The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek(66)

No one spoke for a moment. For the first time that night, Rex noticed the ever-present hum of the cicadas. “Anybody have something sharp?” he asked.

“My house key…?” Leif said, taking it out of his pocket.

“That could work.” Rex extended his hand toward Leif. “Scratch me. As hard as you can.”

“Really?” Janine asked, tempted to stop filming. “This is what’s happening right now?”

Leif placed the uneven side of the key on Rex’s palm.

“You ready?” Leif asked.

“Just do it,” Rex said, closing his eyes.

“Okay, three…two…one!” Leif jabbed the key sharply down and dragged it across Rex’s palm.

“Ow!” Rex shrieked, holding his hand and hopping in place. “That was good, that was good.” But when they examined the hand in the faint light, it wasn’t. “You didn’t even break the skin!”

“I think the palm is too meaty,” Leif said. “We should do it to the back of your hand.”

“Oh my god,” Janine said, shaking her head. “I don’t think I can stay here for this.”

“Okay, try it,” Rex said, extending his hand palm down and biting his lip.

Leif skipped the countdown altogether, whacking the key’s teeth down and across Rex’s knuckles with a focus of purpose and energy not unlike his direct hit on Rex’s testicles earlier that week. Doling out this physical punishment was apparently releasing some of his anger. “Geez!” Rex said, gritting his teeth and flapping his hand wildly back and forth.

“I think that one was good,” Leif said.

Rex held his hand close to his face and identified a thin line of red along his knuckles. “I’m bleeding. I’m bleeding!” He waved his hand around triumphantly.

“Congratulations,” Janine said.

“All right, I’m gonna do this,” Rex said to himself, walking toward the water, Janine begrudgingly keeping her camera trained on him.

Donna took a few more steps away from them as Rex crouched down at the edge of the spring—trying not to shake from the combination of pain and terror still coursing through him—and dipped his hand in, just as he’d seen the robed woman do.

He stared at the water.

“Does it feel like anything’s happening?” Leif asked.

It felt like his slightly bleeding hand was surrounded by water.

“Nah,” Rex said.

He hadn’t really been expecting it to work.

Janine pulled her eye away from the viewfinder and sighed. “Not to be a buzzkill,” she said, “but I don’t think…”

“You don’t think what?” Leif asked.

“It’s working,” Janine said, her eyes glued to the middle of the spring, which had begun to light up from below just as Rex and Leif had described: a blue glow, pale at first, then brighter as it expanded outward.

“Yeah,” Rex said, still staring down at the spot where his own hand was submerged. “I don’t think this is how it works.”

“No,” Leif said. “Look.”

The bubbles had started, and within ten seconds, the entire spring was at full gurgle, illuminating a bright, otherworldly blue.

Rex jerked his hand out of the water.

“Wow,” Janine said. “This is…wow.”

“Shouldn’t you be filming this?” Leif asked.

“Oh, right. My bad.” Janine hastily pulled the camera back to her eye.

Rex was shocked, his mind racing to find a logical explanation for what had just transpired. But from this close, he couldn’t see any sources of light in the spring. It was like the glow was coming from the water itself.

This wasn’t just a cult with fancy technology. This was something bigger. Something unknowable.

There was a stifled sob from behind them, and they all turned to see Donna stumbling back toward the woods. “Oh, shit,” Janine said. “I should…Yeah, I should go check on her.” She started to run before remembering what was in her hand. “Watch this for me for a second,” she said, handing the pole and camcorder over to Rex. “Just keep rolling!” She ran after Donna.

Leif looked to Rex, who continued to stare at the water in disbelief.

“Do you…” Leif began. “Do you think we should start filming under the water?”

“Sure,” Rex said, shaking his head like he’d just been awakened from a dream.

He turned the pole over, the camera now upside down, just off the ground. He leaned over the edge of the water and dipped it below the surface. It hit bottom before the lens was even submerged.

“I think you’re gonna have to get in the water,” Leif said. “Take it a little deeper.”

Rex looked at him, his face a portrait of dread.

Leif had never seen Rex like this before. If he was scared to get back in the water, then Leif definitely didn’t want to go in.

But then he remembered Alicia. They were here to make sense of her death, to potentially save other kids. And, at this moment, with his normally brave best friend paralyzed with fear, he was the only one left to do anything about it.

“I’ll go,” he said, surprising himself. “Gimme the camera.”