Hazy View: Souls of the Vanished (27 page)

The night was dark, wet and cold.
Minutes passed like hours before the first of the boats arrived at
the area Andrew and Brat was indicating from above. The wind
hallowed through the forest and their ears bringing conversation to
a grinding halt. Occasionally Andrew would point out to Brat when
he needed more light.

*~*~*

*III*

The diver’s inched forward slowly and
with great caution. There was no need to tell them how dangerous
their little venture was. Once under water the darkness and murky,
muddy water was denser and just as impossible to see through. Their
visibility’s reduced to feeling their way as they went. More mud’s
kicked up from the bottom and between the rocks jotting through the
water like sharp shards of glass. Roped attached the divers to a
buoy. The ropes were long enough to move through the water without
getting them entangled. If trouble brewed Tom would pull on the
rope and hoisted them up to the boat. So far they were making
progress without incident.

Small bubbles popped on the surface a
distance away from the divers. It moved in from the area where
Andrew and Brat were scanning. It came to meet the divers head on.
No one noticed the bubbles as the rain dancing on the water. It’s
hidden from the boats fast approaching.

The boats reaches the area first
leaving Tom and Mr. Craft in their boat behind as they kept a
watchful eye on the divers. Mr. Craft recorded every angle above
the water with his equipment.

Boats arrived at the site where
spotlights shone from above. Volunteers dumped ropes with large
hooks into the water. They tried to hook anything that they could
pull to the surface. They needed do this before the divers were too
close to their hooks.

The bubbles neared the boat in which
Tom and Mr. Craft was.

Two of the sensors on the boat
sounded.

The temperature dropped.

Mist formed on the water, swallowing
the small rowboat.

A gloomily light appeared under the
water.

Water splashed and rippled as
something moved through the water at a great speed.

More splashing water and a ghastly
moaning sound ripped through the area.

A scream deafened their ears and water
splashed into the boat.

Tom and Mr. Craft ready themselves for
a fight.

The scream faded.

The water calmed.

The light faded as it dove into murky
water.

Bubbles popped around the boat,
something’s under it.

Something was moving fast, moving
downwards deeper and deeper into the murky water.

Tom and Mr. Craft started pulling the
buoys, trying to get divers to move away or get them out of the
water. It felt tiring and like there was no response from the
divers. The divers didn’t pull back on the ropes, neither did they
surface.

The divers felt the pull on the ropes
but it’s too little too late. Janet broke the water for just a
moment and she was angry. A muffled scream echoed as she dove and
her mysterious light cut through the water, shooting down in the
diver’s direction. A diver yanked the rope. He started to swim
upwards in a panic. No aid came from above.

It was too dark to see the
surface.

He started to hyperventilate, almost
spitting out the mouthpiece giving him air from the
tank.

He felt something brush up against
him.

Something grabbed the rope and dragged
him into the wrong direction.

An underwater sort of scream reached
him.

It wasn’t a normal under the water
kind of scream. It was ghastly and outraged right next to him. It
was hair-raising and horrid.

Janet was drawing near.

He searched for his rope, couldn’t
find it.

He searched for a light. He saw some
kind of a light coming his way. His friends had come to his
aid.

He felt another yank on the
rope.

He waited, trying to calm his
breathing. His head was spinning, he felt dizzy.

The light was close, but it wasn’t a
spotlight.

It was bright, misty and came out of
the murky water like a phantom.

The diver tried to escape the light.
He knew more than sensed its danger. He felt the anger engulfing
him. He panicked again.

He couldn’t flee.

His rope’s held fast.

He reached for his knife strapped to
his belt. He released the clip and pulled it from its
pouch.

He’s yanked hard.

He dropped the knife.

Janet fled with the rope in hand.
Cutting through the water with excessive speed, dragging the rope
behind that the buoy slipped out of Tom’s reach.

The diver’s dragged and knocking
against rocks and obstacles under the water. He tried to grab onto
passing rocks, but it was in vain.

He’s dragged closer and closer to the
rock face. He couldn’t stop Janet from dragging him. He tried to
unclip the rope from his waist, but the pressure on the rope was
too great. If only Janet gave him a second of slack in the rope.
Just a split second would be all he needed.

Janet came out of the murky water.
Janet was fast drawing near faster than he could think something
large and hard.

This thing that was dragging him was
heading for the rock face. Its light lit up the way like a ghost
coming out of the mist. Something was ahead of it, a rock
formation. Now it was in his path, but it didn’t bother Janet in
the least.

Franticly he tried the rope
again.

It wouldn’t slack, not even for a
split second.

He tried losing his weight
belt.

He never saw it fall, neither did he
hear it. He just knew it fell. He was gaining altitude. He could
swim over the rocks rather than Janet dragged him into
it.

The rocks came closer, more
visible.

It was in reach, he might go over
it.

He could clear it.

No. It was too close.

He didn’t gain enough height. He swam
upward.

The diver kicked harder, he needed to
get higher, out of danger of the rocks. It was too late.

The rock faded from view.

He’s dragged a few feet further and
dropped.

