Fiction

The Oil Slick In The Lake. Was It An Alien?

What was it?

The Fall Escape

The last weekend before school started. Our Senior year started off rocky you could say.

We couldn’t get to the lake fast enough. There was no one there this late in the season.

Riding in the 1964 Ford Mustang convertible with the top down was heaven except to Julie. She was the quiet one. She was my girlfriend or a friend who was a girl.

As teenagers, seniors in high school, we thought we knew everything. We were smoking and drinking. Julie didn’t join in, only rolled her eyes.

The roads were winding, but Kenneth, who was the driver, and also the captain of the Varsity football team, was the boss. He knew where to go so we let him be the master driver. He was also stoned and drunk but we didn’t care. It was a week before school and this was our last hurrah.

The Quiet Lake

Finally, we arrived. Everything was quiet and beautiful. The water was calm, the sun was bright, and the mountains in the background framed the picture. There was not much warmth from the sun as it was the last week in August in the mountains of Montana.

We left the car doors open with the radio blasting. Kenneth jumped in first. The water was really cold. He said, “once you get in, it feels better.” I believed him, but it wasn’t true. I jumped in because he was the leader and you have to believe the leader.

There was a raft in the middle of the lake. He was swimming towards it. We all followed and finally got out of the water. It was still really cold. We must be crazy, I thought.

Then I noticed it.

The Thing.

It was black and bubbling. It was a large black circle with markings on it that we couldn’t make out. It was a large black blob. It looked like it was heading for the girls, so I rushed them onto the raft. They both were complaining because I was being so rough.

The raft was a wooden float with spaces between the boards. It was a nice place to rest and sun, but not today.

I showed everyone what was in the water. They stopped complaining then. The first one it took was Julie because she was obnoxious and wanted to set it on fire. If it was oil, she wanted to see if it burned. She took out her lighter and tried to burn it but it grabbed her. It took her and she said it hurt. She was gone.

Then it come up through the slats in the raft and wrapped itself around Kenneth’s ankle. It pulled him through the raft. He was gone quickly as well.

Spending the night

It was getting late. We couldn’t get off the raft so we had to stay there. I could have made it to shore because I was a fast swimmer, but not Sherrie, Kenneth’s girlfriend. She couldn’t swim fast. We stayed away from the blanks between the boards. We held each other all night. We were so tired by morning, we had to lie down. The thing got Sherrie because she was so sleepy, she covered the spaces. It reached up and pulled her through. She was gone in an instant.

I saw my chance, noticed how far away the beach was, and took off. I swam hard and got to the beach. I felt free from the blob and let down my defenses. I sat there and belittled it. I turned to go to the car until it came out of the water and covered me . . .