The Face In The Water

THE FACE IN THE WATER

The boy sitting at the lake edge looked to be about 9 years old, his body still child-like and rather frail. His dark hair was a little too long, his clothing a little too loose and an aura of neglect surrounded him. His thin shoulders were drooped in defeat, as if life had already dealt him a blow too severe for his young years.

As he sat on the grassy bank of the pond, he looked at the park around him. His dark eyes swept the slide that he’d raced down on roller-boots with his friends, the round-about which they’d spun at such speeds they’d felt dizzy and sick. The pond’s edge he was sitting at where...

It was the first time he’d been allowed out on his own since the accident. It had seemed only natural for him to gravitate here - where his old life had ended in the blink of an eye. He needed to sit here a while and soak up the peace that now settled over the empty park, the screams and shouts of laughter from children who played here during the day now just a memory until tomorrow.

The sun had set whilst he sat there, lost in thoughts and memories un-befitting of a boy his age. Twilight was creeping across the ground, casting shadows where the sun had touched earlier. He should think about heading home - his mother would be expecting him now and his life wouldn’t be worth living if he stayed much longer. A few minutes more and he would head home.

Leaning forward he trailed his fingers through the frigid water, watching the ripples spread outward across the pond and die. He repeated the motion, faster this time, causing larger ripples and eddies, allowing the water to cool his hand. The reeds and leaves swayed and bobbed with the movement of the water, dancing in a rhythm all their own.

The light from the newly risen moon bounced from the surface of the water, making it impossible to see what lay in the murky depths. He wondered how deep the water was? Deep enough, he knew. He moved his head, fascinated as the moon followed his movement. Again, the moon followed as he moved his head the other way. Abruptly he stopped, his thin body tense and still, his eyes narrowed as they tried to pierce the darkness of the water.

The moon’s reflection was changing, morphing into something more. A face superimposed over the glow; two eyes sunken in their sockets, a nose, nostrils flared wide. The gaping maw of a mouth opened as if in a silent scream.

The boy stood, staggered backwards, falling and sliding further down the embankment. Recognition held him immobile. This was a face he knew, despite the rot that had begun to settle in.

Terror pulsed through him, his muscles locked together, rooting him to the spot.

“Rob?” His voice was little more than a croak.

A body was rising up out of the lake, translucent in the moonlight. Bones poked through sagging flesh in sharp relief, covered in rags of clothing smeared with sediment from the depths of the pond.

“I’m sorry Rob!” the boy cried. “We didn’t mean to! It was an accident!” He felt a warm wetness in his trousers and realised his bladder had emptied against his will.

The body from the lake moved inexorably closer, the head wound clearly visible now, the blood congealed to a black stain down the left side of the face.

The boy and his two friends had chased Rob to the tree overhanging the lake, jeering and threatening him, as they always did. They’d made his life a living hell - at school and afterwards.

Rob was different - weird - and not in a good way as far as they were concerned. He dressed badly, and his personal hygiene was not good to say the least. They reminded him of his shortcomings daily. On and on it went until the day they chased him up the tree overhanging the lake.

The day he’d lost his balance.

The day he’d tumbled through the thick branches, striking his head on the way down.

The day his body had smashed into the lake and disappeared into it’s murky depths.

Now his body was rising from those depths again, seeking vengeance as his bony fingers wrapped around the throat of the boy before him.

The boy never stood a chance, his scream cut off by the water as he was dragged into the depths of the lake.

His body was discovered on the embankment early the following morning by man walking his dog. At first he thought the boy was sleeping, he looked so peaceful. The man was so distraught, he didn’t see the figure in the lake with the sunken eyes........

One down, two to go...