"Silent Lake" by Joshua Martinez

This story is about a man trying to get away from where he belongs. The man’s name is Trent, and it all began in a small town called Shadow Mountain. The town is nestled in the mountains, overlooking Silent Lake. Shadow Mountain is famous for its ghost stories and the strange deaths that haunt the town. Shadow Mountain was founded in the late eighteen hundreds. The population here is around twenty thousand. There is plenty of outdoor entertainment here in Shadow Mountain. They have camping, rock climbing, or you can take a hike to Silent Lake. Silent Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. The lake is a dormant volcano. The last time it was active was about sixty-five-million years ago. It is also one of the deepest lakes in the world. The lake has a deep blue color to it, but when the light hits the water at a certain angle, it lights up like the sky above. After the sun has fallen behind the mountains, you can see the fog looming over the lake. Some nights, seeing the fog with the moon reflecting off the water would make me wonder if this place is actually haunted.

Some people, here in town, think Silent Lake is haunted because of the strange deaths that happened in the past. Some legends are to be believed, that Silent Lake harbors a ghost. The story holds that a young woman named Khloe was returning home from a party, years ago. Rather than getting a ride home, she took a short cut through Silent Lake. The narrow pathway took her close by the lake. A recent rain made the path slippery, and Khloe never reached home. They searched for weeks, and never discovered a body. After what had happened, some of the town’s people call Khloe the water spirit.

A few years ago, a woman named Sally was having an affair with Trent. Sally was a beautiful young woman that liked to party all the time. Some nights, driving through town, Trent would glance over to the bar to find her leaving with one or two guys. Most of the town knew that she had engaged in a number of affairs, with a few married men in town. Trent had been married for five years and couldn’t stand his wife. They rented a small apartment here in town, and they never had kids. One day one of the wives busted Sally. Apparently, Sally went to Silent Lake to have sex with Trent. Little did they know that the wife was following them the whole time. That’s why Sally is known as the Silent Lake slut.

As time went on in this small town, people would see less and less of Sally and one day she just disappeared into thin air. They started a search party, and for days, they couldn’t find a body or a clue. The first person they questioned was Trent because of the affair. He had an alibi, so they let him go. After a few weeks, they found a body washed up on the shore, but the body was so decomposed they couldn’t identify it. Some people in town thought that she was murdered by Trent, and others thought it was the water spirit. A few months passed and they confirmed that the body was Sally’s.

A year has passed, and Trent was found dead in his apartment. He left a suicide note saying, “I learned a lesson by cheating on my wife, but this dark cloud from Sally’s death follows me everywhere. I tried to get away from Shadow Mountain, but this is where I belong and this is where I am going to die.” Trent’s guilt became a ghost that haunted him day and night, much like the water spirit that haunts Silent Lake.