The Pond: Part 3

When Janelle came too she was tied up and outside. Her mind groggy from whatever Dave had used to knock her out. She tried to move, but was tied down. She was bound by her hands and feet, and had been dumped in the wheelbarrow that they Dave had bought just the week before.

It was still dark out, so she hadn't been unconscious long. The lights still burnt in the house and lit the patio are enough for Janelle to see the black hole that was the pond.

"Dave?" She called her throat hoarse. No answer came, but Janelle could hear him muttering to himself. She knew where he was. "Dave, honey, it's ok. We can get through this. Let's go inside and talk." Janelle tried to keep her voice as calm as she could. The strength returning to it as her mind cleared.

She remembered the computer, the articles about the murders. Always by the pond, the wife murdered, the husband by her side having taken his own life. Janelle struggled to remain calm as she wiggled around in the wheelbarrow. She thought if she could topple it then she could get to her feet and get away. From left to right Janelle wormed her body, but just as the barrow began to tip a cold dead weight fell into her lap. Whatever it was was heavy, and sharp. She felt her flesh rip open as the weight pushed into her thighs.

The scream that escaped her mouth was inevitable. Especially when she looked down and saw the rotting cat that sat in her lap, staring at her with one milk colored eye and a blood encrusted empty socket where the second eye should have been. The cat's claws dug into Janelle's skin and causer her body to seize.

"The time is almost here my love. We shall be together again… Free." Dave's voice spoke from the base of the hole. While Janelle knew it was Dave, the voice was anything but the sweet caring tones she was used to hearing. It was a deep wet voice that resonated and gargled as if it he had a mouthful of water.

"Dave, we are free. Baby, you're scaring me. We need to get away from this place." Janelle begged.

Dave had fallen silent once more, and after a few moments Janelle heard the now familiar sound of shovels of earth being ripped from the group. A dark shadow flew from the dark depths and landed with a wet plop on the algae covered ground.

Janelle could see it working its way up the walls of the house. Something cold wrapped around her legs. She looked down and saw a thick pulsing green tower of slime reaching for her bare feet. She flinched, snatching her feet higher into the air. The cat, caught off guard gave a rotten cry and jumped from her lap, and disappeared into the hole.

Janelle took her chance and, she threw her whole body to the left, and just as the wagon began to tilt she threw herself back to the right. The wheelbarrow toppled with ease, and Janelle spilled onto the floor. The algae, while it cushioned her fall, were on her quickly. It was sticky and tried to hold her down. Janelle felt her wrist jar within the cast and gritted her teeth in agony. Thankfully her hands had been bound before her body and she managed to haul herself to her feet using the steps that led into the garden.

"Janelle, what are you doing baby?" A voice spoke from behind her. Janelle spun around and there stood Dave. His face glistened with sweat while his body was covered with algae. It looked black in the night air.

"Dave… Dave, listen to me. We need to get out of here." She whimpered. Janelle held her nerve and stared Dave in the eyes as she tried to kick off her bonds. Thankfully the knot had been a poor one, the bonds more of a precautionary measure rather than a necessity.

"Oh Janelle," Dave reached out and stroked the side of Janelle's face, tucking her hair behind her ear. He leaned in close and kissed her neck, "it's too late for that. You killed my fucking fish." With that Dave punched his wife hard in the stomach. Janelle doubled over, the wind knocked out of her. "Did you really think I wouldn't know it was you," Dave screamed. He grabbed Janelle by the hair and walked her over to the pond. "Look at what you've done." He cried, the sanity gone from his voice.

"Dave." Janelle coughed, her vision blurred, her stomach burned and she was fighting the urge to vomit.

"Shut up and look." Dave bellowed, ignoring the lights that had begun to flicker in the neighboring homes.

Janelle stood on the edge of the hole and stared into the pit. The walls seemed to emit a green glow and cast a ghoulish light down into the pit highlight the rotting corpse a sickly hue.

"Do you see? I know Ruthie, I know what you did." Dave whispered through a clenched jaw. All the while he was inching Janelle closer to the edge of the hole.

"Dave please, Dave." Janelle pleaded, but Dave didn't listen. With a strong shove he pushed his wife into the pond.

Janelle landed in the deep pool of slimy water and coughed down several mouthfuls before Dave pulled her to her feet. Over his shoulder Janelle saw the skeleton staring at them. The bones were covered in slime, and wet clumps of decaying flesh clung loosely at all the

major joints. Leathered skin had tightened the face into a hideous grin and the head hung lopsided where the neck had been snapped.

Before Janelle had a chance to speak Dave clamped his hands over her throat and began to squeeze. Striking out blindly Janelle raised the cast on her wrist and hit Dave over the head. The grip didn't lessen, and so she struck again, and then a third time. The final blow

drew blood which Janelle felt spatter against her face. Dave cried out and sank to his knees.

