The Lake

We all have that one friend who takes things too far. For me, that friend was Matt. I've known him since high school. We both were outcasts, not into sports, and didn't care what the big-name athletes, actors or musicians were doing Our shared fascination was the paranormal. Ghosts, monsters, urban legends, and mysterious things. Growing up in Charlotte Louisianan the region was ripe with such stories and marshland to inflame our teenage imagination. Of all these legends, the one that had the greatest hold on Matt's imagination was the story of a hidden lake, where an ancient creature dwells and was offered sacrifices a century ago.

Along with a few like-minded outcasts, we would spend hours researching local legends. While our classmates spent their nights drinking and partying we spent them in the woods and every abandoned place we could get into searching for proof. Sometime we would see an odd shadow or heard a strange noise and convince ourselves it was the Goatman, wandering spirit or whatever we were hunting that night. In all our wanderings we never found the barest hint of the hidden lake. I think that's what drove Matt. He would study any map he thought old enough to show it and I've lost count of the number of times he dragged us to some remote spot claiming to have found it.

By senior year our expeditions had become less frequent. The last one I remember was spending a night in what we thought was an abandoned asylum that I'm pretty sure was just an office building. We still loved horror stories, urban legends, and the like. We would get together to share stories and watch any low budget movie we got our hands-on. The drop in expeditions did not sit well with Matt. He wanted to keep searching. There were a couple of times I agreed to go with him when no one else would. The final blow came at the end of April. We had been gearing up for a night of horror stories and movies when Matt demanded we go to some new location he found. The weather that night was horrible, and no one sane would want to leave the comfort of a warm home. Matt said the weather conditions and date made it perfect. No one wanted to go. Matt got angry, and when I refused to go he stormed out in a rage. I lost touch with Matt after graduation. I tried to keep tabs on him through Facebook which he barely updated and the occasional text which he never answered. College life was good. My relationship with Anna was growing more serious and I helped some classmates develop an indie horror game based on my old wanderings. The future was looking good. Near the end of my two-year program, I heard from Matt. It was a short and simple text.

"I found it. Meet me here Sunday" and he provided a location I will not repeat.

I didn't respond right away. I hadn't heard from him in almost two years and suddenly he wants to meet. I did a quick Google search on the location. It wasn't too far but still an isolated area. I showed Anna the text. She convinced me to go. Matt had been our friend and maybe I'd get some material to work on another game. Besides maybe after this Matt would finally get over his obsession and move on.

On Sunday I arrived at the location Matt gave me a few minutes after the designated time. There was an old beat-up car sitting on the rod side. As I pulled up next to it, the driver got out.

"Finally," Matt said as I got out of my car.

"Good to see you too" I responded. I was going to say something else but Matt's appearance made me stop. He looked emaciated like he'd forgotten to eat for several days. His eyes were sunken, a look I had seen on classmates after all-night study sessions. His hair was long and disheveled. There were patches of beard on his face as if he shaved quickly and messily.

"Matt" I finally said, "What happened to you?"

"I told you, I found it" he responded."In some old police reports"

"No," I said, "I mean, you look a mess When's the last time you ate, or even a decent night's sleep?"

"You sound like my parent's Matt responded scornfully "They never understood my goals, the just keep pushing me to go to college or find a job, they never understood."