression grew somber. “Oh,” he said, finally understanding Bill’s macabre meaning.

  They headed south along the shore, in the direction the skinny teen indicated. In the absence of better information, it was a reasonable direction to start their search. The lake widened out in spots, but generally ran North and South and formed a huge U, if viewed from the air. Getting lost on the water and ending up on the other side of the lake wasn’t unheard of.

  Lake Oleander took its name from a flower that never grew there. Legend had it someone tried to plant oleanders, and failed miserably. Yet the name of the lake stuck. Given the rash of unusual disappearances around the lake the past fifty years, the name association with the flower was appropriate. Oleander plants could be deadly.

  Bill continued to scan the horizon while Mike stood on the bow with the binoculars. Twice Bill had to yell at Mike to sit down. It wasn’t unusual to hit logs and large sticks which had become dislodged after a particularly bad rainstorm. One jolt from a good-sized piece of timber, and he’d take a swim.

  They made their way around the U-shaped bend in the lake and headed back North. The city of Riapoke lay on the exact opposite side of the lake from the resort. About the only features of the lake shore were the city of Riapoke and the Hideaway. A few houses butted up along the water’s edge, but they became fewer on the Riapoke side, owing to highway accessibility. The mix of deciduous and conifer trees along the waterway sat essentially unbroken with the exception of a few home made piers jutting out into the water in a few places. Once there was a restaurant near the trough which did alright for a few years, but closed during the recession. The building stood crumbling and abandoned.

  The city, for its part, did little to dispel the negative rumors surrounding it. It wasn’t so long ago that people visited Riapoke on a regular basis, and even though the townspeople still maintained a cold detachment, they were still friendly to visitors.

  That was ten years before the one, and only, church in town effectively cut Riapoke off from the rest of the world. Parishioners were forced to obey a strict oath of conduct, which included swearing to stay within the boundaries of Riapoke unless permitted to leave. From what Mike understood, few ever made such a request.

  He hated the idea of waltzing up there and asking someone if any strangers were swimming for their lives on their side of the lake.

  Killing a Friend

  Inside his office, Donny opened the door leading to the cave where The Master lived. He was reminded of the awesome responsibility of being The Master’s voice in the community. It gave him power over the entire town, but that power was limited and revocable by The Master at any moment.

  Making his way down the stairs hewn into the rock by unknown hands, the walls came to life as flames shot up, lighting his way. Instead of providing heat, though, the unearthly flames provided light and little else, not even smoke. Once he ran his hand through one of the flames; instead of being hot, the flame was cold to the touch.

  At the bottom of the staircase, he used a large key to open the metal door leading to The Master’s inner sanctum.

  “Oh, great and merciful Master,” he chanted. “I come before you as a pilgrim in the wilderness. I come in search of the way, the truth, and the light. I beseech thee to—”

  The Master walked out from around the altar with no fanfare. He took the form of a lion, causing Donny’s voice to catch in his throat. In years past, he’d appeared as a seductively dressed woman, a man, even a child. Most of the time, he preferred to take the form of a demon, with leathery wings.

  “That’s enough, high priest. We have much to discuss and very little time to discuss it.”

  Donny reflexively backed away, trying to mask his fear. “Yes … yes, master. I needed to speak with you right away. Something has happened, and I thought it wise to inform you immediately.”

  The Master laid down on the floor, examining one of his paws. “Do you not know me so well? Do you think I’m so ignorant that I don’t already know what is written in the stars? I know it all. I know how it ends. Even now, I know there is one making her way to you, who brought the instrument of our destruction.”

  “So, the prophecy is true?” Donny backed up, leaning against the wall for support. The news hit him like a thousand pound weight suddenly dropped onto his shoulders.

  “Prophecies are interesting things. They are written on parchment by men who make judgments about the most likely outcome. They are unable to take into account what happens when someone actively works against fate, shaping it differently. Even a curse can only last for so long before it weakens and is cast aside like a child’s toy. You ask me if the prophecy is true. Yes, high priest, the prophecy is true.”

  The cold dampness of the wall leached through Donny’s shirt. Trying to keep a healthy distance between himself and The Master, the room felt smaller than usual. “But Master, if it’s a prophecy, how do we keep it from coming to pass?”

  The Master trotted up to Donny, staring intently into the eyes of the surprised cleric. “You have no faith in our ways; sadly, you have no faith in yourself either, high priest. When this all unravels because of your disbelief, I shall make sure yours is the first soul I take. On this day, you must sharpen your resolve and follow my instructions carefully. Mark my words, the woman spoken of in the prophecy will come to you by the time the sun surrenders its last rays. You are to bring her before me as the final tribute. Make sure the woman’s son meets your daughter. They are destined to wed. Their children will continue and expand my reign.”

  Donny searched The Master’s eyes, not daring to divert his gaze, lest he die. The warmth of the beasts breath tickled the hairs on the side of his face. He wished he’d brought the amulet with him. It protected the wearer from any supernatural harm, including The Master. The source of the magic was unclear; however, it was strong enough The Master forbid its use except for the most formal ceremonies.

  He willed his heart rate to return to normal. As it did, The Master seemed to calm as well. The immense cat turned away from Donny and paced the floor.

  “Good,” The Master said. “You’re learning to control your own fear, something you must do in the coming days if you want to survive. Other than myself, you are the only other person who can know this truth. We are all in grave danger. Strengthen your heart high priest, what I ask of you is no easy task. However, I would not put this yoke on your shoulders if I didn’t believe you could complete your mission.” Sitting on his haunches again, the enormous cat held up one of its immense paws. “What safeguards have you put in place? I am most concerned about this information getting out and I fear Brother Matthew may not be as loyal as he needs to be. Brother Waylon, while faithful, also lacks the ability to control his tongue.”

  Donny almost forgot the purpose of the visit. The Master already knew how much and how little either of the men knew. “Master, Matthew and Waylon have a strong bond. I told Matthew to keep an eye on Waylon and to ensure no one else knew about today’s events. If word spreads there will be panic in the streets of Riapoke and nothing I can say will bring the situation
back under control.”

  “For now, don’t concern yourself with this. Hear my edict and follow closely. I think you misstepped in your handling of Waylon. Alcohol has clouded his judgment and he can no longer be trusted. Tell Matthew to kill him tonight and leave the body at the house by the lake. I don’t want that fool running his mouth off to the townspeople. I suspect, intentionally or not, he is our betrayer.”

  “But, Waylon really didn’t do anything to deserve—” Donny’s voice dried up as The Master eyed him. One of the large cat’s paws spread out in front, displaying dagger-like claws.

  “Oh no, please,” The Master said. “Don’t let me stop you. I love it when my high priest argues with me about the rules and mandates I put forth.”

  “I’m sorry Master. I forgot my place. Please, I beg of you. Forgive me. I’ll take care of it right away.” Donny fell to his knees in a supplicating gesture.

  “Do you know why I chose this form? I wanted to appear as something you both revered and feared. Strong and threatening, and at the same time beautiful and commanding.” In a puff of vapor, The Master changed from a lion into his regular form of a large demon with black wings. “In this body, you fear me. You see me as a grotesque figure because your culture doesn’t believe in such things. When you see that which you don’t believe exists, you instantly fear it. You have lost touch with what it means to have gods and demons walking among you.” With another puff of vapor, the demon form was replaced with that of a sultry woman he’d seen before. “And in this form, you neither fear me nor respect me. You see me as something to protect. A young woman who needs a strong man.”

  He morphed into the huge lion again. “Be clear, no matter what the form, you are here to obey and respect my commandments, do you understand me?”