Michael Subjack's Blog
August 25, 2025
The Only Good Man is My Father
A little over a year ago, I met a woman and felt an instant connection.
Seven months later, she was berating me in the most bizarre and traumatic public meltdown I've ever witnessed.
Here's the whole story:
The Only Good Man is My Father
Seven months later, she was berating me in the most bizarre and traumatic public meltdown I've ever witnessed.
Here's the whole story:
The Only Good Man is My Father
February 15, 2023
Truth on the Waters of Lake Kahontsi
Who was she?
For most of her life, she had been Molly, a plain and somewhat overweight girl; the kind of person you’d meet and immediately forget. For the last two years, she had been Molly, a plain and somewhat overweight girl who happened to be the girlfriend of YouTube star Leah Marshall.
“You’re my muse,” Leah would whisper to her every night in bed.
Sometimes sleep would follow, other times Molly would feel Leah’s hand slide into her underwear. Both outcomes were welcomed because both of them involved Leah.
Molly had been a barista at a Starbucks in Los Feliz when they first met. Despite having been born and raised in La-La Land, Molly’s life had consisted of work and holing up in her bedroom at her mother’s house. Between feeling like she had no discernible talent and nothing to offer anyone in a romantic partnership, doing anything else seemed extraneous.
Leah saw things differently. She came to Starbucks every day, sometimes twice, and would engage Molly in conversation on the regular. It wasn’t long before that conversation took on a flirtatious tone. Molly was frankly terrified when Leah asked her out, but accepted, anyway. She had developed a growing crush on Leah and disappointing her would have been akin to turning down a million dollars. The relationship advanced quickly and within six months, Molly was moved into Leah’s apartment. Between Leah’s three million YouTube subscribers and a hefty advance for a book, they lived quite well. And the nature of her YouTube channel entailed a lot of traveling, sometimes to exotic locations. It had all seemed perfect and that was where Molly should have been suspicious from the get-go. Nobody enjoyed a perfect life; particularly if their previous one had consisted of being a chunky wallflower.
It took about two years before things started to go downhill. Leah spent long hours away from home and she hadn’t bothered to bring Molly on her last several trips. On the infrequent occasions when they still went to bed together, Leah didn’t call Molly her muse and she tended to keep her hands to herself. Molly tried to make sense of how and why this had happened, but she understood that oftentimes relationships break down and people grow indifferent without any real catalyst. Molly had spent her life being forgotten and now it looked like it was going to happen again.
Presently, she was on a small boat with Leah, her crew, and a captain with missing teeth who had taken more than a few leering glances at Leah. Molly couldn’t really fault him; in addition to being a YouTube star with a magnetic personality, Leah was also very pretty. The weather on Lake Kahontsi was presently a bitter thirty-eight degrees, but Leah was dressed in stylish skinny jeans and an overcoat with a fur-lined collar. She wore fuzzy pink earmuffs and gloves adorned with the kids from Stranger Things. As the comments on her Twitter and Instagram liked to routinely tell her, she looked adorable.
The rest of her crew consisted of two camera operators and a sound person. The camera operators, Tim and Ross, were each armed with a Panasonic Lumix wrapped in protective plastic. Amy the sound girl held out a large shotgun mic and Molly wondered how any of this audio would be usable. The wind was loud and the boat’s engine louder. Leah wore a lav mic hidden carefully inside her jacket, but Molly reasoned when they got back to Los Angeles, there would be a lot of voice-over work and that meant more time away from home. Normally, Leah hated having to do voice-overs, but given the current status of their relationship, Molly wondered if that was still the case.
“Hey, guys, it’s Leah!” her girlfriend chirped in her usual greeting. “We’re on Lake Kahontsi in search of the elusive creature that supposedly inhabits its icy waters…”
Molly tuned the rest out and stared out at the lake instead. She supposed on a less gloomy and overcast day it might look more impressive, but right now it just looked murky and uninviting. Given how cold the water must be, Molly reasoned that any creature living in it would have vacated years ago. What they were in search of was said to bear a striking resemblance to the Loch Ness Monster and had been seen around the small Upstate New York lake for the better part of two hundred years.
As part of her “research”, Leah devoured every show and documentary the streaming platforms had to offer that covered ghosts, UFOs, and cryptids. There had been several about the Loch Ness Monster and lake monsters in general. Witnesses were interviewed and experts weighed in and Molly found it all to be a hilarious waste of time because nobody bothered to address the obvious: There was no way these creatures would be able to survive in a small body of water for hundreds of years. Save for certain types of fish, tortoises, and urchins, Molly couldn’t think of any animal that had that kind of longevity, but it didn’t matter. Searching for the unknown and likely non-existent was how Leah (and by extension Molly) made her living.
Despite being layered in tights, wool socks, brown cords, two hoodies, and a long-sleeved t-shirt, Molly was freezing. This had been the first excursion Leah had brought her on in some time and it seemed fitting the setting so was miserable.
Molly turned her attention back to Leah and the crew and saw they were shooting what Molly called the “cutie cuts,” which consisted of quick shots of Leah making goofy faces and blurting out silly non-sequiturs. They were generally used as transitions and were often saved until the end of filming, but Lake Kahontsi was shaping up to be a bit of a disappointment. For the alleged haunted houses Leah visited, she often had production assistants off-camera throwing things and making strange noises. Sometimes they just got lucky and had something unexplainable happen, like when they had visited Stone Canyon State Park in Ohio. Stone Canyon was reputed to be the Bigfoot capital of the United States and while they hadn’t gotten any actual footage of the creature, they found footprints and heard mysterious sounds coming from the woods. A freezing lake was a different story. While Leah had money to spend, convincing footage of a water dinosaur was a little out of her reach.
“Okay, cut,” Leah sighed.
They had gotten the cutie cuts, despite the fact Leah’s impatience was starting to show. Even if the expedition on the lake was likely a bust, it wasn’t like the episode would be a total loss. They had spent yesterday in the small town that sat adjacent to the lake interviewing the locals and getting some pretty good B-roll. Most of the townspeople were more than willing to talk about Katie (as the lake monster was known) and it was easy to see why. The town didn’t have a lot going for it, but it had no shortage of tacky Katie memorabilia. The local diner even served a heart-clogging monstrosity known as the “Katie Burger”, which came in a sub roll shaped like the supposed creature. And to Molly’s great surprise, it was pretty good. Maybe the best burger she had eaten in months. Leah hadn’t eaten hers, of course. After holding it up to the camera with a look of mock surprise and taking one baby bite, she swapped it out for a salad roughly the size of a silver dollar. As if Molly didn’t already feel like enough of a blimp standing next to her.
