I had a buddy named Bobby Martin in the 8th grade. We went to the same school and used to hang out at recess and lunchtime. Neither of us had a lot of friends other than each other but Bobby seemed to know most of the teachers and some older kids.
He was a rich kid but I was not so whenever I got the chance I loved to go over to his house. He had video games and a pool. They had the latest hi-def tv. All the cable channels. But most of all they had a boat. A boat that we often used to go out onto the lake.
I noticed all the rich people seem to live on lakes. I often wondered why and now I think I know.
It all started one afternoon over at Bobby’s house when I was sitting in his living room playing video games on his tv. The room had sliding glass doors that looked out over a patio and the swimming pool. You could see the backyard beyond the pool as well as the dock and the lake.
Bobby had been in the kitchen making a sandwich and when he came back in he stared out the glass doors as he ate. Suddenly, he put the sandwitch down and rushed over to me and picked me up and said I had to go into his room. He gave me no reason and refused to answer. He pushed me down the hall and into his room where he shut the door and locked it from the other side! I didn’t even know bedroom doors could lock from the outside. I don’t think they do…normally.
I was confused but I sat down and started reading one of his comic books. Then I heard some yelling out back. I pulled the curtains back a little to his window which gave me a partial view of the back yard and shore, and there was Bobby.
He was out by the lake waving his hands like a madman and yelling to someone. At first I didn’t see who he was talking to. But then it moved. It was dark green mostly. That’s why I didn’t see it at first. It blended in with the vegetation. It was… I didn’t know what it was. It stood upright like a human. Kind of like a lizard crossed with a fish and a human.
Anyway Bobby was yelling at this thing and pointing back to the house. The thing seemed sympathetic but did a hand gesture flipping it’s arm upward in front of its face as if to say ‘getaway from me kid’. Then it dove into the lake.
Bobby turned and started walking back to the house. I let go of the curtain and it fell back into place. I sat down on the edge of his bed kind of stunned.
He came back into the room and started saying he was sorry but his neighbor sunbathes nude and she had walked into the back yard. He told me she’s kinda crazy and he’s supposed to shoe her away when she does that.
I wasn’t sure if I should say anything. I trusted Bobby and we were close friends so I quietly asked: “Is she green?”
Bobby looked at me and then glanced at the window. Suddenly he started to cry and slumped down on the floor leaning up against his dresser. Dang, he was really crying this kid.
“Hey man. It’s fine. I won’t tell anyone what I saw,” I consoled him.
“Don’t even ask me about it. Okay?” he demanded.
“Fine,” I replied.
We went back to playing video games and about an hour later his mom comes home. She came in the house really fast and kind of rushed into the living room. She just stood there staring at us with a look on her face as if she was waiting for us to confess something.
I just ignored it and pretended I didn’t notice her acting odd. Bobby did too. After a few minutes of this she left the room. I heard her talking to someone as if she was on the phone. Then she called Bobby back into the room she was in. I heard some mumbled conversation but I couldn’t make out what was being said.
A minute later he came back into the living room and said his mom wanted to talk to me. I was nervous but I walked into the room where she was. She was sitting down in a chair in her bedroom and asked me to sit on the bed facing her. I did.
She asked me if I looked out the window when Bobby made me go into his room. I said I did. Then she asked me if I saw the neighbor woman - the one Bobby had told me about. I said that I didn’t. I told her that I just glanced out there for a half second when I heard Bobby yelling. Then I went back to reading the comic book. She asked me if I was sure. I said I was.
It was about a month later when I was over at Bobby’s again. It was summer break and we had been playing video games all day. I rode my bike over there at 11 am and it was nearing 9 pm. I was tired because I had been up late the night before. I told Bobby I had to be home at 9.
We turned the game off and went into his room so I could get my backpack. The bedroom door was open and we didn’t even bother to turn the light on. He laid down on his bed and put his arm over his face across his eyes.
I sat down on the floor in front of the bed and started packing my backpack with comics and putting my bathing suit and towel in it from earlier when we had gone for a swim in his pool. We were talking about the games while I did. His responses started getting dimmer like he was falling asleep. I leaned back against the front of the bed and suddenly fell asleep.
I woke up sometime later to the sound of people talking. I opened my eyes just a little and saw Bobby’s head pop up looking toward the still open door to his room. Suddenly he got up in a flash and ran out the door.
