Weekend Getaway: Sunday

Jake went home to sulk. He thought things were going well with Riley, but with the other three Musketeers causing a scene, the night was a bust. By the time he got home, it was getting late on Saturday afternoon and he didn’t have the energy to drive out to the roadhouse again. He was still stirred up by the antics of Zoe, Mackayla, and Mackenna. He had hoped they would have matured since high school, but it seemed their idea of a joke had only deteriorated over the years. They ruined his weekend. Jake flopped into his unmade bed, pushed his dog aside, and turned on the television. Beer in hand, he fell asleep. 

When he woke, the Netflix screen asked, “Are you still watching?” Jake clicked the screen off, brushed his furry teeth, ate a granola bar, let the dog out, and put on a nice polo shirt. He combed his hair neatly and spritzed on the good cologne. What else was there to do in this part of the country but hit the bars at night, fish in the day, and go to church on Sundays? 

As usual, Jake arrived at church early to catch up with his friends, Nate and Mia. Nate and Jake’s conversations were a little more restrained and wholesome than usual, given the setting. In the past few months, the couple's pre-church conversations invariably turned to their imminent parenthood. Mia's condition had become obvious, and a constant stream of well-wishers and inquisitive churchgoers pointed it out as they attempted to make conversation. As much as he loved Nate and Mia, Jake, who was well into the age when most of his friends were starting their lives in pairs, would feel guilty relief when they took their seats. 

“Before we get sidetracked with baby stuff, Nate, I need to tell you about the crazy shit this girl and her friends are up to.”

“Oh good, another one of your bar stories." Nate rolled his eyes.

"My back hurts. I'm going to go sit down." Mia excused herself.

Jake continued, unable to contain his outrage. “This girl I used to know, Riley, is up at this yellow vacation cabin on some little lake in the woods for a girls’ weekend or whatever. I had no idea where this place was at first, it was really in the middle of nowhere. Anyway. First, they said they found a body in the hot tub -”

Nate exclaimed, attracting the attention of a group of elderly men with long unkempt beards.

“Yeah. That was pretty much my response, too. They said the body had, like, silverware and shit sticking out of it. Nasty, nasty stuff. But I looked in the tub, and you know what was in there? Nothing.”

Nate’s expression flashed wildly between shock, relief, confusion, and suspicion.

“Yeah, that was my other reaction. And then -” Nate shushed him when his voice rose. A bearded man glanced over his shoulder. Jake continued, “there were these rabbits. Killed, taken apart, and laid out all creepy on the stairs. That was it for me, man. Lying for attention is one thing, but you just don’t do that. Have a little respect, you know?”

“Hey friend,” whispered one of the elderly men. He placed his hand gently on Jake’s shoulder. “Come tell us about what happened.”

Recounting the weekend to Nate had stirred up Jake’s enthusiasm to talk, so he quickly relaunched the story, adding more details and gestures. Nate bowed out during the second telling and returned to his exhausted fiance, who was busy showing her swollen belly to a smiling couple seated next to her.

The men listened intently, then introduced themselves. Jake could not remember all of the names. He caught Jan and Tom among them and noticed with a twist of amusement that Paul was the tallest of the men. There were five or six of the burly white-beareded men in total and they all had flannel shirts, deeply tanned skin, and crinkled eyes. Depending on their clothing, they could pass as either Hell’s Angels or Santa Clauses.

“Come with us, son. Let’s talk about this; I think we can help your friends.”

Intense suspicion flooded Jake’s veins. Was he being tricked again? Were these guys cops? He didn’t think anything really illegal happened, but what if there actually was a body? This felt like a trap.

“The sermon’s about to start…” Jake protested lamely.

“I own the cabin,” admitted the shortest man. “I know about this kind of thing.”

“We’ve heard about this before.”

“It happens once in awhile.”

"The sermon…"

“This has nothing to do with God,” said a serious man with a deep baritone voice.

Jake’s intrigue outweighed his piety and allowed the men to take him aside. The group quietly departed the chapel and entered a desolate hallway lined with Sunday school drawings of lambs with smiley faces and cotton balls glued to their sides. Jake waited as the men eyed each other, unsure where to begin. Jake broke the silence.

“So, what, you’re saying the devil got to the girls?” 

“No, not the devil.”

“It’s not the devil.”

“It’s a devil, but not the devil.”

“It’s a bad spirit, anyway.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s a devil. It’s got a soul. It has feelings.”

“Does it? Or does it just look that way?”

“Depends on how you see it!” All the men chuckled and Jake’s bewilderment mounted. He kept quiet.

“There’s something in the woods, son. We’ve met it,” said a balding man, coming to the point.

“You knew about the body?” Jake asked.

“Well, sort of.”

“It can be a lot of things.”

“Can be anything.”

Jake’s patience was wearing thin.

“The girls musta’ scared it, or something, when it was stealing the metal.”

“It likes to shock, you know. It took advantage.”

“And what could be more shocking to ‘em?”

“Them girls are lucky it didn’t drown ‘em right then.” Several of the men shuddered.

“It probably hoped they’d fall in.”

Turning to face Jake, the short man apologized. “It’s my cabin. It made me build it. It didn’t give me any other choice, you have to understand that.” He nervously rotated his wedding band around a thick finger. “I got daughters.”

The rest of the men nodded gravely. “We’re all in debt to it. Haven’t you ever wondered how this town keeps going? Why there are so many huge fish in these little lakes? The sun is always shining - burning hot - but the crops never give out. We got tourism, too. Even though there ain’t nothing to see out here. You owe it too, kid, but we owe it more than most.” They nodded again.