“Check it out!” Tim called out as he swung his camera around.
In the distance, there was some commotion in the water. Leah and the rest of the crew eagerly scurried to the other side of the boat, but it was obvious to Molly it was just a normal-sized fish.
“Probably just carp,” said a bored voice, confirming her suspicion.
Everyone looked over at Bo, the dentally challenged captain. He flashed a jagged, picket-fence grin at them and quickly turned the boat around, almost causing Leah and the crew to fall over. Molly, who was seated, had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
“Sorry!” Bo said in a sing-song voice.
Despite his leering looks at Leah, Molly couldn’t help but think that a YouTube personality from L.A. probably seemed like the very height of pampered elitism. And as Bo was a blue-collar guy living in a one-horse town, that probably made Leah about as relatable as a Martian.
“What are you doing?” Leah shrieked at him as she struggled to regain her balance.
“Turnin’ us around,” Bo replied with a tinge of amusement. “Them carp splashing around mean Katie ain’t over there. She’d have ate them otherwise.”
“Please let us know if you’re going to do that in the future,” Leah commanded. “This equipment’s very expensive.”
Even with his back turned, Molly could practically see Bo’s forehead furrow. No Hollywood asshole told him what to do, particularly not a female Hollywood asshole.
“That scrawny bitch tried bossin’ me around!” Molly imagined him telling the boys over a round of Keystone later that night. “But I just laughed in her face. You believe the nerve of that fuckin’ skirt?”
And then the boys would belch and laugh. Molly almost envied them. At least they’d have something to laugh about.
“You guys keep getting shots of the lake,” Leah said. “I’m taking a break.”
The crew dutifully did as they were told and Leah took a seat next to Molly.
“So how are you doing?” she asked as she slowly rubbed her gloved hands together.
“I’m okay,” Molly replied. “Aren’t you cold?”
Leah shrugged and turned her half-interested gaze toward the lake. Molly watched as a strand of her voluminous blonde hair danced delicately in the breeze. Molly wondered if it was the same strand she had brushed out of Leah’s face shortly after they had made love for the first time. It suddenly seemed like a million years ago.
“Sorry about this,” Leah said after a moment. “I mean, I knew it was going to be cold, but I wasn’t expecting Ice Station Zebra.”
“It’s fine,” Molly replied with a forced smile.
“I’m just glad we’re together.”
She reached out to give Leah’s hand a squeeze and found it akin to gripping a dead fish. Leah slowly pulled her hand away and despite the near-freezing temperatures, Molly’s face suddenly felt like it was on fire.
“I know this isn’t the time for this,” Leah said slowly. “But we need to talk when we get back to L.A.”
Molly did her best to play it cool and wait before she responded. Not that it would do any good.
“Am I no longer your muse?”
It was a weak response, but she needed to say something.
“We’ll talk later,” Leah said as she stiffly rose out of her chair. “But can you really say you’re surprised?”
Molly couldn’t, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
Leah started to make her way back to the crew when she turned around to face Molly again.
“Listen, Mol…”
That was all she could get out. Because at that exact moment, something big struck the side of the boat.
“Jesus!”
Leah struggled to keep her balance as she made her way toward Bo.
“What the fuck was that?” she asked as she grabbed the back of his seat for support.
“I don’t know,” Bo said shakily.
Molly could see his fear was genuine and it was spreading to Leah and the crew “Maybe a sunken tree but…”
He didn’t believe it and neither did anyone else. Tim, Amy, and Ross lowered their gear and looked at Leah. As the boss, it was up to her to determine what happened next. Leah, now way out of her element, turned her slightly panicked gaze back to Bo.
“What now?” she asked.
Bo shrugged.
“I can take us back to the dock, but I need everyone seated.”
Leah and the crew did this without question. Amy clung to her boom pole like it was a security blanket and Tim and Ross tucked their cameras into their coats. Molly gripped the sides of her chair and felt droplets of sweat break out on her forehead and under her arms. She allowed herself one fleeting glimpse at Leah, which proved to be a mistake. There was a pleading vulnerability in her already captivating hazel eyes that made Molly want to go to her. She looked again and saw that’s what Leah wanted, too. Despite whatever danger they were in, Molly didn’t care. If this saved their relationship, she’d walk across flaming coals if she had to. She rose to her feet and made her way to Leah crouched over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“Stay in your seat!” Bo bawled, but Molly didn’t listen.
The woman she loved needed her. She stumbled across the slippery deck and fell into Ross. Even with the cold air swirling around them, she could smell his sour, fear-soaked breath. She braced her hands on his shoulders and pushed herself back up to make her way toward Leah. He grabbed her wrist and shook his head, his eyes pleading for her to stay, but she ignored him and continued at a more cautious pace.
As she got closer to Leah, she heard Amy scream as a ripple of cold water splashed onto the deck. Off the port side, she saw something dark and massive moving parallel to the boat.
The glimpse was fleeting, as it quickly disappeared below the surface. The boat continued to rock in the choppy water, but a strange stillness had permeated the air. Molly finally reached Leah and put her arms around her. Leah gratefully returned the gesture as the two of them sobbed and shook.
“Everyone okay?” Bo finally managed.
His smug swagger had completely dissipated. What remained was human and even relatable. Like Leah and her crew, Bo had simply come out here to make some money. The idea that there was something dangerous in the lake he had traversed dozens, if not hundreds of times, had been nonexistent before today. Leah gently pulled herself away from Molly and turned to her crew.
“Did you get any of that?” she asked with a weak smile.
Tim scoffed, but Ross and Amy remained glassy-eyed and silent. Molly had a feeling Leah would be looking for a new crew when they got back to L.A.
“Taking us back to shore,” Bo said. “Everyone get in your seats. And stay there this time.”
