I snorted, “Carter, you didn’t see it. You weren’t there. It creeped me out; no way I’m going back at night. Now just lay down and go to sleep. Please? Just drop it.”
After a moment I heard him sigh and lay back down. Relieved, I closed my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Sleep did not come quickly.
I don’t know what time it was when my eyes snapped open, but something was wrong. I jerked into a sitting position and let my tired eyes adjust.
Carter was gone.
“Shit, shit, shit, you idiot what the hell,” I said, standing and grabbing my clothes. I didn’t take Carter as an adventurous person, never mind a brave one. What was he thinking? If he was where I thought he was, then I needed to tell Ken immediately. I had been by the well, I knew the story held truth and I knew that there was something dangerous about it.
I thought about waking Penny but decided against it. I stomped into my boots and flung the door open. The night was calm, a fat white moon dripping its vanilla rays down to meet me. The camp was still and sleep coated the air. I marched down the stairs and turned toward Ken’s cabin when something caught my eyes toward the tree line.
Carter was walking toward me. He spotted me and gave me a sly smile. “Well well, change your mind?”
The big fire in the middle of the camp from earlier was almost out, but there was just enough flame that I could make out his features as he approached me.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, my voice a harsh whisper.
“Sorry, man,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets and shrugging, “I just had to see it for myself. Took me forever to find it.”
I paused, cautious. “You…you saw the well?”
He nodded, the smile still on his face.
I licked my lips. “And?”
He slapped me on my shoulder. “Ken’s full of crap I’m afraid. It’s just a stupid well. There’s nothing down there, man.”
I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding in. “Wait…really? You actually went and looked down inside?”
He chuckled and rubbed his eyes. “Yep, no ghosts or monsters I’m afraid. Just Ken jerking us around. It was a good story, I’ll give him that.”
I shook my head. “Well, I guess I’m just a big baby then. Let’s tell Penny in the morning; I think she was a little freaked out.”
He laughed. “All right. I’m totally busting on Ken, too, for trying to freak us out. Come on, let’s go to bed.”
As we turned back toward our cabin, the dying fire splashed the last of its light on Carter’s face and I noticed that his eyes were incredibly bloodshot. He rubbed them again and we went back inside and slept until morning.
The next day was blistering hot. As predicted, most of the guests wanted to take the paddle boats out onto the lake. Ken, back to his grandpa routine, helped the three of us make sure they were accommodated and happy. He asked if we would take shifts staying down by the water and keep an eye on things. Penny said she’d take the first shift and so Carter and I stayed behind and saw to the daily chores. We had ended up not telling her. We agreed that it was better if she didn’t know because of her constant paranoia of getting in trouble. And if she was frightened by Ken’s story, she didn’t show it as she went about her morning.
Carter was cheerful despite the heat and helped me prepare the wood for the evening’s fire. His eyes were still terribly bloodshot and when I asked him about it, he shrugged it off.
“Probably caught me a case of double pink eye. Just my luck. They itch like crazy. You think Ken has something for them? Eyedrops maybe?”
“He might. It looks bad, man,” I said, dragging another log over to the chopping block.
He scrubbed at them. “Ah, let’s finish this first, shall we?”
Today was cleaning day and after we finished the wood, Carter went to relieve Penny. He ended up not speaking to Ken about his eyes, despite my protests. He said maybe a swim would clear them up and I told him to not touch anyone if he was going to keep itching them.
About a half-hour after Carter left, Penny came strolling up the hill looking hot. She wiped sweat from her forehead. “You would never know that I was in the water ten minutes ago. It is stifling today, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m looking forward to my shift at the lake. Did you see Carter?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with his eyes?”
“He thinks it’s pink eye.”
She shivered, “Gross. Poor guy.” She scanned the campsite. “So what do we have left? We’re cleaning the cabins today, right? Mid-week scrub for the guests?”