“What are you talking about?” Jake finally exploded. “What’s going on at that cabin?”

“There’s something in the lake. Our parents and our grandparents didn’t mean to bring it with ‘em, but they did, for better or for worse,” Tom admitted resignedly.

“It’s our job to take care of it. Keep it happy.”

“Price to pay.”

“We gotta go help those girls.”

“I don’t think so. There’s a reason that cabin is where it is.”

“It’s not playing fair.”

“This guy knows about it though.”

“Yeah no thanks to you, Tom.”

“Well he saw what it did.”

“We’re not supposed to get involved.”

“It’ll get ‘em.”

“That’s what it does.”

“It’s too cruel.”

“You knew it liked to play tricks. Plays with its food.”

“I never said I was okay with it.”

“None of us are. You know that. But we’re stuck," intoned the baritone man.

“We’re stuck.”

“It’s gone too far.”

“That thing...”

“This guy…”

“We have to.”

“It’s going to be pissed.”

“I know.”

“I got daughters.”

“I know.”

“You wouldn’t want it to be them.”

“I know.”

“Alright.”

“Alright.”

Jake’s eyes flitted left, right, and center as this disagreement played out in front of him. He wasn’t sure what sort of accord they’d reached or what any of this had to do with his ex-girlfriend and her deceitful friends, but before he could ask or protest, the entire group was headed towards the cabin at breakneck speed.

*

When they arrived, Jake could see his friends pounding on the window of the cottage. He could not hear their voices, but he could see their mouths shouting. Desperation shone in their eyes. Something had clearly happened while he was gone. Shame and a sense of dread washed over him as he recalled the way he left in a huff. 

The burly men stomped past the cabin and towards the rocky lake, nearly dragging Jake past the cottage and around to the shore.

 “What -” Jake began breathlessly.

“You’ll be alright, son. It’s got real specific tastes.” 

“If you hear somethin’, though, you just cover your ears. Don’t listen. It’s a trick.”

Ahead, a silent man who Jake seemed to remember was named Jan, kicked away a stone to reveal a glittering cache of metallic objects. Lawn ornaments, an old saw, the end of a rake, a few keys, and stolen silverware sparkled in the sun. 

“It don’t like metal,” said Jan, and they walked on.

When they reached the greenish lake, the group stopped and scanned the shoreline. Among the rocks, lilypads, litter, and foam, a large pile of branches caught their attention. One of them pointed and the others nodded. Jake squinted. Jan handed Jake a packet of common sewing needles, which he accepted without thinking. 

“Nøkk!” cried the balding man. The branches turned over and sank below the water. Bubbles and muck rose to the surface. The crickets on the shore stopped chirping. Jake’s eyes widened.

“Cover your ears, ladies! Don’t look!” Tom shouted towards the house, gesturing with his hands. The twins and their friends quickly complied and ducked below the window frame.

The men begin chanting a slow, repetitive verse. Jake could not understand any of their words. A roiling shape appeared in the water, stirring the plants and causing fish to jump out of its way. A pair of horrible shining eyes glared up from below the surface. The men restarted their chant, louder this time, and incredible shapes formed and reformed under the water. A white horse, a massive eagle, a well-dressed man, and finally, a broken log. The log sprouted long weedy branches like arms, water pouring from the leafy ends like webbed hands. The roots of the log sharpened into the black, irregular teeth of a crocodile. A deafening hiss and alien shriek shook the birds from the trees above.

Frozen in terror, Jake could not comprehend the sight before him.

“Throw a needle, Jake!”

“Now!”

The sodden screaming log rose like the head of a cobra. Jake flung the entire packet of needles at the log, missed entirely, and the packet landed in the water with a soft “plip”. The log instantly fell back into the water with a massive splash, disappearing below the opaque water. The stream of a massive fish hurried away from the shoreline, towards the deepest waters, and disappeared.

Without warning, a low, howling cry issued from the lake. A loon, Jake assumed, though all of the birds and animals in the woods had fled in terror. He scanned the water for the source of the sound. Despite his warning, Jake listened more carefully and heard the loon’s cry transform into a tragic human moan. It was the pitious cry of heartbreak and true sorrow. His heart lurched with empathy. Jake felt his feet carrying him forward, the water lapping at the soles of his shoes.

“What’d I tell you kid? Hands over your ears!” Paul lifted Jake by the arms and bodily threw him ashore.

Jake threw his hands over his ears, but the sting in his heart refused to dissipate. The moaning cry leaked in between his fingers and tears of pity prickled his eyes.

The owner of the cabin rushed to the front door, lifted the false flowerpot to retrieve the key. Before he unlocked it, he shouted through the window. “When I open this door, you get straight into the car! Hurry, now!” They nodded.

Still covering their ears, Riley, Mackayla, Mackenna, and Zoe cringed in pain when the door swung open. 

“It’s so loud!” shouted Riley.

“Make it stop crying!” yelled Mackenna. 

“Worst birthday ever!” said Mackayla.

Zoe plugged her ears with her thumbs and covered her eyes with her fingers. She held her breath for good measure. 

They ran as fast as their legs could carry them and launched themselves into the waiting car, slamming the door shut. Zoe sank to the floor of the car with a moan. Riley looked back at Jake and their wide eyes met. Without a word, she scrambled into the driver’s seat, turned the key, and stomped on the gas pedal. Their sedan fishtailed down the gravel driveway and away from the cabin.

Jan sighed.

“It’s gonna be so pissed,” muttered the man with daughters.

“Especially at this guy.” 

“Told you it hates metal.”

“You owe it now. Big time.”

“Welcome to the club, kid.” Paul clapped Jake on the shoulder.

THE END