He glared at Molly, who took the hint. After she was seated, Bo turned the boat around and aimed it toward the dock they had departed from.
“I’m so glad you’re so safe,” Molly whispered to Leah as she wrapped her arms around her.
In return, Leah gave her a non-committal pat on the shoulder. It was a gesture that was completely devoid of affection and emotion. Nothing had changed. The relief they had just shared had nothing to do with love. It was simply catharsis that could have been shared with anyone (even Bo).
Molly slowly relinquished her grip as knots of sadness and humiliation tightened in her belly. But there was more than that. Resentment and anger were bubbling inside her brain. Even though she had risked her life for Leah, her cruel indifference toward Molly remained firmly intact. As they got closer to the dock, the crew concentrated on putting their equipment in the proper cases while Leah stood up and moved away from Molly, whose eyes began to sting from the now almost unbearable feelings of resentment and humiliation.
As Leah kept her eyes trained on the dock, Molly stood up and inched her way toward her. Leah turned to her with a curious expression and just as she started to speak, the boat was struck again. The crew screamed and dropped their equipment, clinging to each other much in the same manner as Leah and Molly.
“Everyone stay seated!” Bo bellowed as he tried to regain control of the boat.
There was another scream followed this time by a splash. Bo and the others looked back to see Leah shrieking and flailing in the water. Bo tossed a life ring to her and Leah groped for it, but was pulled below the surface before she could fully grab it.
Everyone gasped and watched in horror as the water began to froth and turn red. It was over in seconds, but each had felt more unending and agonizing than the previous one. When the lake finally fell still again, there was no sign of Leah, just a cloud of red swirling on the surface. Amy and Ross began to weep. As they all turned to Molly with bewildered and accusatory stares, she looked out at the lake and focused her attention on the water.
The cold, unforgiving water.
For most of her life, she had been Molly, a plain and somewhat overweight girl; the kind of person you’d meet and immediately forget. For the last two years, she had been Molly, a plain and somewhat overweight girl who happened to be the girlfriend of YouTube star Leah Marshall.
“You’re my muse,” Leah would whisper to her every night in bed.
Sometimes sleep would follow, other times Molly would feel Leah’s hand slide into her underwear. Both outcomes were welcomed because both of them involved Leah.
Molly had been a barista at a Starbucks in Los Feliz when they first met. Despite having been born and raised in La-La Land, Molly’s life had consisted of work and holing up in her bedroom at her mother’s house. Between feeling like she had no discernible talent and nothing to offer anyone in a romantic partnership, doing anything else seemed extraneous.
Leah saw things differently. She came to Starbucks every day, sometimes twice, and would engage Molly in conversation on the regular. It wasn’t long before that conversation took on a flirtatious tone. Molly was frankly terrified when Leah asked her out, but accepted, anyway. She had developed a growing crush on Leah and disappointing her would have been akin to turning down a million dollars. The relationship advanced quickly and within six months, Molly was moved into Leah’s apartment. Between Leah’s three million YouTube subscribers and a hefty advance for a book, they lived quite well. And the nature of her YouTube channel entailed a lot of traveling, sometimes to exotic locations. It had all seemed perfect and that was where Molly should have been suspicious from the get-go. Nobody enjoyed a perfect life; particularly if their previous one had consisted of being a chunky wallflower.
It took about two years before things started to go downhill. Leah spent long hours away from home and she hadn’t bothered to bring Molly on her last several trips. On the infrequent occasions when they still went to bed together, Leah didn’t call Molly her muse and she tended to keep her hands to herself. Molly tried to make sense of how and why this had happened, but she understood that oftentimes relationships break down and people grow indifferent without any real catalyst. Molly had spent her life being forgotten and now it looked like it was going to happen again.
Presently, she was on a small boat with Leah, her crew, and a captain with missing teeth who had taken more than a few leering glances at Leah. Molly couldn’t really fault him; in addition to being a YouTube star with a magnetic personality, Leah was also very pretty. The weather on Lake Kahontsi was presently a bitter thirty-eight degrees, but Leah was dressed in stylish skinny jeans and an overcoat with a fur-lined collar. She wore fuzzy pink earmuffs and gloves adorned with the kids from Stranger Things. As the comments on her Twitter and Instagram liked to routinely tell her, she looked adorable.
The rest of her crew consisted of two camera operators and a sound person. The camera operators, Tim and Ross, were each armed with a Panasonic Lumix wrapped in protective plastic. Amy the sound girl held out a large shotgun mic and Molly wondered how any of this audio would be usable. The wind was loud and the boat’s engine louder. Leah wore a lav mic hidden carefully inside her jacket, but Molly reasoned when they got back to Los Angeles, there would be a lot of voice-over work and that meant more time away from home. Normally, Leah hated having to do voice-overs, but given the current status of their relationship, Molly wondered if that was still the case.
“Hey, guys, it’s Leah!” her girlfriend chirped in her usual greeting. “We’re on Lake Kahontsi in search of the elusive creature that supposedly inhabits its icy waters…”
Molly tuned the rest out and stared out at the lake instead. She supposed on a less gloomy and overcast day it might look more impressive, but right now it just looked murky and uninviting. Given how cold the water must be, Molly reasoned that any creature living in it would have vacated years ago. What they were in search of was said to bear a striking resemblance to the Loch Ness Monster and had been seen around the small Upstate New York lake for the better part of two hundred years.
As part of her “research”, Leah devoured every show and documentary the streaming platforms had to offer that covered ghosts, UFOs, and cryptids. There had been several about the Loch Ness Monster and lake monsters in general. Witnesses were interviewed and experts weighed in and Molly found it all to be a hilarious waste of time because nobody bothered to address the obvious: There was no way these creatures would be able to survive in a small body of water for hundreds of years. Save for certain types of fish, tortoises, and urchins, Molly couldn’t think of any animal that had that kind of longevity, but it didn’t matter. Searching for the unknown and likely non-existent was how Leah (and by extension Molly) made her living.
Despite being layered in tights, wool socks, brown cords, two hoodies, and a long-sleeved t-shirt, Molly was freezing. This had been the first excursion Leah had brought her on in some time and it seemed fitting the setting so was miserable.
