Fear.
My heart pounded heavily and my lungs screamed for air. The sound of my feet pounding the pavement echoed down the empty streets and through the dark corridors between houses.
I had been running for at least three blocks and I didn't know where I was or how much longer I could stay ahead of Fish and the others. Pain.
It was becoming too much. If I had paid more attention to my surroundings during while walking I'd know where I was or which direction to run. Unfortunately, I'd been absorbed in thought and had gotten a little lost.
I could hear the grunting and heavy breathing of the boys behind me. Stopping wasn't an option. I noticed another cross street racing swiftly toward me.
I darted to the left down another long, dark road. My lungs and legs were on fire but I couldn't quit. I had to do something quickly or this night was going to get a whole lot worse for me.
Angel Grove High was just coming in to view as I followed the curve of the road around the end of a row of houses.
The monolithic library rose into the night sky on the south side of the school. The high school was the only building on this stretch and I knew that if I didn't make it there and figure out some way to lose these guys or someone to help me then I would be dead. Their panting was now louder than ever and their curses growing more violent.
It felt as though the school was pulling away from me as I put everything I had into reaching it. As dark as it was out, it seemed like my vision was growing even darker.
All I could see was the single street lamp on the north side of the school creating a circle of light underneath it and dimly lighting the school's entrance. There were no lights on inside. I kept running.
Ten more feet and I breached the sacred light of the street lamp. I felt fingertips brush my back. A loud, frustrated growl from behind.
The light bathed ground stretched on forever before me. I knew that the school would be locked up and that there would be no quick way in, but I had been hoping that a teacher or someone else would still be inside, and then maybe I could have yelled or screamed; I could have dove headlong through their classroom window. That would have surely stopped the boys behind me.
Maybe.
But it was just my luck that there would be no one still at school. I didn't even know how late it was and as this realization spread over me I began to understand just how foolhardy this half-plan had been.
There was nothing left I could do. I began to think that the pain these fools would dish out couldn't be much worse than what I was already feeling. It might be best if I just stopped running and got it over with.
Passing through the light from the street lamp, plunged back into darkness, I looked around in one last ditch effort to find redemption from the executioners on my heels.
And then I saw it.
The lake; the lake where I had been when my mother told me about Uncle Rob; the lake where I had dropped my cell phone; the lake that everyone in the city of Angel Grove called "Demon Lake."
No one went in that lake.
No one.
Except for me.
The lake must have been more than a hundred yards to the south, but it was my only chance. Rumor had it that Fish couldn't swim, as ironic as that was. I knew that the boys chasing me wouldn't jump in there.
I hoped they wouldn't.
I raced across the parking lot on the west side of the school. It felt like with each step my feet were beginning to sink into the parking lot itself. My legs were heavy, my lungs in more pain than I had ever felt, my mind on the verge of giving up. But I couldn't.
I reached the edge of the parking lot and met a short wall, about 4 feet tall. I put my left hand out to place on top of the wall to hold my weight for a vault. Once there, I pushed off of the ground with all my might.
All of my might wasn't enough.
My left knee clipped the top of the wall, sending me careening toward the expanse of dirt on the other side. Time had slowed and at that moment, hanging in midair, facing the way I had come, I saw that the boys chasing me had fallen behind.
They had stopped at the far edge of the parking lot. One was on his hands and knees, vomiting on the ground. Two were bent over at the waist, sucking air. Fish was standing tall, hands on his waist, breathing heavily, and glaring at me.
I saw his expression change as he realized that I was no longer on my feet. His eyes lit up and he screamed at the others to follow him as his feet began pulling him toward me.
I felt my chances of escape growing slim as the boys disappeared behind the height of the wall. I could feel the skin being shredded from my palm as my weight settled firmly onto my hand.
My wrist bent with a sickening crunch. It felt as if everything was taking a lifetime to happen; as if my life wasn't about to end. My body began to grind into the ground, hard. The world came crashing in around me and the final act of the fall happened quickly. I felt the left side of my face rip open as it caught a jagged rock sticking up from the ground.
I landed some feet away from the wall. The pain made the distance feel much longer than it actually was.
I tried to climb to my feet but I couldn't make my arms work. I turned my head to see that the first boy who had jumped the wall had also fallen, though not as hard as I had. Fish was up and over the wall with fluidity.
He landed on the boy on the ground, who produced a clipped but loud screech of pain. The unsure footing brought Fish to the ground. The two boys behind him had seen the mess and had stopped short.
Fish, on his back on top of the other boy who had fallen, was only about ten feet away. I had to move. My right arm was useless. My left arm, as much as it hurt, still seemed to be in working order. Adrenaline and willpower pushed me to my feet. I gingerly brushed the dirt and gravel from where it was stuck on the left side of my face, wincing in pain.
My hand came away wet and I felt a painful stinging well up in a line. Whatever it was I had no time to bother with it just then. Fish was climbing to his feet as well.
I cradled my right arm with my left and took off toward Demon Lake. I was sure that Fish wouldn't follow me in there, and since he was the leader of the gang of misfits chasing me I could be reasonably sure the others wouldn't go in either. Or they would, and I would likely drown.
I had no other option.
I turned my head to catch a quick glance behind me. I saw nothing but the red-faced rage monster chasing me. I felt his fingers grasp for the back of my shirt, nearly getting hold of it. I closed my eyes and ran with everything I had left in me. I lengthened my stride and pushed away from the ground with more force. All I could feel was the fire of fatigue and adrenaline coursing through my body.
I ran.
