Yesterday, while Scotty and I were out riding our bikes through the woods, we stumbled onto something neither of us ever knew about. About two or three miles from the edge of town lies a lake. It's not a small lake either. It's quite large and teaming with fish. We sat by the lakeside and watched as they jumped all over the lake. We thought it'd be a great fishing spot and by the looks of it, hardly anyone at all knows about the place. Maybe even no one.

So, Scotty and I formulated a plan to get his dads truck and fishing boat and head out to the lake this morning. We're both sixteen years old but I remain without a license. Kind of a punishment from that day my mother caught me watching internet porn and doing what sixteen year olds do while watching internet porn.

Immaturity.

That's what she called it. I call it, being sixteen. 'Michael, you're too immature to be getting your license.' So, Scotty being the kind of friend he is, puts away his car keys and hangs out with me on our bikes. Its not like there is all that much to do in this little one horse town. We had a KFC once, but it closed up. Wal Mart too. Its like, a place where things come to die.

By six in the morning, we had the boat hooked up and gingerly made our way through the woods. Scotty's dad had an old Chevrolet we thought was more than capable of making the three mile journey to the waters edge. It wasn't without its bumps and bruises but by eight, we had the old wooden boat launched and we were rowing toward the center of the lake.



MICHAEL: “I wonder if anyone knows about this place.”

SCOTTY: “I don't know, dude. I lived here all my life and I never knew it. My dad didn't either.”

MICHAEL: “You realize we're like pioneers on a new frontier.”

SCOTTY: “What?”

MICHAEL: “Think about it, homie. We're floating on a lake that generations of locals didn't even know existed. I think the fish in here could be huge!”



We settle on a spot somewhere near the center of the lake before casting our poles.



SCOTTY: “You ever here the local legend?”

MICHAEL: “What legend?”

SCOTTY: “Oh, that's right. You've only been around about two years.

“Legend has it, there's a man that lives in these woods and...”

MICHAEL: “C'mon man! Don't even start with your horse shit stories!”



Scotty is a good friend, but he definitely has an overactive imagination. He once tried to tell me that it was his father that fired from the grassy knoll. It was a wild story, but his father wasn't even born until 1967.

Myth. Busted.



SCOTTY: “No man! This one is true, I swear!”

MICHAEL: “Like the story about your dad killing JFK?”

SCOTTY: “Exactly!”

MICHAEL: “Dude, that was a fucking lie and you know it!”

SCOTTY: “You want to hear the legend or not!?”

MICHAEL: “Obviously not.”

SCOTTY: “Did you hear that?”

MICHAEL: “Hear what?”

SCOTTY: “Shhhh!”

MICHAEL: “Scott! You're really...”

SCOTTY: “No, seriously! I heard something.”



Sometimes he's too much. We're on a lake in a secluded part of the woods. There's wild animals, fish jumping. If he heard anything it was...



MICHAEL: “I think I just heard it, too.”



I'm not sure what it was. Like maybe a branch busting or something like that.



SCOTTY: “Holy shit! Did you see that guy!?”

MICHAEL: “What guy?”

SCOTTY: “Over there! He's gone now. He was standing at the shore, watching us.”

MICHAEL: “You think maybe we should leave?”

SCOTTY: “I don't know. Maybe.”

MICHAEL: “I wonder if there's a reason no one knows this place is here.”

SCOTTY: “The fish aren't biting anyway.”



We begin to row back toward the shore and Scottys truck. After several minutes we are nearing knee deep water. Scotty jumps out of the boat and starts pulling us in.



TING!



We both hear the sound and look up. We're petrified of the man we see in front of us. He's got to be six and a half feet tall, maybe more. He wears this dark black cape that hangs below his knees. His hair is jet black and pulled back. His chin goatee is shaped into a point. The sound we heard was the sound of a zippo lighter as he lights up a cigarette.



SCOTTY: “Sorry, mister. We didn't know anyone else was here.”



The man says nothing. He just stares at us while standing on the shore next to the truck.



MICHAEL: “This guy is scaring the shit out of me.”



Scotty and I look at each other for a second then look back toward the man. Except he's gone. Nowhere to be seen.



SCOTTY: “The fuck?”

MICHAEL: “I dunno. Let's just get out of here.”



We work quickly to trailer the boat, which isn't hard since he left the truck parked nearly half way into the water. Once the boat is secured we climb into the truck.



SCOTTY: “Oh shit.”

MICHAEL: “What?”

SCOTTY: “The keys are gone.”

MICHAEL: “Did you leave them in the boat? You didn't lose them in the water did you?”

SCOTTY: “No, no. Dude, I always leave them in the ignition.”



It's true. Its a bad habit he has.