Molly turned her attention back to Leah and the crew and saw they were shooting what Molly called the “cutie cuts,” which consisted of quick shots of Leah making goofy faces and blurting out silly non-sequiturs. They were generally used as transitions and were often saved until the end of filming, but Lake Kahontsi was shaping up to be a bit of a disappointment. For the alleged haunted houses Leah visited, she often had production assistants off-camera throwing things and making strange noises. Sometimes they just got lucky and had something unexplainable happen, like when they had visited Stone Canyon State Park in Ohio. Stone Canyon was reputed to be the Bigfoot capital of the United States and while they hadn’t gotten any actual footage of the creature, they found footprints and heard mysterious sounds coming from the woods. A freezing lake was a different story. While Leah had money to spend, convincing footage of a water dinosaur was a little out of her reach.
“Okay, cut,” Leah sighed.
They had gotten the cutie cuts, despite the fact Leah’s impatience was starting to show. Even if the expedition on the lake was likely a bust, it wasn’t like the episode would be a total loss. They had spent yesterday in the small town that sat adjacent to the lake interviewing the locals and getting some pretty good B-roll. Most of the townspeople were more than willing to talk about Katie (as the lake monster was known) and it was easy to see why. The town didn’t have a lot going for it, but it had no shortage of tacky Katie memorabilia. The local diner even served a heart-clogging monstrosity known as the “Katie Burger”, which came in a sub roll shaped like the supposed creature. And to Molly’s great surprise, it was pretty good. Maybe the best burger she had eaten in months. Leah hadn’t eaten hers, of course. After holding it up to the camera with a look of mock surprise and taking one baby bite, she swapped it out for a salad roughly the size of a silver dollar. As if Molly didn’t already feel like enough of a blimp standing next to her.
“Check it out!” Tim called out as he swung his camera around.
In the distance, there was some commotion in the water. Leah and the rest of the crew eagerly scurried to the other side of the boat, but it was obvious to Molly it was just a normal-sized fish.
“Probably just carp,” said a bored voice, confirming her suspicion.
Everyone looked over at Bo, the dentally challenged captain. He flashed a jagged, picket-fence grin at them and quickly turned the boat around, almost causing Leah and the crew to fall over. Molly, who was seated, had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
“Sorry!” Bo said in a sing-song voice.
Despite his leering looks at Leah, Molly couldn’t help but think that a YouTube personality from L.A. probably seemed like the very height of pampered elitism. And as Bo was a blue-collar guy living in a one-horse town, that probably made Leah about as relatable as a Martian.
“What are you doing?” Leah shrieked at him as she struggled to regain her balance.
“Turnin’ us around,” Bo replied with a tinge of amusement. “Them carp splashing around mean Katie ain’t over there. She’d have ate them otherwise.”
“Please let us know if you’re going to do that in the future,” Leah commanded. “This equipment’s very expensive.”
Even with his back turned, Molly could practically see Bo’s forehead furrow. No Hollywood asshole told him what to do, particularly not a female Hollywood asshole.
“That scrawny bitch tried bossin’ me around!” Molly imagined him telling the boys over a round of Keystone later that night. “But I just laughed in her face. You believe the nerve of that fuckin’ skirt?”
And then the boys would belch and laugh. Molly almost envied them. At least they’d have something to laugh about.
“You guys keep getting shots of the lake,” Leah said. “I’m taking a break.”
The crew dutifully did as they were told and Leah took a seat next to Molly.
“So how are you doing?” she asked as she slowly rubbed her gloved hands together.
“I’m okay,” Molly replied. “Aren’t you cold?”
Leah shrugged and turned her half-interested gaze toward the lake. Molly watched as a strand of her voluminous blonde hair danced delicately in the breeze. Molly wondered if it was the same strand she had brushed out of Leah’s face shortly after they had made love for the first time. It suddenly seemed like a million years ago.
“Sorry about this,” Leah said after a moment. “I mean, I knew it was going to be cold, but I wasn’t expecting Ice Station Zebra.”
“It’s fine,” Molly replied with a forced smile.
“I’m just glad we’re together.”
She reached out to give Leah’s hand a squeeze and found it akin to gripping a dead fish. Leah slowly pulled her hand away and despite the near-freezing temperatures, Molly’s face suddenly felt like it was on fire.
“I know this isn’t the time for this,” Leah said slowly. “But we need to talk when we get back to L.A.”
Molly did her best to play it cool and wait before she responded. Not that it would do any good.
“Am I no longer your muse?”
It was a weak response, but she needed to say something.
“We’ll talk later,” Leah said as she stiffly rose out of her chair. “But can you really say you’re surprised?”
Molly couldn’t, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
Leah started to make her way back to the crew when she turned around to face Molly again.
“Listen, Mol…”
That was all she could get out. Because at that exact moment, something big struck the side of the boat.
“Jesus!”
Leah struggled to keep her balance as she made her way toward Bo.
“What the fuck was that?” she asked as she grabbed the back of his seat for support.
“I don’t know,” Bo said shakily.
Molly could see his fear was genuine and it was spreading to Leah and the crew “Maybe a sunken tree but…”
He didn’t believe it and neither did anyone else. Tim, Amy, and Ross lowered their gear and looked at Leah. As the boss, it was up to her to determine what happened next. Leah, now way out of her element, turned her slightly panicked gaze back to Bo.
“What now?” she asked.
Bo shrugged.
“I can take us back to the dock, but I need everyone seated.”
Leah and the crew did this without question. Amy clung to her boom pole like it was a security blanket and Tim and Ross tucked their cameras into their coats. Molly gripped the sides of her chair and felt droplets of sweat break out on her forehead and under her arms. She allowed herself one fleeting glimpse at Leah, which proved to be a mistake. There was a pleading vulnerability in her already captivating hazel eyes that made Molly want to go to her. She looked again and saw that’s what Leah wanted, too. Despite whatever danger they were in, Molly didn’t care. If this saved their relationship, she’d walk across flaming coals if she had to. She rose to her feet and made her way to Leah crouched over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“Stay in your seat!” Bo bawled, but Molly didn’t listen.
