Make It to Midnight

"Chloe," Kristen said, breathing heavily. "I can't walk anymore."
"Bullshit. We're almost there, come on. You can sit down there," Chloe stopped and turned to Kristen. "It's only, like, right down that hill. You can make it."
Kristen stopped to catch her breath before the two continued on. Her legs were starting to ache, they had been walking for a few hours with no breaks and Kristen wasn't used to walking for long periods of time. Kristen didn't even know where Chloe was taking her.
Once they had passed a sign on the side of the trail that had an arrow pointing to the lake with the name "Midnight Lake", Chloe pointed at an odd looking picnic table that Kristen could only just see. "We can set whatever we don't want getting dirty there. Otherwise, we can just throw our shit on the grass."
The two friends approached the table and started unpacking their bags onto it. Chloe wanted to sleep in the area, but they wouldn't have done it alone. Thanks to Kristen's luck, she got dragged along into it.
"Are you sure it's safe to sleep here?" Kristen asked anxiously while unpacking the cheap tent they had bought onto the grass. "It looks . . . horrifying, if anything. I don't think we should be here."
She looked at Chloe. Chloe shrugged at Kristen. Their expression was unreadable. "I think it's safe."
"Okay, um. Where are the fish?" Kristen pointed at the lake.
Chloe looked into the lake. "I'm not sure, usually they're here. . . ."
"Maybe the fish are dark colors? It would be hard to see them," Kristen said, finally finished putting up the tent.
"No . . . that's not it. The fish are colorful, I've seen them before. I don't know what's happened to them."
Kristen thought it was odd, but she didn't push any further. She looked at Chloe, watching them squint their eyes at the water.
Eventually, Chloe gave up looking for the fish. The fish would come out if they wanted to.
"Where'd you put the snacks? I'm hungry," Chloe asked, laying the blankets out in the tent.
Kristen grimaced. "I thought you brought them?"
She heard Chloe sigh. "Whatever, it's only one night we'll be here. We can go a night without food. Did you at least get the water?"
"Yeah, I got the water, but it won't stay cold. The ice is melting," Kristen stated, showing Chloe the mostly melted ice and slightly cold water bottles in the cooler. "It'll be cold for another . . . 30 minutes to an hour, is my guess.

Once the two changed into their pajamas and talked about what they wanted to, they were both exhausted, yet it had only just turned 9 P.M. Kristen had already fallen asleep, Chloe was fighting the urge to give in. The sun had already fallen below the horizon, leaving nothing but the moon and the stars to light up the night sky.
Rather than falling asleep, Chloe got up and dressed down into a bikini. They decided it was a good night for swimming, no mosquitos were flying around like the nuisances usually did. Chloe dipped their foot into the lake, shivering slightly at the colder temperature.
Jumping into the water was easier. They floated on their back for a minute to relax their body, occasionally glancing back at the tent Kristen was sleeping in to make sure nothing happened.
Just as Chloe started swimming back to the grass, they felt something move below the water. They were startled, but thought maybe it was just a fish. Just as they were pulling theirself back onto the grass, something sprung out of the water and wrapped itself around their wrists. Chloe tried pushing whatever was grabbing them away in a panic, but easily, Chloe was overpowered by the unknown.
Chloe screamed Kristen's name, trying to wake up the sleeping girl. She heard the yells of help, so she quickly rushed out of the tent. Kristen saw Chloe being attacked and ran over to the lake.
"Grab onto me, quickly!" Kristen said, in obvious distress.
"I fucking can't, it's got my wrists!" Chloe said, panicking. "Please hurry, Kristen, I don't want to die! Not yet, not like this."
"I'm trying-" Kristen was interrupted by her ankles being grabbed by the monster. She fell back from the abruptness of the grab and hit her head. She had fainted and was being dragged into the lake. Kristen was quickly taken under, leaving only Chloe hanging onto life.
But Chloe couldn't escape the grasp of the monster, they tried. Even after their entire body was submerged as well and they could no longer see the stars, or the moon, or the sky, they tried to get free from the grasp. Eventually Chloe let go of the luxury called life. They let the water enter their lungs. Of course they didn't want to die, letting go of the one thing left to hold onto. But that's how it is, and that's how it'll stay. It's life, sometimes a nightmare.