The lake freezes over every year with ice thick enough to skate on, all the way to the centre without a single worrying noise from below. I haven't been thee since I was a child, on a year that was no different at first. I went skating with my sisters while our parents were making the big Christmas dinner. We were so happy that we lived right next to the lake, never thinking about why the lake froze even though nothing else did, even though it rarely snowed or even that the weather was unusually warm for that time of year - far too warm for water to freeze even a millimetre, let alone enough for several dozen people to skate on all at once.
There were no noises as always but for once the ice was fairly transparent - enough for us to see the fish swimming deep, deep below. That's when we saw the bodies floating underneath, not caught in the current but dragging themselves along the bottom of the lake with slow and purposeful movements.
We got the idea that we weren't meant to be looking down, let alone staring at them and following them slowly. It only got worse when other people saw the four of us staring down and joined. Some panicked and tried to call the police, thinking that the ice must have cracked somewhere and these poor people were still alive and searching for a way out. Most people just stared skated off the lake, believing they'd had too much to drink.
Me and my sisters just kept watching them crawl along, following them until we were on the opposite side of the lake. We didn't spot them coming out from a hole in the ice among the bulrush until one o them spotted us and began to point and shriek. There were so many of them laying around the shore among the remnants of autumn debris and shore plants with many more coming out from under the ice still.
We skated back home, never stopping and never looking back while the sound of their screams followed us all the way. Even when we were inside we could still faintly hear them while our parents claimed they heard nothing unusual. Home didn't feel safe after that, not when the lake people could easily be walking around outside without our parents even realising or admitting to us that they realised.
We moved soon after mum slipped on puddles of ice shaped like dozens of footprints, all outside my window.
There were no noises as always but for once the ice was fairly transparent - enough for us to see the fish swimming deep, deep below. That's when we saw the bodies floating underneath, not caught in the current but dragging themselves along the bottom of the lake with slow and purposeful movements.
We got the idea that we weren't meant to be looking down, let alone staring at them and following them slowly. It only got worse when other people saw the four of us staring down and joined. Some panicked and tried to call the police, thinking that the ice must have cracked somewhere and these poor people were still alive and searching for a way out. Most people just stared skated off the lake, believing they'd had too much to drink.
Me and my sisters just kept watching them crawl along, following them until we were on the opposite side of the lake. We didn't spot them coming out from a hole in the ice among the bulrush until one o them spotted us and began to point and shriek. There were so many of them laying around the shore among the remnants of autumn debris and shore plants with many more coming out from under the ice still.
We skated back home, never stopping and never looking back while the sound of their screams followed us all the way. Even when we were inside we could still faintly hear them while our parents claimed they heard nothing unusual. Home didn't feel safe after that, not when the lake people could easily be walking around outside without our parents even realising or admitting to us that they realised.
We moved soon after mum slipped on puddles of ice shaped like dozens of footprints, all outside my window.
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