The woman she loved needed her. She stumbled across the slippery deck and fell into Ross. Even with the cold air swirling around them, she could smell his sour, fear-soaked breath. She braced her hands on his shoulders and pushed herself back up to make her way toward Leah. He grabbed her wrist and shook his head, his eyes pleading for her to stay, but she ignored him and continued at a more cautious pace.
As she got closer to Leah, she heard Amy scream as a ripple of cold water splashed onto the deck. Off the port side, she saw something dark and massive moving parallel to the boat.
The glimpse was fleeting, as it quickly disappeared below the surface. The boat continued to rock in the choppy water, but a strange stillness had permeated the air. Molly finally reached Leah and put her arms around her. Leah gratefully returned the gesture as the two of them sobbed and shook.
“Everyone okay?” Bo finally managed.
His smug swagger had completely dissipated. What remained was human and even relatable. Like Leah and her crew, Bo had simply come out here to make some money. The idea that there was something dangerous in the lake he had traversed dozens, if not hundreds of times, had been nonexistent before today. Leah gently pulled herself away from Molly and turned to her crew.
“Did you get any of that?” she asked with a weak smile.
Tim scoffed, but Ross and Amy remained glassy-eyed and silent. Molly had a feeling Leah would be looking for a new crew when they got back to L.A.
“Taking us back to shore,” Bo said. “Everyone get in your seats. And stay there this time.”
He glared at Molly, who took the hint. After she was seated, Bo turned the boat around and aimed it toward the dock they had departed from.
“I’m so glad you’re so safe,” Molly whispered to Leah as she wrapped her arms around her.
In return, Leah gave her a non-committal pat on the shoulder. It was a gesture that was completely devoid of affection and emotion. Nothing had changed. The relief they had just shared had nothing to do with love. It was simply catharsis that could have been shared with anyone (even Bo).
Molly slowly relinquished her grip as knots of sadness and humiliation tightened in her belly. But there was more than that. Resentment and anger were bubbling inside her brain. Even though she had risked her life for Leah, her cruel indifference toward Molly remained firmly intact. As they got closer to the dock, the crew concentrated on putting their equipment in the proper cases while Leah stood up and moved away from Molly, whose eyes began to sting from the now almost unbearable feelings of resentment and humiliation.
As Leah kept her eyes trained on the dock, Molly stood up and inched her way toward her. Leah turned to her with a curious expression and just as she started to speak, the boat was struck again. The crew screamed and dropped their equipment, clinging to each other much in the same manner as Leah and Molly.
“Everyone stay seated!” Bo bellowed as he tried to regain control of the boat.
There was another scream followed this time by a splash. Bo and the others looked back to see Leah shrieking and flailing in the water. Bo tossed a life ring to her and Leah groped for it, but was pulled below the surface before she could fully grab it.
Everyone gasped and watched in horror as the water began to froth and turn red. It was over in seconds, but each had felt more unending and agonizing than the previous one. When the lake finally fell still again, there was no sign of Leah, just a cloud of red swirling on the surface. Amy and Ross began to weep. As they all turned to Molly with bewildered and accusatory stares, she looked out at the lake and focused her attention on the water.
The cold, unforgiving water.
October 28, 2021
Treats at the Witch House
Maddie looked at the hole in her green and black striped tights and wondered what she had done to deserve such a wretched Halloween. Not only was most of the candy crappy, but her bag had also ripped when she fell, causing most of it to spill on the sidewalk. The only good news was that she had yet to get her full-sized Snickers bar. When it came to Halloween, that’s all she wanted.
“Have a nice trip?”
Boorish laughter followed, and Maddie looked up to see Neil and Eric staring down at her with a mixture of amusement and contempt. Boys were gross in general, but these two were as bad as it got. And of course, she had fallen in front of them. But there was still a chance the evening could be salvaged. There was always…
“The witch house!”
Eric was pointing at a gloomy Victorian looming like an ominous giant against the starry purple sky, its front lawn peppered with a variety of creepy gray statues.
“Ring the doorbell!” Neil exclaimed excitedly. “I’ll give you half my candy if you ring the doorbell!”
“It doesn’t have a doorbell,” Maddie huffed, gathering up her crappy candy as best she could. She took one last look at the blood bubbling out of her knee before joining the two boys, both of which were glaring at her.
“Who asked you?”
“Just trying to help you out,” Maddie said with a shrug. “It does have one of those big knockers on the front door, though.”
Eric and Neil exchanged a mischievous glance as they crept over to the house. They hesitated when they reached the edge of the long, crooked walkway.
“Scared?” Maddie teased.
“Shut up!” Eric said. “Like you’re not scared.”
“I’m not,” she informed them. “Watch this.”
She strode confidently up the walkway, mindful of the cracks and overgrown weeds. When she reached the front door, she turned around and held her arms out.
“See?”
Eric and Neil stared at her in disbelief. She could almost smell their fear, but she also knew they didn’t want to look like cowards. They slowly made their way to the front door, pausing to take in the statues, which were even creepier up close.
“So go ahead,” she said, motioning to the large oval-shaped knocker.
Eric and Neil turned away from the statues and Maddie could see how eager they were for this to be over. As they approached the front door, she stepped back and waited. It wouldn’t be long now. She could barely contain her glee as they reached for the knocker when suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a towering woman who was somehow both ancient and ageless. The boys started to scream when a blast of green light emanated from her fingers, temporarily blinding Maddie as she almost stumbled and fell for the second time that evening.
Fortunately, she caught her balance just as the light disappeared. The woman was gone and her door was closed. The only things that were different were the two new statues she had in her front yard. And the full-sized Snickers resting at the bottom of Maddie’s tattered bag. With a bright, satisfied smile, Maddie skipped down the front walkway, stopping at the edge to give the house a friendly wave goodbye.
“Thanks, Grandma! Happy Halloween!”
And when Maddie bit into her Snickers later that night, she decided that it was indeed just that.
“Have a nice trip?”
Boorish laughter followed, and Maddie looked up to see Neil and Eric staring down at her with a mixture of amusement and contempt. Boys were gross in general, but these two were as bad as it got. And of course, she had fallen in front of them. But there was still a chance the evening could be salvaged. There was always…
“The witch house!”
Eric was pointing at a gloomy Victorian looming like an ominous giant against the starry purple sky, its front lawn peppered with a variety of creepy gray statues.