MICHAEL: “Fuck! Look at that.”



Scotty and I both look through the windshield of the Chevrolet. That fucking scary dude from earlier stands in front of the truck, dangling Scotty's keys.



MICHAEL: “I think its time to call someone.”

SCOTTY: “No, just sit here. Seriously, I think he's just fucking around, intending to scare the living shit out of us.”

MICHAEL: “Well, its working.”



Scotty jumps out of the truck and walks toward the dark haired creepy dude. As Scotty nears him, the man tosses him the keys and starts walking away. Scotty climbs back in.



SCOTTY: “See, he was just fucking with us.”



He cranks the engine and it fires up. He reaches for the gear shift when a large arm comes busting through the driver side window. He grabs Scotty by the neck and rips him out of the truck through the door. I panic and quickly move to the drivers seat and place the truck in gear. I lay the pedal to the metal and dirt flies in the rear view mirror. The truck lurches forward about twenty feet before coming to a sudden stop.

The sudden stop causes me to lunge forward and smack my head off the steering wheel. I'm awake and aware of whats happening, but my senses are on dream street. I can neither act nor react. The big creep fuck opens up the driver side door and I fall out of the truck. When I land on the ground, I realize a huge chain was wrapped around the frame of the truck.

Whatever he's planning, it worked to perfection. He knew exactly what he was doing. He places Scotty's lifeless body in the bed of the truck. I fear he's dead, but hope otherwise. The man ties me up and tosses me in the bed also. I watch as he unhooks the boat and the chains from underneath, then climbs into the truck.

We start moving and I have no idea where we're going. All I see are trees whizzing by and I have no sense of direction. It's a short bumpy ride to wherever the hell it is that he's taking us. When he stops, he lowers the tailgate and grabs both Scotty and I by our hair and drags us behind him. It's painful but neither of us scream. We don't know where we're going, but I don't think we're going to like it.

He forcefully drags us down a long, narrow set of stone steps. Once we reach the bottom, he drags us into a dark room. Inside, he places me into a chair and shackles my arms to it while releasing the ropes that had me bound up.



MICHAEL: “Mister, why are you doing this?”



He doesn't answer. Instead, he places Scotty in a similar chair with similar shackles. It's dark, if not for a single torch burning against a wall, I'd see nothing. It's not long before another man joins us. This one is dressed all in black, but much shorter than the other. This man has a hood over his head.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Hello gentlemen. My name is Jacob, but you can call me the Messenger.”

MICHAEL: “What is going on?”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “What is your name?”

MICHAEL: “Michael.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Do you have a last name, Michael?”

MICHAEL: “Leonard. Michael Leonard.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “And how bout you?”



He turns to Scotty, who is not quite conscious. The man known as the Messenger slaps Scotty, bringing him around.



MICHAEL: “His name is Scott.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Mr. Leonard, I suggest you only speak when spoken to.

“Scott. Do you have a last name?”

SCOTTY: “Scott Davis.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Well then, Misters Davis and Leonard, what have you done today?”



He looks back and forth between us.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “I spoke to you, one of you may answer.”

MICHAEL: “We were doing some fishing.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Fishing. Where exactly?”

SCOTTY: “At the lake we found yesterday.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Then what?”

MICHAEL: “He brought us here.”



The large man stands in the shadows. He's hard to see, but he's watching and listening, still saying nothing.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Did you know that lake, is his lake?”

MICHAEL: “Mr. Messenger, who exactly is he?”



The Messenger looks back toward the larger man, then back at us.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Thats the King of Darkness, and that lake belongs to him.”

SCOTTY: “What's going to happen to us?”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “I suppose, that whatever happens, the end result will be the same as all the others.”

SCOTTY: “What end result?”

MICHAEL: “What others?”



The Messenger reaches for something on the table behind him. He holds it in front of my face. It's newspaper clippings. A missing family of three, one is a burned out house with four people inside. The other is a missing family of five. I've heard about all of those cases. One family disappeared just last night. At first the police were skeptical, but they now seem convinced there is a serial killer on the loose.

Oh shit.



SCOTTY: “Is he...”

MICHAEL: “Did he...”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Yes. The King of Darkness is your Saybrook killer. So, dear boys, it is time to meet your maker.”



We don't even get a chance to react. With one swing of a long blade, Scotty's head is lopped off and lands in my lap. I pissed and shit my pants at the same time. I was so shocked and so scared that I didn't even react. Instead, I stare down into the dead eyes of my best friend.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Michael Leonard. You should be so lucky. He's showing mercy by doing it quickly.”



The large man stands above me and begins sawing through my neck with a dull hand saw. It's the most painful thing I've ever felt in my life and blood squirts out of my neck, covering me in...



Fade to Darkness.