The Skin of the Lake
horror◐ MatureReyes tapped my shoulder and pointed. Through the kitchen doorway, deeper in the house, a light was moving. Not lamp-light, softer and yellow, like a candle. Underwater. We both froze. Then the light went still, as if it had noticed us watching it.
We backed out the way we came. But the kitchen had changed. The table was gone, and in its place stood the family of four, perfectly still, facing the wall. As our lights touched them, all four heads turned to us at once. None of them had faces, just smooth, blank skin where the eyes should be.
What happens next?
2 ways forwardI shoved Reyes ahead of me and we tore through the front door into open water. We surfaced, hauled onto the boat, gasping, alive. But that night, looking in the cabin mirror, I watched my own face go smooth: my eyes, my mouth sinking away under blank, clean skin, while something old and patient settled in behind it to wear me home.