Baskadia

would like to tell you a story about my best friend. Her name was Marina. She was a true friend and she was always there for me. Whenever I had a problem, Marina was a shoulder to cry on. She was like a sister to me.

One night, I had a terrible argument with my mother and father. I called Marina and asked if I could come over. She said that she would be very happy to see me, so I went to her house.

When she opened the door, I immediately rushed in and started sobbing. She asked me what happened and I told her about the fight I had with my parents. She told me to calm down and took me into the kitchen to pour me a cup of tea. I drank it and we began to talk.

It was late and she asked me to stay overnight. With great pleasure, I accepted her offer. Marina let me sleep in her bed and she slept on the couch.

For a long time, I lay awake thinking about my parents. All of a sudden, I heard Marina cry out, “No! No! It wasn’t me!”

I jumped out of bed and ran to the living room. When I got there, I saw Marina thrashing back and forth on the floor and clutching her neck with both hands. Again she cried, “It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!”

I ran to her and began to slap her face. Marina opened her eyes and stared up at me. She had a look of horror on her face. I asked her what had happened and the only thing she would say was, “He came again…”

I put her in her own bed, poured some water into a glass and gave it to her to drink. When she calmed down, she told me a story that shocked me to my very soul.

A few days before, she and her friends had gone camping by a lake. Around here, the lake had a notorious reputation. It was rumored to be hanted. According to the legend, a man had been brutally murdered and drowned in the lake. They say it happened in the early 1980s, and ever since that time, if anyone goes swimming there at night, he will grab their legs and pull them to the bottom of the lake to drown.

When Marina and her friends arrived at the lake, it was already evening. By the time they pitched their tents and built a campfire, it was dark. The night was hot, so Marina decided to plunge into the lake for a swim. She took off her clothes and dived in naked. The water felt very good, but all of a sudden, she felt something take hold of her legs and start dragging her down. She only had time to shout, “Help!” before her head disappeared under the water.

She said that when she was flailing around in the murky depths, trying to free herself, she opened her eyes and saw something that terrified her. It was the rotting face of a dead man and she heard him whisper, “Did you kill me?”

Marina said she blacked out and when she woke up, she was on the bank. One of her guy friends had saved her. He saw her shouting and then disappear under the water and he dived in after her. His quick reactions had saved her life.

She told everybody what had happened when she was underwater, but no one believed her. They told her that she must have been hallucinating when she was drowning. I didn’t know whether or not I believed her story myself, but I could tell by the look on her face that she believed it.

She begged me to come back to see her the next evening. She was afraid to be alone at night. She needed to have someone with her every night to rescue her from the clutches of this vile creature. I promised her that I would come back the next night. We spent the night together in her bed and in the morning, I got up, took a shower and went home.

That evening, when I was getting ready to go back to Marina’s house, my mother came to my room and asked if I would babysit my little brother for a couple of hours while she was out. I agreed, but I warned her that I could only stay for two hours. She got dressed and left. I called Marina and said that I would see her in two hours. She said she would wait for me.

Two hours later, my mother still had not come home. I started to get nervous. Another hour passed, but still nobody came. I took out a book and began to read my brother a bedtime story. After half an hour we both fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of keys opening the front door. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the sun was already shining through the windows. I rushed to the door and saw that there are parents. They told me that in the movie, they met friends and went to visit them.

“How could you do that?” I said and I burst into tears. I ran to the phone and dialed Marina’s phone number, but there was no answer. I got dressed quickly and rushed over to Marina’s house. When I got to her door, I saw that it was stnding open and there were a lot of people in uniform coming in and out of her apartment.

I pushed my way inside and before anyone could stop me, I saw Marina. She was lying on the floor beside her bed, covered with a sheet. I ran over to her, but someone grabbed me by the arm and said, “What are you doing here?”.

I turned my head and saw that the hand holding me belonged to a policeman. I told him I wouldn’t say anything until I knew what happened. He told me that Marina had died. They thought she had been strangled. After they questioned me, the police took my fingerprints and released me. I ran home, shut myself in my room, lay down on the bed and began to cry.

Three days later, I attended Marina’s funeral. Every day, I go to the cemetery to visit her. I bring her favorite flowers and lay them on her grave. I still can’t believe my best friend is gone.

The strangest thing of all was what I found out from her mother. She said Marina wasn’t strangled at all. The police did an autopsy and found 4 liters of water in her lungs. Somehow, while she was sleeping soundly in her own bed, Marina drowned.