Midsummer night of horror

“Kate??” - Sarah asked with a little doubt in her voice.

Sarah walked closer as Kate turned to her.

"Kate?! What is going on?!”

“Kate!! What in the world is happening!! KATE!! YOU ARE FREAKING ME!! KATE!!” - Sarah was in deep shock and panic. 

What was happening to her little sister?

Was she dreaming?

What IN THE WORLD was happening?!!!”

….Alright, lets back up a little bit in the story.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

We will start by going back exactly 36 hours.

It was a rainy afternoon in LA, USA, and the Family of Knickerstons were packing up their suit cases.

They were on their way to the airport, to catch a flight towards Finland. The family had heard such beautiful stories of Finland; it’s the country of sauna, long summer nights, endless amounts of forests and lakes. What a beautiful place to spend their this year’s summer holidays.

The family consist of 4 members; Mum Abby, dad Mike & their two daughters; 10-year old Kate and 15-year old Sarah. The family had chosen to go spend one week in a cottage by the lake, during the famous Scandinavian Mid Summer festivities. Every year, during summer solstice, approximately last week of June, is when the Scandinavians celebrate the Mid summer; usually by gathering with friends or family, having a barbecue, sauna, alcoholic beverages (..a lot! Scandinavians know how to drink!), celebrating on their cottage or in town.

The Knickerstons booked a modest cottage with simple amenities near lake Paijanne. The cottage promised “Serene peace with simple life; warm up a traditional sauna with wood, enjoy a fresh swim in the lake, run away from mosquitoes while grilling your food!” - It also promised a typical Mid summer dance and bonfire event happening nearby. Abby and Mike were hooked on that.

The family was excited for their peaceful holiday, or peaceful they thought. It was about to be quite unforgettable holiday for one of them.

“Ooh it’s warm here! I had heard such horror stories how cold Finland is!” - Kate sighed happily, as they stepped out of the airplane.

"That’s during winter, then it can be colder than -30 degrees. Summers can be warm like what we have in California. But yes, we did get lucky!” - Abby shared.

The Knickerstons collected their rental car from the airport and put the directions of the cottage on maps.

“3 hours to drive.”

The info of the cottage promised over half of the drive way to be along fields and small country roads. Coming from a city like LA, the family was very much excited of the Finnish nature.

3 hours later they turned their car to the small road leading to the cottage. Everyone’s faces started to turn from sleepy to smiley.

The cottage looked exactly what the pictures promised! The surroundings were magical in the evening light; there was forest around, the lake, which was calm like a swimming pool, there were apple trees around, blueberry bushes, that weren’t quite yet growing blueberries, but either way, it was beautiful to see nature like that.

“Let the Midsummer festivities begin! I will warm up the sauna, why don’t you guys start preparing the grill?” - Mike said.

.…2 hours later everyone’s belly was happy with wet hairs from lake and red cheeks from the sauna. The clock was turning close to 9, but the sun was still up high. Finnish summer nights were quite special indeed.

Mike and Abby were preparing themselves to head to the midsummer dance.

“Okay kids, the reception is quite bad here, so we won’t be able reach each other through cell phones, but you will be alright here? In case something comes up, the neighbor is there 50 meters away and also it is only 10 minute walk to our dance place. But I know everything will be alright. The sauna is still warm so you can enjoy that and have another swim in the lake if you would like. We brought you couple of games to enjoy too.” - Abby shared for Kate and Sarah.

“Yes mum, we’re all good! Have fun at your dancing!” - Sarah, older of the daughters said.

-----

“No, no no, don’t take her!! Let her be!!”

“Aaaah!!” - Sarah sighed and woke up.

“Ugh, that was an awful dream.” - Sarah said out loud, figuring Kate must had woken up for her loud voice.

“Kate?”

“Kate!”

“You in here??”

“Mmh, she must have gone to the toilet.”

Sarah put some clothes on, found pair of slippers from the cottage and step outside the door. It was still kind of light; it was 00:30 in the night, but it wasn’t dark like normally. She noticed the full moon. That must be why she had hard time sleeping well that night. The moon appeared to be bigger than normally on full moons, it was looking quite spectacular in fact. Red with glimpses of purple. Sarah fazed out for a moment staring at it.

“Buuuuuaaaaaaaa” - A loud voice came out of nowhere from bit further in the forest.“

“Kateeeeeeeee??!!!!” Sarah started to panic.

“Sarah.” 

Sarah freaked out so much she jumped 2 meters to the side.

“KATE you scared me!!” - Sarah shouted at her.

“Sorry.. What are you doing in the forest?” - Kate asked her big sister.

“What AM I doing in the forest?! You are the one who was missing from your bed, I came to look for you and then I heard this horrible sound from here! What was that??!” - Sarah asked her.

“Oh I don’t know about that sound. Sorry, I was just sleep walking I think..” - Kate said.

"Oh, okay...? I don’t remember you ever sleepwalking before?” - Sarah looked at her with a suspicious face.