I stretched my arms over my head. “Yeah, sounds fun, doesn’t it? Ken told me this morning we don’t have to go overboard. The deep clean is on Sunday in between arrivals. Just neaten up, make sure the bathrooms are clean, get rid of trash, all that.”
“All right, let’s get to it then,” she said and we both went to gather supplies for our afternoon of upkeep.
Time went quickly with the two of us chatting and cleaning, the work quickly muted to the sound of good conversation and laughs. She was a nice girl and I found myself incapable of growing slightly fond of her. We hadn’t gotten much time to talk one-on-one, and I found her to be quite the pleasant person.
As the sun crawled across the sky like a dying man in the desert, we finished up the last of the houses. I blinked sweat out of my eyes and let out a long sigh as I saw Carter trudging up the hill. He saw us and waved, meeting us in the middle of camp. His eyes were still bloodshot, but they looked much better than they had that morning.
“Save any lives?” Penny asked with a smirk. “Any hot moms rescued?”
Carter threw his head back and laughed. “’Fraid not. Nope, just a bunch of whiny kids and drunk dads. You guys finish cleaning?”
“Yeah,” I said. “All that’s left is to rake the grounds. I’m going to go change and head down for a dip. I mean, to keep an eye on everyone.” We all laughed and split ways, Carter and Penny going to retrieve the rakes and myself down to the lake.
The water was cold and wonderful. As the sun slowly dipped into a rainbow of colors, I spent the remainder of the day swimming and having casual conversation with the guests. I couldn’t think of a more pleasant way to end the day.
The story that night was about Ken’s vision for the campsite. He told the guests about all the improvements he wanted to make and how he wanted to redo the cabins. He involved the visitors, asking for their feedback and accepting their comments graciously. Most of the people had nothing but good things to say, all of them thanking the four of us for being such wonderful hosts and how they couldn’t wait to come back the next year and see the place.
After the conversation dulled to a murmur and the moon rose high, everyone thanked us again and began to turn in for the night. After everyone was inside, Ken informed us that he was tired and he was going to turn in as well. We all wished him a goodnight and we went back to our cabin.
Feeling exhausted myself from the heat and day’s activities, I told Carter and Penny I was going to go to bed. They both agreed and we went to our rooms for the night.
“How’s your eyes?” I asked Carter, already in my bed with my eyes closed.
He turned off the light next to my bed and crawled under his sheets. “Still itch like crazy, but I don’t think they’re as pink as they were this morning. Maybe tomorrow it’ll be better.”
I muttered my agreement and felt the day disappear into slumber.
I awoke with my heart racing. I was bathed in a thick sheen of sweat and my throat was dry. Something wasn’t right. My breath rattled past my cracked lips into the dead air. I tried to sit up, but I crashed back down into my bed. Something was restraining me. What the hell?
I wiggled around and found that my wrists and ankles were tied to the bedposts. Confused and terrified, I fought with them for a few vain seconds before finally giving up.
I raised my head to look over at Carter’s bed. He wasn’t in it.
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“Carter?” I said aloud. “Carter, where are you?”
Silence. And then, “Shhhhh.”
The noise came from his side of the room, but I didn’t see him. Heart still pounding, I stretched, trying to flick the lamp on next to my bed. My fingertips brushed the switch and I pulled my hand back as the ropes binding me cut into my skin.
“Carter, what the hell is going on? Where are you?” I asked, my voice cracking in panic.
Silence. Then, again, “Shhhh.”
I didn’t know if he was playing some kind of joke on me and I didn’t wanna start screaming and wake all the guests if that was the case, so I stretched my hand out again, fighting the pain that was burning into my wrists from the rope. Just…a little bit…there!
I turned the lamp on and yellow light pushed the shadows back. At first I didn’t see Carter, but movement caught my eye.
He was lying under his bed, looking directly at me.
He was smiling and I saw that his eyes were nothing more than two bloody, pulpy, orbs, rubbed so raw that he had cut into them with his fingernails and torn them out.
