Story 2: Deadly Lake

Ashley was enjoying Mario on her Nintendo DS when suddenly the battery died. "Just my luck," she thought to herself. This brought her back to the realization of where she was. She and her sister Sarah were both in the back seat of Mr. Sanders's hot Cadillac while their father and mother sat in the front listening to Mr. Sanders's incessant talking. Ashley tried not to display her disapproval of this move as openly as her older sister Sarah did, but she did not want to be in Wiley either. Ashley and her two best friends had just created a club and they were almost finished with their secret club house. Her parents just did not understand. She glanced over at Sarah and noticed that she appeared very alert and almost a little frightened. Then she reached over and poked Sarah.

"What's wrong?" whispered Ashley quietly.

Sarah peered to the front seat and assessed that her parents and Mr. Sanders were not paying any attention to them.

"I saw some really weird stuff at the cemetery earlier. Then Mr. Sanders caught me and acted very peculiar about the whole thing. It made no sense to me at all," Sarah replied.

Mr. Sanders looked into his rear view mirror and Sarah's eyes shifted away from Ashley towards the outside window. When he looked back at the the road, Sarah mouthed, "I'll tell you the whole story later."

Ashley was very confused. She wondered what on earth Sarah had seen that had shaken her up. The car swung into a neighborhood of around fifteen houses that looked like they had not been inhabited in years. There were 'for sale' signs in the yards of most of the houses. Mr. Sanders put the car in park in front of one of the houses and prompted that everyone get out of the car.

"This is Lakeview Circle. Some of Wiley's most elegant houses are in this area and the prices are great!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders. "The area has been renovated, which is why most of the houses are for sale."

Ashley and Sarah caught each other's eye. Mr. Sanders was once again not being honest. Ashley asked her mother if she could play outside instead of going in to the house.

"Why of course. Sarah should stay out here with you. She has been pretty quiet and I think she needs some fresh air," replied her mother, who obviously did not know what was going on - as usual.

Ashley grabbed Sarah and they waited just long enough for the adults to go inside one of the houses when they darted to the back yard. Sarah began dragging Ashley toward a small hill that would hide them from sight once they climbed over it. When they were safely behind the hill, Sarah told Ashley the entire story of what had happened at the cemetery. A cool breeze sent goosebumps up and down Ashley's arms. That's when she smelt it. The smell of rotting carcasses. That is also when she saw the humongous lake about two hundred meters away.

"What is that gross smell?" cried Sarah, tugging up her shirt to cover her nose.

"I have no idea. It smells like something died," replied Ashley. "Do you see that huge lake over there? Why are there not any trees around it?"

"I don't know. That seems very odd. Let's go a little closer," said Sarah.

As they began walking closer, the odor began getting stronger. It began to burn Ashley's eyes. Sarah tripped and was instantly on the ground. Ashley helped her sister up and to their horror there was a huge pile of 'Warning' signs that had been taken down. Then Ashley looked over her right shoulder and saw a man walking a scraggly mutt.

"Let's go ask him what happened here," Ashley said to Sarah.

They approached him and Ashley said, "Sir, can we ask you a couple of questions?"

The man had a surgical mask around his neck. "What on earth are you two girls doing down here? Don't you know how dangerous it is? You could get yourself killed if you are not careful," he exclaimed.

"Our parents are looking at a house in this neighborhood. What happened here?" demanded Ashley.

The man replied, "You do not want to live over here. Two years ago this lake emitted so much carbon dioxide gas that it killed everything within a square mile. I don't know what anyone has told you, but the reason that neighborhood is vacant is because it is the site of a mass killing. Everyone who lived in those houses was found dead. Some of the townspeople try to cover the whole ordeal up. It is rumored that now people dump bodies in the lake because the police cannot get close enough to it to investigate due to the poisonous gas it gives off. Anyways, you two need to run along because you have no protection for your lungs. Only nature can determine the extent of when the lake will have another ghastly emission of the gas."

"Thanks, sir," Ashley stuttered, somewhat lost in thought.

The man and his dog began strutting away. Sarah tugged at Ashley's sleeve.

"Come on. Let's get out of here!" exclaimed Sarah.

The girls began sprinting back towards where their parents were. The whole way the only thing Ashley could think about was the awful truth of the area in which her father might force them to live. Also, Sarah was right. Mr. Sanders was lying through his teeth. Ashley decided that her mother, Susan, might be their family's last hope in seeing the awful truth that her and her sister had found out about Wiley.

Bibliography: Jones, Nicola. 2001. March 24. "The Monster in the Lake." New Scientist. p 3636 Web source: Snopes.com

Image Information: Island Lake in February 2008 by Plasmaplanna of Flickr.com

Author's Note: The original story is quite horrific and true. It happened on August 21, 1986 at Lake Nyos in Cameroon. The lake's carbon dioxide levels superseded the water's capacity to absorb it which created a toxic atmosphere. This rise in carbon dioxide caused a violent build up of pressure which erupted carbonated water over 200 feet into the air. The gas swept over the towns surrounding Lake Nyos, smothering the people with the poisonous air. A total of 1,746 people were killed from this natural disaster.

When I first read this story it instantly gave me the chills. I added my own detail of people dumping bodies into the lake to add to the suspense of my own storybook. I cannot think of anything scarier than death by an uncontrollable natural disaster.

The actual story part of 'Deadly Lake' is based upon something that I would have dragged my sister Chelsea, who is two years younger than me, into whenever we were younger. I actually created a club in which she and I were the only members. Also, we were always getting ourselves in trouble by getting into things like my mother's make-up or the neighbor's garden. Thinking about it today still makes her and I laugh at how silly we acted.