My fear, the fear that had been built on a desire not to suffer at the hands of the morons chasing me, had been compounded with each step as I made good my escape, or at least as I tried to. I was spurred on by fear, but Fish was propelled by something too. I didn't know why he was putting so much effort into catching me, and that made me even more afraid.
Water.
My eyes shot open as icy water enveloped my body. I had to fight not to breathe in as my body sank into the hypothermia-inducing waters. I hadn't been ready for the water and in fact, I didn't really even believe that I would make it that far.
The water by the bank was probably only eight feet deep or so, and I quickly found my footing and pushed off of the lake bottom. My head breached the surface and I gasped for air like my life depended on it – because it did.
Rowing with my working arm and kicking with my legs, I tried to tread water and to come up with a new plan that would give me respite from this ill-devised plan of escape.
Just then I heard wild splashing behind me. I turned in the water, feeling the pain of the fall that I had taken, the pain of the run, the pain of the cold water and air, the pain of my useless right arm. There, about fifteen feet behind me was Fish.
I thought that he wouldn't follow me in! I thought that he couldn't swim! Fear gripped me tighter.
I could barely hold my head above water, how would I fight him off? I knew then that I was going to drown.
Frozen in more ways than one, I stared at the spot where Fish's head had just dipped below the water. The seconds dragged sluggishly on while I kicked my legs and waved my arm under the frigid waters of Demon Lake. Fish wasn't coming back up.
The three boys that had been with Fish had caught up. They were standing on the edge of the bank where it jutted out over the water's surface. They each appeared to be trying to catch their breath, not yet grasping the severity of the situation.
Panicking, I began moving through the water as swiftly as possible, making my way toward where I had last seen Fish. Nearly to the spot, I yelled out.
"Fish!!" I may have hated him, and he me, but that didn't mean I wanted him dead. I couldn't just do nothing as he drowned, not when I had the opportunity to help.
At the sound of my yelling, the boys on the bank realized that their leader wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Where is Bradan?" It was the one that had attempted jumping over the wall before Fish; the one that had broken Fish's fall. "He's underwater!"
I had been in the water for less than a minute at this point, but it felt as though my very bones were freezing. My limbs were growing stiffer by the second from the cold or the pain or the exhaustion. I wasn't sure which but I knew that I had to get out of the water as quickly as possible. The three boys continued standing on the bank, dumbfounded.
"Help me!" At my urging the one who had spoken jumped into the lake.
He didn't look like he was in very good shape after the fall he took moments before, but he definitely looked better than me. He quickly made his way to where I was, where I had seen Fish submerge moments earlier. "Derek, what are you doing!?" One of the boys still on the bank was yelling. I remembered this kid; Derek. I had spoken with him before.
Why is he chasing me with these idiots?
I dipped my head under, letting some of the air out of my lungs so that I would sink to the bottom quicker. Once my feet touched the bottom of the lake I opened my eyes. It was pitch black under the water.
Unable to see anything I began feeling about with my good arm. I moved farther in the direction in which I thought that Fish might be, feeling randomly in front of me. It didn't take long for my lungs to start burning again.
When I surfaced I didn't see Derek. He must have still been underneath the water. Taking a few big gulps of the cold night air I dipped under again. I slowly released the air, as much as I dared, as I sank.
I didn't want to end up drowning down here myself. What a story that would be! It would be terrible for Mom, especially right now with Uncle Rob being MIA in wherever.
My wounds were becoming more painful by the second as I felt around aimlessly under the water. I squatted and pushed off of the lake bottom with my feet, propelling myself away from the bank.
While this lake wasn't very big, it could still pull a body out away from land. After making it a good ten feet I slowed my momentum, swimming in small circles near the bottom. My hope was that I could cover a good amount of space before my air ran out.
Feeling like my head was about to explode I set my feet down and prepared to push back to the surface. My arm brushed something. I reached out for it.
Cloth.
No – a shirt!
I grasped madly for the clothing. The pain in my head and lungs was building, compounding the already terrible aches all over my body. I had never experienced this level of pain. Nothing, not running miles around the school track, not sprinting down the football field repeatedly, nothing felt like this.
I didn't pace myself. I didn't stop. Everything in me had gone into escaping, and now here I was trying to save the life of my tormentor. My left hand gripping Bradan's shirt, I pushed away from the lake bottom one final time.
Air.
I was finally able to breathe. Joy filled me, riding on the coattails of the air I inhaled. Bradan didn't feel either of those things. The emotion in me evaporated with the realization that I wasn't going to be able to keep my head above water without the use of the arm that I was holding his shirt with. I kicked my legs with all of my might in an attempt to reach the bank.
If I let go of Fish then I would have been able to swim to land and save myself.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
My muscles were completely used up. I couldn't even have waved my hand, had I wanted to greet the lake-dwelling demons. I held the cloth of Bradan's shirt tighter than I'd ever gripped anything before. I was simply unable to let him go. This would be my last night. Mom would be so sad; so angry. Maybe they would find
Uncle Rob and Mom wouldn't be alone. Maybe he would be able to dry her tears…
The last bit of air escaped my lungs, forming bubbles that rose to the surface without worry for me. Broken fractals of moonlight found their way through the shifting, cursed waters of Demon Lake to dance across my vision.
Maybe the lake really was haunted. If I hadn't jumped in, would I have escaped those boys chasing me? Would things be different now? Would I still have a chance at life?
I always loved books and stories. Too many of them described the act of death as the character being enveloped by darkness. I was loath to see that same darkness blot out my vision and take my consciousness from me.