“They won’t stop itching,” he said to me, still smiling. And then he was up. Like lightning, he scurried out from under the bed and was on top of me.
I struggled and was about to scream when he shoved a piece of cloth into my mouth, hard. I gagged as his fingers pushed the torn sheet deeper, his thighs holding my body still with an iron clasp.
“Just keep it down, buddy,” he said, his breath dry and smelling of bile. His bloody mushed sockets stared down at me and I turned my face away, the gore making me lightheaded.
He sat up on me. “Is it gross? It is, isn’t it? Here, let me do something about that.” He reached beside me and ripped apart the sheet I was sleeping under. He tied it around his eyes and the back of his head, the blood soaking through and appearing to give him two phantom red eyes.
“There,” he said calmly. “That’s better. I can see better like this anyway. I was hoping you wouldn’t wake up, but I decided I needed to tie you up in case you decided to go looking for me again.”
I whipped my head around and tried to buck him off me, terror and confusion slamming into me with every word he said. He held on and gripped my body tighter with his legs, pressing down on my chest with his hands.
“Stop that,” he said firmly. “You’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you. I just need you to stay here, OK?” He lightly slapped my cheek. “Stay.”
He was about to get off me when he paused, smiled to himself, and leaned back toward me, whispering into my ear, “But there’s something you should know. Do you want to know what it is? You do, don’t you?”
I bit down on the cloth in my mouth and nodded.
He licked his lips. “I’m going to go cut Penny’s fucking head off.”
My eyes widened and I screamed into my gag, thrashing wildly. He chuckled softly and held me still, waiting patiently until I wore myself out. Panting hard around the cloth, I looked up at him, his smile full of teeth, the glistening red outline of his mutilated eyes bleeding through the linen.
The well.
The thought crashed into my chaotic mind like a truck. It was the well.
He had…seen something down there. Somehow, it had changed him.
Suddenly Carter raised his fists and brought them smashing down into my face, knocking me into darkness.
I awoke again, face swelling and painful. My vision swam. The room was dark again. I was still gagged and I could feel my breath becoming labored as my nose clotted with blood. I was going to suffocate if I didn’t get this rag out of my mouth. Slowly, in a daze, I worked my tongue and teeth over it until I finally could spit it out.
Gasping in deep, grateful breaths, I struggled against the ropes that held me. After a few frustrating moments, I finally loosened them enough to get a hand free. A few more minutes of tearing, and I was completely out of my bindings.
Penny.
Oh no, Penny.
I dashed to her room and kicked the door open. Empty.
I felt my heart bubble up into my throat and I stood there trembling. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, please please please.” My eyes filled with tears and I crashed out of the cabin. Get Ken, get Ken, NOW.
The night was thick, the air clawing at my skin with humidity. The moon stared down at me, uncaring and indifferent. The fire had gone out in the middle of the camp and as I about to charge Ken’s cabin down at the end of the lot, I heard something.
Screaming.
It was Penny.
I stood, frozen and immobile. It was coming from woods.
I knew where she had been taken.
Biting my lip, my face screwed up in mental agony, I looked at Ken’s cabin and then bolted toward the woods.
Toward the well.
She might have seconds to live. If she was still alive, I needed to get to her and stop Carter. Please God, let her still be OK. Please, please God.
I crashed down the path, bare feet scraping against stones and branches, my toes slamming into rock and wood. I didn’t care, I didn’t think about it. I flew as fast as my legs would take me, heart beating faster with every step.
There.
I reached the curve in the path and turned left into the woods. Crashing through the underbrush, I held my hands out in front of me, pushing aside the low-hanging branches and leaves that reached toward my face.
Panting, I broke into the clearing and froze.
Carter had Penny bent over the opening of the well. He was standing behind her with a fist gripping her hair, pulling her head back to expose her throat.
