Midnight Sun

Madness & (May)hem: Day 13

Image: Polina Kuzovkova via Unsplash+

For Day 13 of my Madness & (May)hem challenge, I asked writers to tell a story about a prank gone wrong, one that ends in at least one death.

Here’s my entry…

---

I took a long sip of coffee from the paper cup in my hand as I stared into the two-way mirror.

On the other side, a kid who had just turned eighteen sat with wide eyes and fresh bruises around his face and jaw.

He had been discharged from the hospital only hours prior and was immediately brought to the station for questioning.

"What are you thinking?" my partner, Julia Fields, asked.

"I'm thinking the coffee here has gotten shittier somehow," I said, setting the cup down on the ledge beneath the window.

"I meant the case. Are you buying the story about the prank gone wrong?" she asked.

I laughed. "Prank gone wrong? Sure, but the whole part about the ritual sacrifice and the monster in the lake is where he lost me."

Julia sighed. "He won't talk to me. Do you want to try again?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll let him think he's winning me over. Maybe we'll finally get something."

Julia nodded. "Make sure the camera's recording."

"Will do."

I pushed open the door into the hall and made my way to the interrogation room. I walked in without a word and hit the record button on the camera next to the table, sitting on a tripod like a silent observer.

---

BEGIN RECORDING...

Detective Henley: "Alright kid, you want us to hear you out? I'm willing to listen."

Neil Goddard: Why now? What's changed?"

Detective Henley: "Something in the coffee. Start talking, and I'll listen. Promise."

Neil Goddard: "Alright, well, it started with the new girl at school."

Detective Henley: Abigail Ithra?

Neil Goddard: "Yeah. She showed up out of nowhere and started making friends with everyone I knew. I couldn't go anywhere without seeing her."

Detective Henley: And she's the one who organized the prank?"

Neil Goddard: "That's right."

Detective Henley: "So, how does this connect with Lake Burnham?"

Neil Goddard: There's an old legend, about a goddess who lives in the lake. She supposedly feeds every year in the summer, specifically during a midnight sun."

Detective Henley: Yeah, I've heard the legend.

Neil Goddard: Well, Abigail wanted to organize a camping trip to Lake Burnham. There were four of us: Me, my girlfriend Kelsey, her friend Samantha, and of course, Abigail.

Detective Henley: Alright, and how did Kelsey and Samantha die?"

Neil Goddard: Abigail said she was going to fake a ritual to summon the goddess. She promised us that it was all fake and that no one would get hurt.

Detective Henley: And you believed her?

Neil Goddard: Of course I did! Everyone loved her. She had this way with words, like she could get into your head. It was so easy to trust her. Too easy, if I'm being honest.

Detective Henley: Okay, so what happened then? We found traces of Kelsey and Samantha’s DNA at the campsite, but no sign of the other girl. What happened to them? Where’s Abigail now?

Neil Goddard: The ritual worked. The Goddess of the Lake. She…took them.

Detective Henley: Oh, give me a fucking break!

Neil Goddard: You know what? Fuck you, I knew you wouldn’t believe me. That’s why I filmed the whole thing.

Detective Henley: You have footage of the murder? Why are you just now telling us this?!

Neil Goddard: Because I dropped the camera back in the woods near the lake. Probably not more than ten steps from the edge of the campsite. I threw my whole bag down to lighten the load so I could run faster. I didn’t tell you because I don’t want some cop’s death on my conscience.

Detective Henley: Right, so you were worried about some detective you just met. Sure, well, I can take care of myself, kid.

Neil Goddard: YOU DIDN’T SEE WHAT I SAW! I wouldn’t wish that kind of death on my worst enemy.

Detective Henley: Whatever. I’m going to get that camera.

END RECORDING…

---

I stepped out of the interrogation room and into the hall. My partner did the same.

“You sure you want to go looking for the camera alone? It’s almost midnight,” she said.

“All good. Tonight’s another Midnight Sun, so it’ll be light out. If there’s a chance our killer is on that tape, I can’t let this wait,” I said.

She nodded. “Alright. Well, be careful.”

