The Lake

Hey everyone, I've been busy for a while but now I have a lot of free time so I started writing again. Hope you like it!
as always all comments and critisisms are welcome and encouraged.
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It was a Sunday morning when it happened. The sun wasn’t quite up yet but there was enough light to see the forest path. I was wearing the faded pair of jeans I’d had on since last night. I’m a bit of an insomniac, so I normally spend nights reading or thinking. My doctor said the fresh mountain air would help me sleep but no such luck.
I looked at the first glimmers of sunlight rising over the distant mountains and sighed. Just another morning. I continued down the path and kept my head down. A chill permeated the air, making me shiver a little as I approached the lake.
It glimmered in what little sunlight filtered through the trees. I walked toward the pier that jutted into the water, letting people jump into its murky depths.
My head perked up when I heard some distant music. I could hear only a few notes at first but slowly it grew, enveloping me. It filled me and gave me an energy I’d not felt in a long time. Then the situation grew even weirder. Out of the underbrush a young girl, only seven or eight, came dancing. She was light on her feet and was spinning faster than I’d ever seen anyone spin before.
Sometimes, she even seemed to defy gravity. She would jump into the air and hover their, motionless, for several seconds before landing on her feet. She’d continue around the lake before leaping again.
I was awe stuck at this, I’d never seen anything like it. I didn’t think anyone else had seen like this either. Something about it mesmerized me. But at the same time, some small part of my rational mind asked where’s the music coming from. It had long since consumed me with it’s fullness and continuity. Whenever one note seemed to end another one took its place. The only gap in this full spectrum of sound was the short break between the death of an old note and the birth of another. Even here the sound resonated like an echo, giving the notes an added power.
With all this the source was unimportant. Even what it meant didn’t matter. It just existed. The sound pulsed and I stumbled towards the girl. She seemed to ignore me but soon enough she was dancing, swirling around me. Up close I could get a better view of her.
She was defiantly seven or eight, if not a little older. Her hair was flaming red and worn long, past her shoulders. The dress she wore was white as snow. Set around pupils of the deepest black were irises of such a light blue they almost appeared clear. The little light that glimmered off the lake reflected onto her milk white skin. Other than her hair she seemed light enough to be a ghost. She smiled at me before leaping into the lake. Even then she didn’t make a noise.
By now, the music was overwhelming. It pulsed strongly and I stumbled again. This time I was pushed towards the water. I followed the urge and walked into the lake. My knees were just above the surface when I stopped, waiting expectantly for the girl to surface.
I waited and waited but the girl stayed submerged. There weren’t even bubbles to hint at where the girl was. A few moments later a piece of lace floated towards me. It was sodden but still white. It must have come from the girl’s dress.
Without a thought, I dived into the water, heading frantically towards the center of the lake. The water was dark and I could only see a few feet in front of me. I surfaced before taking a deep breath and diving again. The girl couldn’t have gone far or I would have seen her.
I went deeper and deeper, waiting to hit the bottom and move on to another part of the lake. But the bottom didn’t come. It just seemed to go on and on until I ran out of breath. There was no light and I’d spent enough time under the water to forget which way was up. I panicked and opened my mouth, letting a few bubbles out. Air is lighter than water, I thought. They must be going towards the surface! I followed them, praying the whole time that the surface was close...
I broached the surface, bobbing like a cork and felt my head swim from the pressure change. Breathing deeply, I looked around for any sign of the little girl. Nothing. She had to be somewhere. One more time. If I don’t find her I’ll go home and call the police... or someone.
Filling my lungs to their utmost extent I plunged for the last time. The pain slowly built up around my temples, but I ignored it. The music, which had been pushed to the back of my mind, came back. Only now, it was stronger, as if the water amplified the sound. Under the water I noticed that the sound separated into layers, making it easier to understand. The deeper I got the clearer it was. I could even start to hear voices. It was just a mass of different voices holding different notes but a few feet later, they too began to separate into individual voices.
Deeper, deeper, and the voices began to form words. By now it was so dark that keeping my eyes open was useless. Just to see I opened my eyes a little and saw a flash of white. My eyes jerked open and I saw the girl. She was dancing in the water, just like she had on land. Her pale body was giving off a pale luminescence that let me see in dark. I reached out to grab her and pull her back to land but she stayed just out of my grasp. I gave one more kick to grab her and felt the lace of her dress. My hand tightened around the garment and I turned to go back up but I felt a hand grasp my ankle. It was ice cold. No it wasn’t cold. It was an absence of warmth. I looked down to see nothing. The girls glow was gone. I was alone in the dark.
I felt the hand tug and I was pulled even deeper. A light filled my eyes and the girl was back. She was standing on the deck of a large ship. I tore my gaze from her to see the hand on my ankle. It was attached to a dead man. He was green in the ethereal light of the girl. Old gashes lay ragged across his body, rotted away by years in this underwater grave.
My lungs screamed for air as the voices came clearer. It could almost focus enough to understand what one was saying. The dead man pulled me down to the ship. The girl opened a door and out came swarm of half rotted bodies. Rags hung from their bodies. They seemed to come from all different eras of history and all different social class. They moved towards me and paused only inches from my oxygen deprived body. I could feel myself blacking out when the girl gave a signal. The group came upon me and began to feed on my body. With the first set of teeth, I let out my last breath and consciousness left me. The last thing I heard was the sound. I was deep enough to understand all of the voices. They all said. "Welcome, welcome, welcome..."