Beneath The Waves of Asylum Lake – try it before you buy it!

As is the case with most daring adventures planned at the spur of the moment, the act of doing the deed rarely measures up to the anticipation.  Swimming out to the float to light off fireworks seemed like a great idea while standing on the shore near the warmth of the fire, but actually doing it had some serious drawbacks. For one, climbing out of the warm water into the cool air was more than a little uncomfortable.  The wind had also picked up, bringing with it low hangin clouds that suffocated the moon's pale light. The clincher, however, was that nobody had thought to bring a lighter or matches.

"So let me see if I have this right," Tammy asked as she stood shivering on the edge of the float with April, teeth chattering and water dripping from her hair. "You dragged us all the way out here to light off fireworks and you didn't even bother to bring a lighter?"

Brady was smart enough to know a rhetorical question when he heard one. Sadly, however, Jeff stumbled right in. "How was I supposed to know that aqua-man here," jerking a thumb in Brady's direction, "would swim us all out here? I figured we'd light 'em from the shore." He took a step forward and reached for her, offering his most innocent smile. "Besides, it's really not that bad once you get used to it."

Tammy responded with a look of disgust and more chattering teeth, but she took his hand and let him bring her into his arms. She buried her head in his chest as he stroked her arms and shoulders in an attempt to generate some heat.

Smooth, Brady thought. His plan to impress the ladies with a romantic fireworks display out on the lake was blown, excuse the pun. But sure enough, Jeff had turned misfortune to his advantage. He stood there watching them, one hand folded across his chest for warmth and the other still clutching the trash bag full of fireworks. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice April's approach.

"Well played. Most guys would have been happy cuddling by the fire, but not you. You maroon us out here in the middle of the lake." Smiling now, she moved closer, "All part of your master plan, I suppose?"

Brady could see the water running down her goose bumped arms and legs. He had seen her in a bikini before, but always safely in the light of day. Out here, at night, she looked…different. His first inclination was to take a step back, but his heels were already at the edge.  "I – uh – um – I," came his stammering reply as he fidgeted with the bag and his words.

She leaned in and pressed her shivering lips to his, sending warmth through him like a bolt of lightning. The last thing he remembered before closing his eyes to her kiss was the touch of her hands to his face and the passing thought that even without a lighter, these fireworks were amazing.

A short time later, the fireworks from their make-out session behind them, Brady and April sat together. She rested her head on his shoulder. Behind them Jeff and Tammy were also cuddled – the sound of their conversation drowned out by the splashing of the water against the barrels supporting the float. The prediction of stormy weather appeared to be coming true as the raft rolled on the wind-blown and choppy surface of the lake.

"I wish the wind would just blow us back," April snuggled closer into Brady's chest. "I really don't want to get back in that water. I just want to fall asleep right here in your arms."

Brady didn't blame her. The air had cooled at least ten degrees since they had been out here and there was no telling how much colder the water would feel.  He had already resigned himself to the fact that the night was going to end with a very cold swim back to the shore. Fortunately, however, there was a warm fire waiting for them. He could see it flickering in the distance.

Without warning a jagged finger of lightning splintered across the sky.  It was quickly followed by a clap of thunder that shattered the silence and swept over the lake like the blast from a shotgun. Jeff jumped to his feet. "Holy shit – that was close!"  He seemed almost excited by the prospect of re-enacting Ben Franklin's famous kite and key experiment. "Look at the hair on my arm, dude – its standing straight up!" He held out his arm begging for someone to notice. "That-was-fucking-awesome," he screamed into the night and raised his arms into the air, as if urging the storm overhead for an encore.

Tammy grabbed him by one outstretched arm and spun him around. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't being in the middle of a lake like the last place you want to be during a thunderstorm?"

As the reality of her comment sunk in, Jeff lowered his arms and sheepishly looked from Tammy's face and over to Brady and April as they rose to their feet. "Maybe we should just – um – head back," he added and jerked his thumb back in the direction of Brady's house.

"There's really nothing to worry about," Brady said, and then slouching slightly as he stood next to April he added. "As long as the Amazon Woman here," nudging her with his hip, "is out here with us we're safe. Lightning always strikes the tallest tree, right?" He knew April would one day regret that half-inch advantage she held over him. For the briefest of moments he stood with that lopsided grin on his face – the one that his mother claimed always meant mischief.

Her response was quick and not altogether surprising. The Amazon Woman easily shoved him off the edge of the float and into the water.  His lop-sided grin quickly fell from his face as he plunged beneath the waves. He sunk like a stone.

Brady found himself in the lake's frigid grasp, his very life being squeezed from his lungs as he sank further into the darkness.  It seemed an eternity that he fell. He knew from the amount of chain it had taken his father to secure the float that the lake bottomed out at nearly forty feet; Brady had the sensation that he was fast approaching its limit. And then, just as quickly as he had descended, Brady was belched out and upward as if the lake had thought better of swallowing him whole. He sputtered and splashed as he broke the water's surface.

"Brady! Brady!" He heard Jeff's frantic call from the darkness somewhere to his left.  The storm had finally broken and sheets of raining were ricocheting off the lake's choppy surface. The water ran from his hair and into his eyes nearly blinding him to the cries of his friend.  As he felt the air rush back into his lungs he responded to Jeff's calls with a stuttering whisper that was no match to the sound of the wind blowing across the lake, "H-h-ee-re.  O-ov-e-rr…he-e-re."

Without warning, the lake reconsidered and, with its icy tentacles, pulled Brady back down beneath its surface. What little air was left in his lungs emerged as a silent bubbling scream as he struggled against the force that was pulling him deeper into the inky blackness.  His last thought before giving into whatever awaited him at the bottom of Asylum Lake was of April…the taste of her cherry Chapstick…and fireworks.

The clouds, which had hung gray and threatening most of the night, fully opened above him, sending sheets of rain across the once placid surface of the lake.  The drops washed over Brady and traced salty lines as they ran down his face.  He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and shook his head in disbelief as he realized the rain was mixed with his tears.

Brady turned to find Gruff standing in the shallow waters near the shore. The dog's tail was tucked and its eyes were locked onto some distant point out on the horizon.  Brady could read the anxiety in Gruff's body language.  A slow and silent spark of lightning arched through the clouds overhead, and for the briefest of moments the asylum across the lake stood illuminated against the menacing backdrop of the surrounding hills and trees.  The sight made Brady's skin crawl.

The feeling was familiar and it brought his thoughts back to that night on the float, and more specifically to what he had experienced beneath the waves. Quickly, his thoughts jumped forward to the next thing he had remembered after surrendering to the cold darkness of the water – waking up two days later at a hospital in Traverse City, courtesy of a twenty-five minute aero-med flight.  The helicopter ride and everything else in between and right after was lost or at least buried in a way that he hadn't quite found a way to uncover…yet. It gnawed at him from just below the surface of his memory.

Maybe this journey would be little more than a failed attempt to reconcile himself with the painful memories from his past but, as he stood at the end of the dock and gazed out through the wind and rain of a summer storm into the muted grays of the midnight hour, Brady felt both oddly cleansed and at the same time as if he were on the verge of something great…and terrible. It brought neither a feeling of fear nor comfort, but turning to make his way back to the Up North House, he knew at least the few remaining hours of this night would be filled with dreams of a far happier and less complicated time.

As Brady began the trek back from the sandy beach, he was unaware that his was not the only spirit searching for answers and in need of cleansing. Mere yards away, strewn along the rocky and forgotten bottom of Asylum Lake, the unremembered were growing restless.

 

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