Living so far north used to wreak havoc on my sleep. Entire stretches of the year where it was perpetual day, or perpetual night.

Honestly, though, those things got easier with time. It’s the whole midnight sun thing that always weirded me out, though.

Imagine if the sun hit the horizon and just stayed there into the night. Everything was cast in a perpetual orange-reddish hue.

It was beautiful at first, but the longer it went on, the more unnatural it felt. Like we weren’t meant to have those colors for that long.

Midnight sun aside, I didn’t believe in monsters. That being said, I still took my gun with me. I was skeptical, not stupid.

I made my way into the woods lit by perpetual twilight, making sure to give the campsite crime scene a wide berth. East of the campsite, a short way into the woods, I spotted an orange backpack reflecting the light of the midnight sun.

Bingo.

I picked it up and saw long, thick gashes in the fabric. Like something had clawed it. Probably a bear or something.

I reached in and pulled out the camera, but when I opened the viewfinder, the LCD screen was broken.

“Fuck!” I shouted. I nearly threw the damn thing on the ground again.

I tried to turn it on and let out a long sigh when I realized it was still working. It had audio, but no video. It was better than nothing.

I hit play.

---

BEGIN RECORDING…

Kelsey: Oh my god, Neil! What the hell are you doing?

Neil: I’m just trying out this new camera.

Kelsey: Come on, don’t be weird. I told Sam and Abigail you were cool.

Neil: What’s not cool about filming?

Kelsey: Just don’t shove it in people’s faces, okay?

Neil: Don’t worry, I’ll be good.

***AUDIO CUTS***

Neil: Come on Abigail, untie Sam and take the tape off her mouth. This has gone far enough. She’s bleeding for fuck’s sake!

Abigail: *UNINTELLIGIBLE*

Neil: What the fuck?

Kelsey: NEIL! LOOK OUT, SHE’S GOT A KNIFE!

Abigail: *UNINTELLIGIBLE*

Kelsey: Get off my friend, you bitch!

Neil: Kelsey, no, get away from her!

***UNIDENTIFIED ROAR***

Neil: What the hell was that?

Kelsey: SAM! NO!

Neil: Sam! Kelsey! Jesus, FUCK! I gotta get out of here!

END OF RECORDING…

---

I turned off the camera and lowered it. My nerves were on edge. There were things about that recording I couldn’t explain.

My heart stopped when I heard a voice coming from behind me.

It wasn’t human.

I spun around and saw a young girl standing behind me. Her skin was pale, almost blue in hue. Her eyes were black like a starless sky.

A smile slowly crawled across her face. Thick black ooze ran down her teeth from her gums.

“Are you Abigail?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I go by many names. I’m not the one you need to worry about, though.”

She pointed behind me and I spun around to face the lake. As I did, I saw something rise up out of the water.

It defied all explanations. All descriptions. My eyes vibrated in my skull as I tried to focus on it, but all I could see was a blurry silhouette.

All I knew was that it was big enough to blot out the midnight sun. Its unknowable form turned day to night in the blink of an eye.

I dropped the camera onto the ground beside the backpack as tentacles the size of tree trunks whipped through the grass like unearthly snakes.

I felt something snap inside of me. It was subtle, like a crack in a windshield, but it started to spread.

My vision wavered. My senses started to unravel. The tentacles wrapped around both of my legs, but I was powerless to move.

Reality began to chip away like flecks of paint on an old house. There was a brief, but beautiful moment, somewhere between sanity and madness, where I thought I could taste stardust.

I could smell the vacuum of space.

I could feel the frosted edges of a comet on my skin.

I ran my fingertips through the surface of Jupiter, touching its swirling clouds.

The goddess of the lake…

In her form I saw a window to infinity.

It was so, so beautiful.

Then my mind snapped like a twig. The world spun as the tentacles pulled me off my feet.

Within seconds I was under water. And after that?

Nothing.

Sweet, perfect, unending abyss.

Far from the midnight sun.

---

Thanks for Reading! Here’s Your Musical Pairing

Listen to this after reading, like pairing a glass of wine with dinner.