He didn’t notice me. It dawned on me that he thought I’d already left. I was still tired and decided to get another ten minutes of rest before embarking on the bike ride home.
A few minutes later I woke again to the sound of a few people clapping. Then a male voice spoke up loudly, sounding like it was coming from Bobby’s basement. It said: “The heart of the lake loves you.”
After that a small crowd of people responded in unison, “feed the lake.”
What the hell?, I thought.
The male voice piped up again: “Those who threaten our success, threaten the heart.”
And again they all replied, “feed the lake.”
“Never again shall the tentacles of the heart take our children.”
“Feed the lake.”
“We love the heart of the lake and the lake loves us!”
“Feed the lake.”
Then there was light cheering and clapping.
I quickly finished packing my bag. Maybe I could get outta there before they realized I was still in the house. I crept over to the bedroom door and peeked out. No one was in sight but my bike was in the garage and to get there I had to walk past the open door to the staircase that led to the basement.
I got all the way to the stairwell door when I saw that there were people on the stairs. The uppermost person’s back was to me but they started to turn around so I had to retreat.
I backed up into the living room because the way to the bedroom was within sight of the people on the stairs. I glanced out the sliding glass doors and no one was outside so I quietly opened one of the doors and went onto the patio and then shut the door. It made no noise.
The pool light was on and so was an outdoor flood light. I couldn’t stay there for long. The backyard was dark though, and Bobby’s parents boat was at the dock. I quickly walked back to it leaning over as I did, hoping not to be seen.
I was planning on walking along the shoreline and coming up to the street between the houses. I had to move because even though it was dark back where I was I knew I could be seen. The flood light didn’t light up the dark grass, trees, or water but my white t-shirt was just glowing in it.
Then the crowd from the basement tumbled out onto the patio, all chit chatting and laughing. I had nowhere to go. I looked around and saw a tarp covering something in the boat. I quickly climbed in the boat and under the tarp.
I figured I’d just wait them out under there. When they had all left I’d peek out and work my way back to the street.
The tarp was covering a box looking thing, I opened the top and it was empty. It was a live well. This is usually filled with water. Live bait for fishing is kept in it or live fish when you catch them if you want them to stay alive until you’re ready to cut them up. This one was dry and clean. It didn’t even smell fishy. It was large so I crawled into it, that way if they looked under the tarp they still wouldn’t see me.
It seemed like an hour had gone by but it could have been less. Every time I thought they were gone and I’d crack open the top of the live well, I’d hear some old gal cackling up by the pool.
Pretty soon the voices of the crowd got louder and closer. Then a thud as something was set down into the boat. Pretty soon there were the distinct sounds of people climbing into the boat. They were talking to each other about various things, none of which seemed to have anything to do with what had been said in the basement.
Before long I heard some boat engines approaching. It sounded like at least four other boats had pulled up to the dock. Then someone started the engine on the boat I was in and it sped off across the lake.
Eventually the engine cut off as did the engines of the others. There was some conversation, some of which sounded like it was going from one boat to another.
It got real quiet and I heard a man speaking very sternly to someone. “Now Mr. Hartley, if I take this gag off are you gonna scream or cry out?” There was a pause. “You know what’ll happen if you do, don’t you? That’s right. You’ll have some time to beg for mercy later. I promise. But if you shout for help, I’ll kill you right now. Capeesh?”
By then I was shaking so hard I had to actively try to restrain myself for fear of my arm knocking into the side of the compartment and alerting them to my presence. I’ve never been so afraid and disturbed at the same time. There was a sick sinking feeling in my gut and I could feel my face was flush.
Then quietly another voice spoke. “Thank you. I can give you anything. I swear. I’ll make payments to you for the rest of my life.”
The first voice responded. “It’s not about money Mr. Hartley. It is our tradition to explain to the sacrifice exactly why we are doing what we are doing. That way you can rest in peace knowing that your sacrifice saved the lives of many other people. Including children. You see we are not monsters Mr. Hartley, and we do love our children.”
The softer voice responded, “I don’t understand. If there’s someone threatening your kids, you can go to the police.”
“Oh that would be funny. I think someone tried that in 1975. They got laughed out of the station. Now, you’re not going to believe this at first, but I’m just gonna lay it all out real fast. Ready?”