“Ring the doorbell!” Neil exclaimed excitedly. “I’ll give you half my candy if you ring the doorbell!”
“It doesn’t have a doorbell,” Maddie huffed, gathering up her crappy candy as best she could. She took one last look at the blood bubbling out of her knee before joining the two boys, both of which were glaring at her.
“Who asked you?”
“Just trying to help you out,” Maddie said with a shrug. “It does have one of those big knockers on the front door, though.”
Eric and Neil exchanged a mischievous glance as they crept over to the house. They hesitated when they reached the edge of the long, crooked walkway.
“Scared?” Maddie teased.
“Shut up!” Eric said. “Like you’re not scared.”
“I’m not,” she informed them. “Watch this.”
She strode confidently up the walkway, mindful of the cracks and overgrown weeds. When she reached the front door, she turned around and held her arms out.
“See?”
Eric and Neil stared at her in disbelief. She could almost smell their fear, but she also knew they didn’t want to look like cowards. They slowly made their way to the front door, pausing to take in the statues, which were even creepier up close.
“So go ahead,” she said, motioning to the large oval-shaped knocker.
Eric and Neil turned away from the statues and Maddie could see how eager they were for this to be over. As they approached the front door, she stepped back and waited. It wouldn’t be long now. She could barely contain her glee as they reached for the knocker when suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a towering woman who was somehow both ancient and ageless. The boys started to scream when a blast of green light emanated from her fingers, temporarily blinding Maddie as she almost stumbled and fell for the second time that evening.
Fortunately, she caught her balance just as the light disappeared. The woman was gone and her door was closed. The only things that were different were the two new statues she had in her front yard. And the full-sized Snickers resting at the bottom of Maddie’s tattered bag. With a bright, satisfied smile, Maddie skipped down the front walkway, stopping at the edge to give the house a friendly wave goodbye.
“Thanks, Grandma! Happy Halloween!”
And when Maddie bit into her Snickers later that night, she decided that it was indeed just that.
December 19, 2020
A Baker's Dozen
The first gift was a plastic Santa figurine. Cute, but unremarkable. What was interesting was the wrapping paper. Gina had wrapped enough gifts with her mom and grandmother to know that this was choice. It had a gold base and a detailed illustration of a bird sitting on a tree branch. It wasn’t until the second gift arrived that she understood what was going on: Somebody had decided to celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas with her.
She just had no clue who it was.
The second gift had consisted of two turtle dove ornaments. She fished the wrapping paper from the previous day’s gift out of the garbage and identified the bird as a partridge in a pear tree. Intrigued, she texted her friend Monica.
“Are you sending me presents?”
“No,” was Monica’s reply. “But feel free to send me some!”
Gina thought about who else it could be, but couldn’t think of anyone. It had sadly been almost a year since last her date and she had just started a new job the previous month. Although her co-workers were nice enough, she had yet to form any sort of real bond with them. She had received letters from strangers in the past, mainly asking her to join their church, but anonymous gifts? That was a new one.
On the third day, Gina was pleasantly surprised to receive a fifty dollar grocery store gift card. Presumably at least part of it was for three French hens, but Gina wasn’t big on poultry. Still, it would stock her fridge for the week, and for that she was grateful.
Over the next several days, the gifts continued to arrive. The postmarks showed that they had been mailed from various locations ranging from her town to a city in Ohio, which was two states over. One day it was a bundle of Toblerone bars and another day it was a cashmere scarf. While it was nice to receive such generous gifts in what had been a difficult year, it was also starting to feel a little unsettling. Gina was no closer to figuring out who was behind it, but her mother was confident he’d reveal himself soon.
“Himself?” Gina had asked her during one of their daily phone calls.
“It’s obviously someone that has a crush on you,” her mother replied. “Maybe somebody you dated that wants a second chance. Wasn’t the one man an attorney?”
Gina thought back to the various men she had dated and doubted that any of them wanted a second chance. It was a feeling that was more than mutual.
“Do the gifts still follow the Twelve Day of Christmas?” her mother asked.
“They do,” Gina said. “Either through the packaging or with the gifts themselves.”
“Did you get sent five rings?”
Gina hadn’t. Not exactly, anyway. In this instance, the rings had come in the form of a glittery ribbon that sat atop her fifth gift, which had been a package of holiday-themed socks. Not that Gina couldn’t use new ones, but whether you were an adult or a child, socks were a lame gift. The sixth gift, however, more than made up for it. A large box came in candy cane striped paper. When Gina opened it, she discovered it was a drill. The card taped to the box displayed a gaggle of six smiling geese and came with the following inscription, written in spikey, distinctive cursive: “Hope you can find use for this. More to come!”
Gina frowned at the latter half of the message. Something still didn’t feel right, giving it a slightly ominous tone. The good news was that she now had a Christmas gift for her father. He had given her an extensive set of tools when she moved into her first apartment and while she appreciated his practical approach to gift-giving, she had used only the hammer and screwdrivers a handful of times. As far as she knew, the drill he had provided her was still sitting in the box on a shelf in her bedroom closet. And while her father had no shortage of drills, she also knew he’d be happy with another one.
But she still had a lot of questions.
“Can you tell me anything?” she asked her mailman when he came the next day with her latest gift. This one was a large envelope and likely contained another gift card.
“There’s really nothing to tell,” he replied. “The packages don’t have a return address and they’re always postmarked with a different city. It’s kind of strange. Somebody seems to really like you, but they’re also going out of their way to stay anonymous.”
“Have you ever dealt with something like this before?” Gina asked.
The mailman said he hadn’t, at least not on this level. He proceeded to wish her happy holidays and was on his way. When Gina opened the envelope, she found another card adorned with, as expected, seven swans a-swimming. Inside was a gift card for Cracker Barrel, one of her mother’s favorite restaurants, so now she had her taken care of. Gina wondered if her admirer knew that, but as it was a chain restaurant, probably a lot of other people did, too.
Day eight was a kitschy throw pillow of the eight maids a-milking. It was as hideous as it was charming, prompting Gina to send photos to several friends, as well as her mother. On the ninth day, it was a Blu Ray of the Royal Theater’s performance of The Nutcracker. The cover depicted what Gina assumed to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. Behind her was a line of ballerinas gracefully posing on a slick-looking stage. Was it more than nine ladies dancing? Yes, but beggars could hardly be choosers.