“Yeah.. It must be this Finland that makes me different.” - Kate said like it was no big deal.

"Okay, come on lets go back inside and continue our sleep.” - Sarah took her hand and they walked back into the cottage.

“No, no no, don’t take her!! Let her be!!”

“Aaaah!!” - Sarah sighed and woke up again.

“What the hell. Why I keep seeing this same dream..” - Sarah felt frustrated.

"Kate?”

“Kate!”

“KATE you got to be kidding with me!!”

Sarah repeated the same thing. Clothes and slippers on and out of the door.

“Kate!” 

“Where are you now??”

“Kaaate!” - Sarah shouted and shouted.

“Buuuuuuuuuaaaaaaa!” -It was the same sound as before.

Sarah didn’t know what it was.

Was it an animal?

Was it a human??

Was someone in pain???

Where was Sarah?

And why was she all of a sudden “sleepwalking”?

Or was she?

“Kate!!!” - Sarah tried shouting as loud as she could.

"Buuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaa!” - The same sound again.

What in the world was happening there?!

- And why was it happening while their parents were gone?

And why wasn’t the neighbors waking up for this??

Sarah felt the anxiety creeping in throughout her entire body.

She felt her whole inside been filled with all kinds of uncomfortable feelings. Anxiety, fear, horror, her breath was getting shorter and shorter.

“KATE for Christ sakes answer to me!!!!” - Sarah shouted while tears falling from her cheek.

...That was until she looked towards the lake.

Kate was there.

Sarah saw her standing in the water, gazing the moon.

She felt the emotions inside her moving. 

She felt huge relief.

For a moment she got scared something had happened to her.

Sarah walked towards the lake,

she got closer and closer.

But something was looking odd.

It looked like, it looked like something was around her little sister. Something out of ordinary.

“Kate??” - Sarah asked with a little doubt in her voice.

Sarah walked closer as Kate turned around facing Sarah.

“Kate?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!” - Sarah screamed at her.

Kate was not alone.

There were, 

somewhat spirits,

around her.

Kate turned back to watching the moon as her body started to rise up.

Rise up from the water. 

Soon enough, she was floating in the air.

The spirits were around her rising as she was. 

“KATE!!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING?!! KATE!! YOU ARE FREAKING ME!! KATE!!” - Sarah was in deep shock.“

What was happening to her little sister?

Was she dreaming?

What in the world was happening?

Sarah felt paralyzed. 

She couldn’t do anything else but stare, stare at her little sister, surrounded by god knows what, floating in the air.

“KATE!!!!!” - Sarah got from her mouth as loud as she could.

"Blombs."

Kate fell into the water.

“Kate!!” - Sarah ran into the water as the spirits left and Kate was in the water.

“Kate!! Kate!! What the hell was that?!” - Sarah shouted at her little sister.

Kate sighed.

“Kate?!” - Sarah felt even more panic.

"I’m okay. It’s all good Sarah.” - Kate said.

“YOU’RE OKAY?? What the hell was that Kate??”

“Just calm down, okay.. Sarah, I’m okay.” - Kate said with a little annoyance in her voice.

“TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!! What were the sounds??! What was around you??! Why were you, what,, KATE!!” - Sarah was even more mixed with emotions.

Confusion, panic, fear, all of them.

“I’m going to tell you something. Something that sounds very crazy. Okay. Don’t freak out.” - Kate finally started to talk.

"For a few years now, I’ve been in touch with my powers. Powers during the full moon. When I am by the forests and the water, I am able to call in spirits and have magical powers. The sound, it was me. That’s me calling in the spirits. What you saw around me, are the spirits guiding me and helping me. My powers, one of them is to lift myself from the ground, as you just saw now. That only works when I am in the water, usually without anyone else seeing, I’m not sure why you were able to witness that now.. We are from the same family, so perhaps you could be able to get these powers as well! With a little bit of training.. I could help you!” - Kate said with excitement in her voice.

“WHAT???!!!” - The only word Sarah got out of her mouth.

“I am also able to see into the future and call in the blessings I want, as long as they are beneficial for those around me as well. I am blessed with powers of a witch.” - Kate continued explaining to her big sister.

"What..?? But… How? Why..???” - Sarah mumbled.

“I don’t know. I don’t ask why. I just thank, thank for the magic around me.” - Kate shared.

“This happened for the first time 3 years ago. I was only seven, so you can imagine how weird it was then! Hah! But I thought it was very cool. Well, first I didn’t really know how it all works, so it was bringing more disaster, but with a little practise, I’ve turned it into a gift. But hey, don’t share this for mum and dad, they are too skeptical for all of this and it would just ruin everything. Okay. This stays just between me and you.” - Kate insisted on Sarah.

“So! That was an awesome holiday in Finland right! Quite magical one huh?” - Mama Abby asked from the rest of the family.

“Yeah... Quite magical indeed.” - Sarah said while looking at her little sister.

The holiday came to an end, but Sarah was never seeing her little sister the same again. It was an holiday that she could never forget.