Okay, in prehistoric times when the ocean receded, something from that eon got trapped in this lake. Follow me? It’s unknown to modern biologists but it’s like a giant octopus. Over the centuries it evolved to the point where it’s permanently embedded in the bottom of the lake. Kinda like a snail in a shell.
Along with this creature, there are a group of other creatures who evolved with it in a symbiotic relationship. It kept them alive and they kept it alive. They need an enzyme that this thing secretes into the water. You can’t find it anywhere else on earth. Without it they die. And it needs food. But it doesn’t eat fish.
There’s only one or two animals who have the right biochemistry to feed the creature because in prehistoric times it ate mammals. But those are long extinct and the mammals today are different and it can’t digest them. Guess what it can digest? Humans.
If we don’t feed it, not only does it stop producing the enzyme but it reaches its long tentacles out from the center of the lake and into our homes and grabs our kids and pulls them back into the lake.
‘But why me?’ you ask. Because Mr. Hartley, you are competition for one of us. In order to live here, in these lakefront homes, we need to be rich so we can afford these homes. We need our children to be rich so they can buy up all the homes around other lakes where the spawn of the creature can be introduced so they too can get the enzymes they need.
In other words, if we go broke, we die.”
There was a pause. Then the soft voice, now quivering, spoke again. “Who was I competition for?”
The reply came: “Windel Morgansen. Your laundry mat has cut his business in half. He can’t make his mortgage this month. We held out as long as we could hoping he could maybe figure something else out but if he loses his home here on the lake then we are all in jeopardy because we can’t let outsiders see what we do here. What we’re about to do.”
“He can have the laundromat,” the soft voice said.
The other man replied, “it’s not just that sir. We also must feed the lake.”
A group of people, clearly on the boat with me responded to this statement as before: “feed the lake.”
I was so disturbed and scared I thought I was going to be sick. Then I heard them remove the tarp that was covering the compartment I was hiding in. I started to pray that they didn’t open the lid. They didn’t. Instead, someone directed some of them to lay the tarp down on the deck of the boat.
I heard a thud which had to have been Mr. Hartley hitting the deck and then some random oh’s and some kicking sounds. The stern voice commanded some people to put him in the water and lower the lights. Then I heard splashing. It sounded as if not only had they thrown Mr. Hartley overboard but they all jumped in too. Then quiet.
After a few minutes of dead silence I opened the lid just a tiny bit and peered out. No one was in the boat with me so I opened it a little more and looked around. There were a half dozen other boats floating on the lake together forming a large circle around the center of the lake. All of them were also empty.
I thought of starting the boat and getting back to shore before they could get back and then running. Or I could swim but they might see me and catch me. I could stay here and hope they don’t look in the compartment and wait until they’ve gone to bed before making my escape.
I crawled out to see if they’d really killed him, and sure enough the tarp was covered in blood. I peeked over the bow of the boat and saw something amazing. Each boat had lowered a light or two into the water. These hung deep almost to the bottom.
Silhouetted by the dim light I could see people swimming back and forth. Only they weren’t swimming in a normal manner. More like dolphins. And fast as them.
The boat I was on had a section that was a clear window in the deck so you could see clearly underwater. Bobby had always told me it was for spotting fish. I put my face up to it and looked towards the lights.
There in the center of the ring of lights at the bottom of the lake, protruding up out of the muck and mud was the beak of a giant octopus. It opened and then two figures swam into the light, the green lizard type I’d seen in Bobby’s backyard. They were pulling Mr. Hartley’s lifeless body which left a trail of red in the water behind it.
They put it in the mouth of the creature who chomped down on it releasing a cloud of blood into the water. Then they all started swimming around it in circles excitedly.
I sat up in total shock and disbelief. Then I almost had a heart attack when I heard: “What are you doing here?”
I turned around and there leaning over the bow, half still in the water was Bobby. Only he was all green and had these gills on the sides of his neck. And his hands were webbed like a frog!
I replied with a quaking voice. “I fell asleep and then there were people around so I hid in the boat.”
“If they see you they’ll kill you. Hide in the live well. I’ll make sure they don’t find you,” he said.
I worked my way back to it in spite of my trembling legs and arms. I was in pure panic and shock. “Why are you helping me Bobby?” I asked him.
He laughed. “If I don’t, who will I play video games with?”