The tenth day took Gina a few minutes to understand. Inside the box was something called Game & Watch, which she came to realize was just a small, handheld Nintendo. On the screen was Super Mario Bros., a game she remembered from her youth. She turned it on and watched as a cluster of Marios frantically ran across the screen, smashing bricks and question marks.
“Ten lords a-leaping,” Gina realized. “Pretty clever.”
Better yet, she knew her boss had a young son who was quite the gamer, so now she had something that would make a kid happy while earning herself some brownie points. This was turning out to be quite the Christmas and there were still two days left. The following day was a vinyl record of Scottish marches played on bagpipes. Gina supposed this was the best anyone could do with eleven pipers piping, so she gladly added the album to her collection, nestling it in between Sade and Taylor Swift. If nothing else, it would make for an interesting talking point someday.
The last day was the chef d'oeuvre. Gina had just gotten home from work as the mailman was arriving with a package that was adorned with smiling drummer boys.
“Twelve drummers drumming,” he said with a smile as he handed Gina the package.
“These aren’t from you, are they?” she asked half-jokingly.
She immediately regretted saying it, as the mailman’s face soured. He held up a wind-chapped hand with a wedding ring on the third finger.
“Afraid not,” he replied curtly. “And if I were to make a ploy for a woman other than my wife, I certainly wouldn’t go about it this way. Happy holidays.”
He was out the door before Gina could say anything else. She felt a little ashamed as she went into her apartment, but at least she had eliminated another possible suspect. Before tearing open the package, she noticed there was a card on the outside. She opened it up and saw it was a rather flimsy card sporting a reindeer. The sort of card you could buy in bulk at any dollar store. Having done it herself many times, Gina was quite familiar with them. The unique handwriting confirmed it was the same person and the message again managed to come off as both cheerful and a little unsettling.
“I hope you enjoyed this. Everyone deserves a little bit of happiness, particularly at Christmas because who knows what the future will bring. May you enjoy it while it lasts and once again, Merry Christmas!”
Gina didn’t particularly care for the inscription but the MacBook Pro she found inside the festive wrapping paper more than made up for it.
A week later, it was New Year’s Eve and Gina had a party to get to. The time spent with her parents was enjoyable and they had been pleasantly surprised by the gifts. She kept waiting for her mother to ask where she had gotten the money for them, but in what was another miracle, the question was never raised. Gina thought it best to keep the MacBook to herself for the time being, but she was enjoying every minute of it. Her old computer consistently crashed and had been on the way out for some time. To have a new one running at full capacity was immensely stress-relieving.
She had just returned from the grocery store with a bottle of wine when she noticed a gold envelope in her mailbox. No doubt another communiqué from her mysterious admirer. She brought the envelope in along with the rest of her mail and set the bottle of wine on the kitchen counter. She opened the envelope, expecting to see “Happy New Year” or something of that ilk. Instead, the card depicted a sad-looking little girl standing over a broken lamp. Weird, but nothing about this situation had been particularly normal. When she opened the card, she saw two words in that now-familiar handwriting:
“Behind you.”
She didn’t even have time to scream.
She just had no clue who it was.
The second gift had consisted of two turtle dove ornaments. She fished the wrapping paper from the previous day’s gift out of the garbage and identified the bird as a partridge in a pear tree. Intrigued, she texted her friend Monica.
“Are you sending me presents?”
“No,” was Monica’s reply. “But feel free to send me some!”
Gina thought about who else it could be, but couldn’t think of anyone. It had sadly been almost a year since last her date and she had just started a new job the previous month. Although her co-workers were nice enough, she had yet to form any sort of real bond with them. She had received letters from strangers in the past, mainly asking her to join their church, but anonymous gifts? That was a new one.
On the third day, Gina was pleasantly surprised to receive a fifty dollar grocery store gift card. Presumably at least part of it was for three French hens, but Gina wasn’t big on poultry. Still, it would stock her fridge for the week, and for that she was grateful.
Over the next several days, the gifts continued to arrive. The postmarks showed that they had been mailed from various locations ranging from her town to a city in Ohio, which was two states over. One day it was a bundle of Toblerone bars and another day it was a cashmere scarf. While it was nice to receive such generous gifts in what had been a difficult year, it was also starting to feel a little unsettling. Gina was no closer to figuring out who was behind it, but her mother was confident he’d reveal himself soon.
“Himself?” Gina had asked her during one of their daily phone calls.
“It’s obviously someone that has a crush on you,” her mother replied. “Maybe somebody you dated that wants a second chance. Wasn’t the one man an attorney?”
Gina thought back to the various men she had dated and doubted that any of them wanted a second chance. It was a feeling that was more than mutual.
“Do the gifts still follow the Twelve Day of Christmas?” her mother asked.
“They do,” Gina said. “Either through the packaging or with the gifts themselves.”
“Did you get sent five rings?”
Gina hadn’t. Not exactly, anyway. In this instance, the rings had come in the form of a glittery ribbon that sat atop her fifth gift, which had been a package of holiday-themed socks. Not that Gina couldn’t use new ones, but whether you were an adult or a child, socks were a lame gift. The sixth gift, however, more than made up for it. A large box came in candy cane striped paper. When Gina opened it, she discovered it was a drill. The card taped to the box displayed a gaggle of six smiling geese and came with the following inscription, written in spikey, distinctive cursive: “Hope you can find use for this. More to come!”
Gina frowned at the latter half of the message. Something still didn’t feel right, giving it a slightly ominous tone. The good news was that she now had a Christmas gift for her father. He had given her an extensive set of tools when she moved into her first apartment and while she appreciated his practical approach to gift-giving, she had used only the hammer and screwdrivers a handful of times. As far as she knew, the drill he had provided her was still sitting in the box on a shelf in her bedroom closet. And while her father had no shortage of drills, she also knew he’d be happy with another one.
But she still had a lot of questions.
“Can you tell me anything?” she asked her mailman when he came the next day with her latest gift. This one was a large envelope and likely contained another gift card.