His lifeless body pulled upward by his
air bottles and the loss of the weight belt. No bubbles escaped his
mouth. Blood colored the water as he broke the surface. He floated
aimlessly near the rock face. His bodies like the dead that lied
beneath the water. Close by light fell on the wet of his colorful
diving suit. Help was drawing close, but too late to save
him.

The lone
diver had passed in the night-light falling on the lake. The rain
tapped on his back and the mouthpiece still in his mouth but no air
passed through. No movement broke the calm rhythm of the rain
tapped water. No sound issued for help.

*~*~*

*IV*

Janet shot out of the water and made a
full circle heading back towards the rowboat with Tom and Mr.
Craft. Water sprayed upward into a column of water. Bent forward
like a large worm it looked down at the small boat filled with men.
Tom and Mr. Craft were still franticly pulling divers out of the
water. The divers already in the boat armed with oars, anything
they could lay their hands on.

The column of water collapsed on top
of the small boat, spilling over the sides and pushed the little
boat under the water. Simultaneously the men dove into the water
and swam to the private pier some distance away.

Janet released a muffled scream under
the water. The men knew she was close by.

The water started to move faster and
faster as they’re trapped in water current. The men swam hard but
couldn’t escape the current that started to swirl around
them.

They tried to reach the water surface
but something was holding them down, trying to drown them. They
interlock their arm and hung onto each other using their air
bottles for air. Tom and Mr. Craft received spare mouthpieces
attached to the air tanks on the closed divers.

For a moment
it felt like the current were easing off, just then it would rip
again, forcing the men deeper under the water. A whirlpool formed
in the swirling currents center. Spreading out faster and faster
the vortex grew larger. It forced current to move like someone
pulled the plug out from the bathtub and the water was running into
the drain too fast. Rapidly it formed a deep vortex in its
center.

*~*~*

*V*

Andrew saw from the height of the rock
face that trouble brewed in the water. The divers haven’t yet
reached the rock face and through the wind screams rose loudly.
Janet was clearly at work, attacking anything on the water. He must
act quickly to get her attention before more injuries or deaths
occurred. Andrew called to Janet, demanding her to come to
him.

In the dark, muddy and murky water,
the currents started slowing down. Finally the currents stopped and
the men surfaces, swimming to the distant pier like ten sorts of
hell were upon them. Janet stood silently just above the water and
shot off towards the rock face. She issued a scream so deafening
that it took Andrew and Brat by surprise.

Janet’s down there, she directed her
anger at so many people that it had started to wear off. She was
calm, recognizing Andrew’s voice and realized that no one was there
to harm her son and was even willing to except his help.

He called out to her again.

This time she turned to the direction
of his voice and advanced slowly. She was humming and moaning
softly like she had done so many times when she felt less
threatened.

She came in from over the water
humming gently. Her appearance wasn’t as violent and out of
control. She moved slower, with ease she was actually strolling
into their direction. She was calm as Andrew had remembered her.
Gentle and at ease, she had no care in the world.

She stopped inches from Andrew and
turned to Brat, looked at him hard and then turned back to
Andrew.

“
Will you free me?” She
asked.

“
Will you leave my men to
do just that, they are here to help you and
Christopher.”

“
Find us and free
us.”

“
I promise you I
will.”

She looked around and then turned her
attention back to Andrew. “Did you find him?” She asked almost
humming.

“
Yes, I’ll make him pay
for everything he has done to you and Christopher.”

“
Where is he, bring him to
me?”

“
I need to know what
happened to you.” Andrew said leading the conversation away from
Martin.

Janet moved in closer to Andrew, he
was cold and mesmerized by her appearance. She held his attention
to the point that he could no longer feel the cold or breathe and
he seemed fixated on her.

She reached out and took his forearm
into her ice-cold grip.

His eyes grew gray and dead like hers.
Through her touch he could now see and live through her last
moments. Revealing exactly what she had experienced.

*~*~*

*VI*

Janet laid in bed listening to the
sound of brakes on the four-by-four in the driveway screeched to a
halt.

She remained still with ears tweaked
to every sound. She glanced at the bedside clock indicating the
time at quarter past two in the morning. She waited with her breath
held until her chest ached. At the front door, the key fumbled in
the lock was a dead giveaway and the loud cursing from downstairs
sent shivers down her spine. For a moment she wished herself to
another place where she could sleep on weekends without the fear
that stuck deep in her gut. For a moment she considered going to
her son’s room to check on him, but that would undoubtedly set off
more than she could handle. Thumping footsteps stomped clumsily up
the staircase like the echoing of a beating drum, beaten
carelessly. She would pretend to be asleep.

A sudden noise came from the other
side of the passage and made her aware of her surroundings. Her
son’s room, it was different this time. It felt cold and hard, the
person making it didn’t belong in the house, its nerve wrecking to
say the least, more than she had expected.

What was he doing? Maybe, should she
go check?

Janet sat up in bed. She grabbed the
corner of the bedding ready to toss them aside at a moment’s
notice. Hearing nothing, she tilted her head and listens more
intensely.

Footsteps sounded again. A loud bang
made her jump and ready to spring to her feet.

Then silence.

Her accelerated breathing and pounding
heart rumbled through her ears, she tried to stop breathing for
long enough to hear what was going on.