The muscles on his arms strained as he worked a knife into her pale flesh, slowly slicing into her, back and forth, back and forth, deeper and deeper. He paused and looked up, seeing me.
“Oh…hey.”
“Penny!” I screamed. In the moonlight, her eyes slowly rolled over to meet mine.
Agony.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Penny, hang on!” I screamed, tears rolling down my face.
Carter ignored my outburst, taking the time to wipe sweat from his face and tightening the cloth around his eyes. “You know, this is a lot harder than you’d think.”
“Carter, stop! It’s Penny! You’re killing her!” I screamed.
He stared at me silently, the blood-stained sheet around his eyes looking black. Finally, he motioned at me with his bloody knife, one hand still gripping Penny’s hair. “Come stop me, then.”
I swallowed and was about to charge him when I realized…I couldn’t. My knees had turned to water and all the strength in my body had drained. The forest seemed to press in on me. My breath came out in little gasps and I was terrified. I felt my bladder release and warmth spread down my legs.
The well.
The fucking well.
I couldn’t even look at it. I was filled with such nightmares that I wanted nothing more than to turn and run. Get out of here, get out of these mountains, and get as far away from that fucking well as I could.
Carter was smiling. “You can’t, can you? You’re terrified.” He tapped the top of the well with his knife. “Come on. Come over here. Look down there,” his smile grew. “Look down in the well.”
“Please,” I mumbled, vision blurring with tears and snot bubbling out of my nose. “Please stop this.”
Carter shook his head slowly. “No. In fact, I think it’s time to finish this.”
He raised his knife again and brought it back to Penny’s throat. She was slumped over now, but just as he was about to resume cutting, her eyes met mine and she muttered a single word.
“Run.”
Hearing her speak, I ripped myself from my terror. Face streaking with tears and mucus, I charged Carter.
Every step toward him, my body seemed to increase in weight, pulling me to the earth. I grit my teeth and steeled my adrenaline, crashing into Carter just as he was turning toward me, mouth agape in surprise.
He slammed into the side of the w
ell hard, knocking the knife out of his hands. We both went down and I hit my head against the stone, stunning me. The world spun and I heard him growling, already beginning to stand.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, you fucking idiot,” he snarled, grabbing me by the hair and slamming my face into the ground. I bit my tongue and howled in pain, feeling blood fill my mouth.
Dizzy, I rolled onto my back and stared up at him.
He stepped on my chest and leaned down, his voice raw. “You can’t stop this.”
He quickly jumped back and grabbed Penny, pulling her up and across his shoulders. He hoisted them both up onto the lip of the well and silently, they tumbled down into the darkness. They were gone.
“NO!” I screamed, my voice splintering. I scrambled up, sobbing, pleading, and gripped the sides of the well.
I looked down into the blackness. I looked down into the well. My eyes went wide and the world stopped.
“Oh no,” I whispered.
18
When Hell Comes Knocking
I moved to a new town about a year ago. I was offered a job and was at a point in my life where I felt restless and eager. A new job in a new town was exactly what I had been waiting for. In two weeks’ time, after saying goodbye to my friends and family, I packed up and made the four-hour drive to my new apartment.
Turns out, it’s tough to make new friends once you’re out of college. I settled into the job just fine, my coworkers and daily routine both to my liking. Meeting new people was difficult, though. I didn’t go to church, I didn’t really go out much, and I wasn’t part of any club.
After a couple weeks of maddening isolation, I forced myself to go to a bar, determined not to leave until I met a few locals. I’m glad I went because that’s where I met Lydia. I happened to sit down next to her and, after ordering my drink, she turned to me and smiled, commenting on my shirt.
That sparked our conversation and eventually, after a few drinks, I summoned the courage to ask her out to dinner. She said yes and my life was suddenly exciting again. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, couldn’t spend enough time with her. She was amazing and our date turned into two, then three, until finally she came over to my place for the night. In the morning, there was no question of how we felt about each other.
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