“There’s really nothing to tell,” he replied. “The packages don’t have a return address and they’re always postmarked with a different city. It’s kind of strange. Somebody seems to really like you, but they’re also going out of their way to stay anonymous.”
“Have you ever dealt with something like this before?” Gina asked.
The mailman said he hadn’t, at least not on this level. He proceeded to wish her happy holidays and was on his way. When Gina opened the envelope, she found another card adorned with, as expected, seven swans a-swimming. Inside was a gift card for Cracker Barrel, one of her mother’s favorite restaurants, so now she had her taken care of. Gina wondered if her admirer knew that, but as it was a chain restaurant, probably a lot of other people did, too.
Day eight was a kitschy throw pillow of the eight maids a-milking. It was as hideous as it was charming, prompting Gina to send photos to several friends, as well as her mother. On the ninth day, it was a Blu Ray of the Royal Theater’s performance of The Nutcracker. The cover depicted what Gina assumed to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. Behind her was a line of ballerinas gracefully posing on a slick-looking stage. Was it more than nine ladies dancing? Yes, but beggars could hardly be choosers.
The tenth day took Gina a few minutes to understand. Inside the box was something called Game & Watch, which she came to realize was just a small, handheld Nintendo. On the screen was Super Mario Bros., a game she remembered from her youth. She turned it on and watched as a cluster of Marios frantically ran across the screen, smashing bricks and question marks.
“Ten lords a-leaping,” Gina realized. “Pretty clever.”
Better yet, she knew her boss had a young son who was quite the gamer, so now she had something that would make a kid happy while earning herself some brownie points. This was turning out to be quite the Christmas and there were still two days left. The following day was a vinyl record of Scottish marches played on bagpipes. Gina supposed this was the best anyone could do with eleven pipers piping, so she gladly added the album to her collection, nestling it in between Sade and Taylor Swift. If nothing else, it would make for an interesting talking point someday.
The last day was the chef d'oeuvre. Gina had just gotten home from work as the mailman was arriving with a package that was adorned with smiling drummer boys.
“Twelve drummers drumming,” he said with a smile as he handed Gina the package.
“These aren’t from you, are they?” she asked half-jokingly.
She immediately regretted saying it, as the mailman’s face soured. He held up a wind-chapped hand with a wedding ring on the third finger.
“Afraid not,” he replied curtly. “And if I were to make a ploy for a woman other than my wife, I certainly wouldn’t go about it this way. Happy holidays.”
He was out the door before Gina could say anything else. She felt a little ashamed as she went into her apartment, but at least she had eliminated another possible suspect. Before tearing open the package, she noticed there was a card on the outside. She opened it up and saw it was a rather flimsy card sporting a reindeer. The sort of card you could buy in bulk at any dollar store. Having done it herself many times, Gina was quite familiar with them. The unique handwriting confirmed it was the same person and the message again managed to come off as both cheerful and a little unsettling.
“I hope you enjoyed this. Everyone deserves a little bit of happiness, particularly at Christmas because who knows what the future will bring. May you enjoy it while it lasts and once again, Merry Christmas!”
Gina didn’t particularly care for the inscription but the MacBook Pro she found inside the festive wrapping paper more than made up for it.
A week later, it was New Year’s Eve and Gina had a party to get to. The time spent with her parents was enjoyable and they had been pleasantly surprised by the gifts. She kept waiting for her mother to ask where she had gotten the money for them, but in what was another miracle, the question was never raised. Gina thought it best to keep the MacBook to herself for the time being, but she was enjoying every minute of it. Her old computer consistently crashed and had been on the way out for some time. To have a new one running at full capacity was immensely stress-relieving.
She had just returned from the grocery store with a bottle of wine when she noticed a gold envelope in her mailbox. No doubt another communiqué from her mysterious admirer. She brought the envelope in along with the rest of her mail and set the bottle of wine on the kitchen counter. She opened the envelope, expecting to see “Happy New Year” or something of that ilk. Instead, the card depicted a sad-looking little girl standing over a broken lamp. Weird, but nothing about this situation had been particularly normal. When she opened the card, she saw two words in that now-familiar handwriting:
“Behind you.”
She didn’t even have time to scream.
October 1, 2020
The Stone Canyon Trilogy
Happy October! So begins the best season of the year. For my Halloween release this year, I've compiled my three Bigfoot stories into one handy collection that includes a brand-new essay by yours truly!
Check it out!
The Stone Canyon Trilogy
Check it out!
The Stone Canyon Trilogy
September 9, 2020
101 Proof Horror
My story, The Overdue Education of Miranda Greer, was recently published in the anthology 101 Proof Horror. Right now, it's only available in paperback, but there's an ebook version forthcoming.
If you like no-nonsense teachers and evil kids, this is one to check out.
Enjoy!
101 Proof Horror
If you like no-nonsense teachers and evil kids, this is one to check out.
Enjoy!
101 Proof Horror
April 9, 2020
It Calls From the Forest Vol. 1
My story Lazarus' Respite will be appearing in the upcoming anthology It Calls From the Forest Volume 1 from Eerie River Publishing. It can be purchased here:
It Calls From the Forest Volume 1
Enjoy and stay safe! These are increasingly scary times, so I hope everyone is well.
It Calls From the Forest Volume 1
Enjoy and stay safe! These are increasingly scary times, so I hope everyone is well.
November 29, 2019
Black Friday sale!
Black Friday sale! Through this Sunday, the paperback edition of my book is $8.99 and the Kindle edition is $1.99. Get it while it's hot!
Paths of Darkness
Paths of Darkness
November 8, 2019
Castabout Literature October 2019
My story A Lamb Standing is featured in this issue. It's about Catholicism and werewolves.
Like peanut butter and chocolate, I tell ya!
Enjoy!
Castabout Literature October 2019
Like peanut butter and chocolate, I tell ya!
Enjoy!
Castabout Literature October 2019
October 28, 2019
New release: Signals: A Stone Canyon Story
My new story is out now!
If you like Bigfoot and/ or people jumping out of airplanes, you'll probably enjoy this.
Signals: A Stone Canyon Story
If you like Bigfoot and/ or people jumping out of airplanes, you'll probably enjoy this.
Signals: A Stone Canyon Story
