The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

No Ripples for the Faithless
by Kathleen McCluskey

The dock had no business still standing. Its boards were warped into crooked ribs, nails soft with rust, planks missing entirely so the water showed through like black glass. It leaned away from shore as if ashamed of what it had seen. Its spine was broken in three places, yet it still endured. The lake around it lay unnaturally smooth, a pale skin stretched tight over something silent and patient. Even on windy nights, even when rain needled the surface elsewhere, the water around the dock never rippled.

   The men came.

   Her husband had brought her here once, years ago, before the lake knew her name. He laughed as he kissed her neck, his breath thick with gin and promises. The dock had been sound then, solid enough to trust and the water had answered the moon’s tides like an obedient lover. He told her that this place was theirs, where no one watched and nothing mattered. When  she told him she was pregnant, his smile tightened like a knot.

   They say she slipped. They said the boards were slick with algae and rot. They said no one heard her scream because the fog rolled in thick and sudden, swallowing all sound. What they did not say was that his hands were on her shoulders pushing her forward. What they do not say is how long he stood there afterward, watching the lake close over her head, the surface smoothing itself as if she had never existed at all.

   The water kept her.

   It took the air from her lungs and replaced it with cold. It combed her hair with weeds and threaded her fingers with silt. When she stopped fighting, when her heart realized no one was coming, the lake gave her something back. It gave her silence so deep that it sang. 

   She rose at night.

   Not climbing. Not swimming, simply rising. She glided over the surface without breaking it. Where her feet should have disturbed the water, there was nothing. No wake. Moonlight clung to her skin, turning it pale and luminous, her hair streaming behind her like ink turned milk.

   She learned the sounds men made when they thought they were alone. The careless humming, the slurred endearments spoken into phones far enough away that the wives wouldn’t hear. She learned the weight of desire and guilt balanced together, how easily they tipped. When she sang, it was not loud. It did not need to be. Her song slipped into the soft areas behind the eyes, into memories of first kisses and locked doors. Into the ache of wanting to be forgiven without even asking.

   They followed her song onto the dock.

   The boards groaned under their weight, splintering a little more each time but the men did not notice. Their eyes stayed on her shape ahead of them in the fog, a promise of skin and secrecy. When they reached for her, their fingers only touched cold air. She stepped backward, always backward until the dock ended and the lake waited.

   She did not push them. She simply showed them the truth.

   The moment stretched, heavy and terrible, as their understanding bloomed. Then the men lunged too far or the boards gave way and the water opened its mouth. It dragged them down without a splash, without a cry. Beneath the surface, hands reached up to claim them. Bloated, pale hands, wedding bands still clinging to softened fingers. Bodies gathered there, a garden of the faithless, anchored by shame and silence.

   Sometimes, when the fog is thick, people swear they see a woman standing at the end of the dock, waiting. The lake lies smooth as glass, revealing nothing. No ripples. No wind.

   Only a song drifting on the mist, calling you to come a little closer.

Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!