The Harpist

The soft sound of shuffling footsteps stirred Penelope from her slumber. They moved with a sense of urgency, yet with a delicate nature. The wooden floors of her antique Victorian home groaned and shifted whenever the slightest pressure was applied.

Brushing her raven black hair from her face, Penelope slowly sat up in bed and listened to the footsteps grow quieter as they reached the staircase at the end of the hall.

Surely it was her younger sister, Shelby. She was sixteen and had a habit of sneaking out to party with her teenage friends. Penelope smirked as she continued listening.

Someone hasn't figured out where all the creaky spots are.

Penelope was twenty now, and she had a one year old son to care for. She was less careless now as a mother. She fondly remembered her own shenanigan filled nights out of the house. Unlike her sister, she had mastered the art of walking across the aging floors without making even the slightest sound.

Curious as to where she could be wandering off to tonight, Penelope crept out of bed, taking care not to wake her sleeping son in the crib beside her.

She carefully opened her bedroom door and began making her way through the hallway. Silky moonlight rays illuminated the floor beneath her feet. The large window near the steps gave a clear view of the full moon perched up in the sky. The spooky atmosphere it created was fitting as it was the night of Halloween.

Having memorized each spot on the floor that would make noise, getting to the stairs was a breeze. As she reached them she glanced out the window and noticed that her sister was already outside. Instead of taking her usual route towards the main road, Shelby seemed to be headed towards the lake. A deep, dark lake sat behind their property. It never seemed to host any form of life.

Not a single minnow nor a weed dared to make that lake its home. It was devoid of any creatures or plants. Just a body of water with no soul. Their parents didn't know how deep it was, but they always told the girls never to swim in that lake. If they even so much as dipped a toe in its shadowy waters, they were grounded for weeks.

Penelope always found it to be extraordinarily unsettling. She never bothered to visit the lake. Something about it stirred up some primal fear deep within her.

She watched curiously as Shelby approached the lake. She stood in front of it for a brief minute, then suddenly she plunged beneath the surface. Panic gripped Penelope's heart as her sister vanished from view.

She rushed down the steps, no longer taking care not to wake her sleeping parents. Penelope sprinted through the kitchen to the front door and pulled it open. A gust of cold October air nearly pushed her off her feet. She didn't bother grabbing a coat or her rain boots. She ran outside in her pajamas and slippers.

Within thirty seconds she had arrived at the edge of the lake. The icy grip of the night air only added to Penelope's spine chilling fear. Moonlight bounced off the surface of the water in a beautiful yet unnerving display.

Shelby was nowhere to be found. She had vanished beneath the waters without a trace. All that remained was a set of footsteps that led down to the bank.

"Shelby?" Penelope called out with a hint of desperation in her voice.

She was met with a suffocating silence.

Not even a single cricket could be heard. The creatures of the forest were all quiet, almost as if they were all hidden away. Perhaps they were hiding from something.

As Penelope scanned the icy waters for signs of movement, somewhere nearby the angelic notes of a harp began to play. It almost seemed as if the music was coming from the lake itself. It was the most beautiful thing Penelope had ever heard in her life.