Heart Lake

Heart Lake is a short scary story about a young man who hires a boat and goes for an evening cruise on the lake where his father disappeared.

My mother had always warned me to keep away from Heart Lake. Years ago, my father disappeared under mysterious circumstances while on a fishing trip at the lake. The police dragged the deep, dark waters, but no trace of him was ever found. They told us he was presumed dead and that his body would soon surface, but it never did.

I remember attending the funeral as a young boy. I recall overhearing the adults whispering to eachother when they thought I was out of earshot. For years afterwards, there were rumors around the town about something supernatural that lurked in the darkest recesses of Heart Lake.

As I grew older, I dismissed all the talk as simple superstition. But for some reason, I became obsessed with the lake. I had an overpowering desire to visit the very place which I had always been warned to avoid.

One summer evening, I set out with my fishing rod and cycled in the direction of Heart Lake. After traveling down narrow country roads and crossing fields, I eventually arrived at Heart Lake and was greeted with a sight that made me gasp with delight.

Never in my life have I seen a body of water so clear and so still. Not even the tiniest of ripples disturbed its placid surface. I was able to hire a boat and began rowing across the lake towards one of the many small islands.

Halfway to the island the boat came to a sudden and abrupt stop. Puzzled, I kept rowing, but the boat refused to move. I peered into the water on both sides but could see nothing that would stop the boat and hold it so fast.

Suddenly, the boat began to move sideways, gliding silently along as if it was being towed by something underwater. Before I knew it, I heard a cracking sound and was horrified to see the wooden sides of the boat bending inward as if they were being crushed. Water began to gush in and I became frantic, searching for something to use to bail it out. Then I saw it.

Something reared up above the surface of the water. At first it looked like some floating, formless, lifeless blob. Then, the thing swelled upwards until two bulging eyes came into view just above the water level.

The wooden boat popped and snapped under me and just before it finally collapsed, I managed to dive sideways into the icy water of Heart Lake. Terror overcame me and I began swimming towards the shore as if my life depended on it.

I had barely scrambled up on the bank when I heard the thing slithering out of the water behind me. Moving with amazing speed the monster slid along the ground in pursuit. Something cold and slimy flowed over my foot and wrapped itself around my left leg. Then I lost my balance and felt myself being dragged, slowly and relentlessly toward the water.

I managed to twist my body around, only to see those horrid bulbous eyes glaring at me. The colossal, shapeless blob seemed to flow along the ground, dragging me with it. My hands frantically searched for something to hang on to.

Luckily I managed to throw my arms around a small tree, locking my fingers together and hanging on for dear life. I looked down and saw the leg of my jeans disappearing in a bubbling mess. Screaming with terror, I felt an agonizing pain as the creature began to digest my bare leg.

Try as I might, I couldn’t jerk my leg free from its deathly embrace. Still clutching the tree with one hand, I managed to pull a small knife out of my pocket. Desperately, I began stabbing the slimy blob but every time I plunged the knife into the beast, it sank out of sight in that shapeless mass of blubber, which closed oozingly over it.

Against such a formidable foe my weapon seemed ridiculously puny. The pain in my leg became unbearable and I found myself groaning and screaming in agony. The thing was pulling with more and more force and suddenly, I heard a cracking sound. The small tree I was hanging onto snapped in half and I was left holding the top of it as the creature dragged me towards the water.

Just when I thought I was done for, I saw something which had previously escaped my notice. In the middle of the huge bulbous mass of jelly, I could make out a small, throbbing, discolored globule about the size of a football. It throbbed and squirmed within the huge shapeless monster as if it was the creature’s heart. Whatever it was, it looked like a vital organ and I decided that would have to be my target.

With a the knife in my right hand and the small tree in my left, I had less than a minute to save myself. With three of four quick strokes, I sharpened the tree into a rough spike. Taking careful aim, I drew my arm back as far as I dared, and plunged the makeshift spear straight through that slimy mass and into its throbbing heart.

A terrific shudder ran all through that enormous body. Slowly its grip on me relaxed. I expected to see the blob sink beneath the water’s surface, but instead it started to swell up like a balloon. I thought that it was going to swallow me whole as the blubber engulfed me. I shut my eyes and prayed.

Suddenly, it exploded, showering me in a slimy, glistening substance. All that was left of the creature was a dripping mass of goo.

Feeling myself free from that terrible embrace, I leaped to my feet and stumbled madly up a tangled trail that led away from the lake. As I limped homewards, nursing my injured leg, I felt relief but also a strange sense of accomplishment. I realized that in one night, I had solved the mystery of my father’s disappearance and also managed to kill his murderer – The Heart Lake Monster.