Janelle raised her foot, the bonds having come away when Dave had hauled her upright. She stood squarely on her husband's upper back and jumped. Her hands hooked into the soft dirt. Janelle pulled with everything she could muster and clawed her way out of the pond. Lying there in the dirt Janelle tried to catch her breath when she felt Dave's hand reach up and grab her ankle. She kicked out, dragging herself backwards on her elbows.

The ground stopped suddenly, and before Janelle could respond she tumbled from the mud onto the patio below. Dazed, Janelle got to her feet and tried to run. The ground was slippery beneath her feet, her head ached and the pain in her wrist felt as though the limb was on fire.

Once inside, Janelle slammed the door shut and collapsed on the floor in the centre of the kitchen. "Help me," She called out, unable to find anything more suitable.

With her breath caught and the ache in her wrist and head reduced to a dull thud, Janelle rose to her feet. She walked into the living room in search of her keys. Escape was the only thing in her mind.

Until the lights went out,

In the darkness the sound of the shattering glass was amplified. Janelle lost all sense of her surroundings and ran straight into the open arms of her husband."

"Dave, please." She cried weakly, but it was no use. Dave threw his wife over his shoulder and walked back outside.

"I'll teach you. Those fish were my life; they paid for all of this." He roared.

Janelle kicked and thrashed, but Dave's grip was solid. His footing however, was not. As he was stepping from the patio onto the grass he lost his balance and they both tumbled to the ground. Janelle lashed out instantly and crawled away, up onto the grass, away from the house and into the darkness.

"Ruthie" Dave called in a voice that no longer his own. "I hear you Ruthie, you can't run from me." Dave limped forward, his ankle twisted or broken from the fall.

"I'm not Ruthie." Janelle cried as she swung the shovel. The sound of his blade whistled through the darkness. Dave never saw it coming, and could not have dodged the blow under any circumstances. The side of his head split open and he stumbled backwards. Dave hovered on the edge of the pond, arms wheeling, reaching for anything.

"Janelle." He spat through his broken jaw, blood drowning his vocal chords.

"Dave?" Janelle inched closer, the light from the pond highlighting her husbands crippled form.

"Bitch," Dave spat as he grabbed her, pulling her towards him.

In the background Janelle could hear the sound of approaching police sirens, and it was then she saw the lights that had come on in almost every house on the street. It was then that she knew they would be too late.

As their weight shifted, gravity took hold and the pair fell once more into the black. Dave landed first and Janelle on top of him.

"Dave don't… please," Janelle wheezed, "I'm pregnant." She cried; blurting out the news that she had been waiting so patiently to give. Never realizing what the right time

truly meant.

"What…" Dave released his grip, the fight suddenly gone from his body. His face and voice changed almost instantly, as the spirit that had held him released its grip. "Pregnant." He echoed. "Why didn't you tell… wait, where are we?" Dave asked, looking around him for the first time.

Before Janelle could answer, a pair of hands pierced the air, erupting from the ground beneath them. They were old and gnarled the skin rotten and loose on the bone like a glove. Janelle screamed and jumped to her feet, while Dave, his eyes wide with terror was clasped in their vice like grip.

"Janelle, baby, I'm sorry." He called.

"Give me your hand." Janelle bent down and took a hold of her husband, whose body was slowly disappearing into the slime."

Dave pushed her away. "No, get out. Now." He pushed again, freeing Janelle's grip and sending her careening into the walls of the pit. "Go." He mouthed as his head began to

disappear beneath the surface. The thick green water covered his face and ran into his open mouth.

Janelle stood, frozen in horror as the watched her husband disappear, sinking into the mud without a trace. She saw his arms and legs kick out as his took his last breath, yet managed to puller herself away and climb to the surface.

In a sense of déjá vu, Janelle felt a cold hand grip her ankle just as she hauled herself over the edge and back onto the grass, which was suddenly algae free. She rolled over and saw the body peering over the edge of the hole. Its sightless face bored deep into her. The grip

tightened, but with one final kick Janelle pulled herself free and crawled away. Not stopping until she was on the patio, pushed against the corner between the wall and the shed.

It was there that the police found her, covered in dirt and half naked. Her body was so rigid with fright that when the paramedics lifted her onto the gurney she remained curled up even after the first sedative had been given.

Janelle woke to a room filled with light, the sound of happy chatter filled her ears like the sweet song of a choir and when she opened her eyes there was a group of people all gathered around her bed staring at her expectantly.

It was more than a week before Janelle was dishcarged from the hospital. Miraculously her baby was fine. The police took her statement repeatedly, and it never changed. Not in all the years that came after. Janelle never went back to the house, instead she moved in with Amanada and eventually out of the state.

The police excavated the pond, and while they indeed found the skeleton of the old woman, right where Janelle said it had been, the body her husband, the father of her child was not.