The Lake Part One: The Lake, #1

By M.D. LaBelle

When a tentacle emerges from the mist covering the Lake and chokes the last dying breath from the Johnson's beagle Petey, things start to go strangely wrong in the quaint little town of Haven. At first, no one notices when Jonathan Robinson disappears. However, when Anne Smith's mother Laura realizes that something is horribly wrong with her, she begins to raise questions that need answering. Find out in The Lake, if what lies deep within it is more sinister than you could ever have imagined.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.D. LaBelle
• Release date: Nov 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215550762

M.D. LaBelle

M.D. LaBelle is an international award winning, and bestselling author who has her works on all the major online book retailers and even walmart.com.  Also, they are on over 200 paid web novel platforms and several other smaller bookstores.  Her genres include horror, fantasy, thriller, romance, erotica and children's books.  Follow her on her social media accounts o Instagram, TikTok, FaceBook and Youtube.  Also make sure you visit her bookstore at https://www.mdlabelle.com/bookstore

Book preview

Chapter 1:  A Strike In The Dark

Ironically enough, when the Johnson’s 6-year-old Beagle Petey disappeared suddenly one hot August summer night, no one noticed, not a single soul.  Not even after the sun crested over the tree line and the thick fog had burned off the lake as it did every morning.  Or when Petey’s half-eaten, waterlogged carcass lay partially submerged merely a dozen feet from the sandy shoreline.

No one became alarmed at the strangled sounds of high-pitched yelps that he made as the slimy tentacle rose out of the water with barely a splash and then wrapped around his neck tightly to stop his wild barking.  As he halted his alerts to his people, it stopped for a moment to curl a second dark grey tendril in the air as if it was checking for something, before the first quickly dragged poor Petey to his watery grave. The scariest part of all of this was the fact that no more than a mile away in her log cabin home in the middle of the woods, slept Anne Smith a 15-year-old with fair skin, curly, long blonde hair, and the bluest eyes.  They are a strange shade of blue that can only be compared to the pristine waters of the Caribbean with its white sand and its greenish blue water. 

As she lay silently, she tossed and turned, dreaming of something reaching for her in the darkness.  That something was always merely just a few inches away, but it never touched her until right before she woke up suddenly.  When she bolted up in bed and sat there staring into the darkness of her bedroom, she squinted, while listening for anything to alarm her. 

All she heard was the tick tock of the grandfather clock in the hallway by her bedroom.  After cocking her head, she tried her hardest to focus on something in the corner while she waited for her vision to adjust to the shadows that were moving all around her.  As she sat there completely still, she never knew that a slimy substance oozed from underneath her in the darkness while she was dreaming. 

The mere fact that her covers had been shredded as they lay there scattered across the floor should have been an indicator that something was horribly wrong, but she never noticed.  Instead, when her mother Laura walks in with a happy little smile on her face, she pauses as she takes in the utter disarray of the room for a moment.  She looks from her daughter Anne to the hardwood flooring where the white cotton sheets are all bunched up.  Because she notices something odd about the way they look, she glances back up to her and stares for a moment while she wonders if she should even bother with it.

Anne, did you have another nightmare? she asks hesitantly as she kneels to gather up the sheet.  Before Anne ever gets a chance to answer, Laura notices that it is all torn when the cloth slips through her fingers like butter.

The sheets fall to the floor in a clump, and she becomes alarmed while glancing over to the bed where Anne still sits.  She asks in an apprehensive tone, What happened?

Startled by this, Anne looks at her mother in disbelief quickly, then asks while furrowing her brow as she begins to climb off the bed slowly, Wha-what do you mean?

The moment the heel of her foot hits the slimy substance, she slides across the hardwood floor before her bottom makes a loud thump as she bounces.  She glances up at her mother fearfully at the same time as she startles from the pain that shoots throughout her, before Laura rushes to her side and asks in concern, Oh, honey.  Are you alright?

Hesitating, Anne nods before brushing her right hand across the worn wood and feeling a cold, slippery substance on her fingertips.  While raising it to her eyes, she notices that it is translucent.  The moment she smells it she almost throws up because it reminds her of a dead fish that has been sitting for far too long.  As she stares at it intently, she rubs her thumb and forefinger together while feeling the slimy texture of the thick mucus that clings to her skin like a glove.

Ewe. She murmurs under her breath as she tries to shake it off her fingers with no success.

It clings to her as if it is her second skin, so she takes Laura’s outstretched hand carefully before standing up and then walking over to the nightstand to fetch a tissue to wipe it off with.  After pulling a single sheet out, she wrinkles it between her other hand while running it across the affected area.  Nothing, for some reason after removing the tissue, the slime is still there.

Alright.  That is gross, mom it’s still there.  She states with disgust on her face as she holds her upturned palm towards her mother so she can have a look at the foreign substance that is clinging to her skin.

As Laura leans in closer to inspect it, she takes a hold of Anne’s wrist and steadies it before investigating further. 

Hm.  Interesting. Laura murmurs to herself absentmindedly as she begins to touch the substance with her own fingertip. 

It is slippery but has the same texture of that slime I had bought you when you were younger.  Do you remember that? She asks thoughtfully while leaning in even closer to smell it.

Right away, she backs off and exclaims, Phew. As she releases Anne’s hand and then waves her own in front of