Chapter 9

The wind outside made the house creak as everyone stayed shockingly quiet, waiting for Dottie to tell them her story.

"The girl you've seen, she's my sister." She got out a kerchief and dabbed the tears from her eyes, "She was the most free spirited and lively girl you could have ever met. After my uncle passed in England, we moved to the US in hopes of starting over. An aunt of my father lived here in Pine Falls, so we moved in and my mom taught French at the school here in town, and we quickly established our roots here."

They listened closely to the following story, their emotions changing with Dottie's. Dani had been in high school at the time, and had a best friend named Julie. Her and Julie had gone to a high school party at the local beach on Dove Lake. Dani had been missing for roughly six days when the police found her body in the lake, eyes gouged out, and throat so slit it was almost a decapitation.

"Julie was there when they pulled her out. She fainted shortly after and had a… vision. She told me Dani had dragged her down into the lake, but she was different. Demonic, almost. Julie wasn't the same after that and got sent to an asylum." Dottie explained.

"After Dani died, we got the coroner's report. She had been kept alive for 5 days, and had symbols carved all over her body. The police said it looked to be some sort of cult sacrifice. That something like this had been happening for two years now, only most girls just go missing, only two other girls' bodies had turned up."

Dottie explained that it wasn't just locals plagued by this horrifying curse, hikers, campers, horseback riders, they would all go missing. The other two bodies had also turned up in the lake, in the same condition, but most girls were never found. She also let them in on a police theory- it was not just a cult. They believe they had a serial killer from outside of the town that used the dense outer woods to operate. Some skeletal remains had been discovered by a hiker- all children's remains.

The group listened in awe, this was all stuff you would hear on a T.V. show or read in a book. They couldn't believe so much history had happened in this little town.

"How does this help explain our experiences?" Nessa butted in.

Dottie gave a long, expressionless stare, "Hold on, young one. I'm getting there."

Nessa shrank at the clear disapproval at her interruption as Dottie continued.

"After my sister died, my parents couldn't handle living here, so they brought us up to Canada, where I have lived for the past 50 years. It wasn't until within the past couple that Julia has reached out to me, telling me things were getting bad around here. Feeling a need to be close to where my sister was buried, I moved back."

Dottie continued, telling them about how the tourist frequency had gone down tremendously, that it used to be a busy town before people started seeing 'the drowned girl'.

"It was my sister they were describing. I was heartbroken in knowing she was stuck here. When I moved back, however, she stayed close to me. I see her out there, by the tree line, every morning and every night." Dottie pointed to the thick line of trees visible outside of her large picture window.

Kasem looked concerned, "Well, that's creepy."

Dottie shrugged, "So now you know what I know. No one has gone missing in about 5 years, so the cops think the cult moved on."

"She told me to leave when I dreamt of her." Dave spoke up, "what do you think that means?"

"Given that was actually her you saw, and not you misremembering and projecting an image to relate to your memory." Kasem said.

Everyone just stared at him. "Okay sorry! Just trying to keep things skeptical here." He threw his hands in the air.

"What did your dream consist of?" Dottie asked, thoughtfully.

As Dave described his horrifying experience, Dotties' eyes grew large. Her face went pale as she sat down and clutched the edge of the recliner.

"Are you okay Dottie?" Adanna asked, rushing over to her with a glass of water she had left on the small table in front of them.

"Oh, yes dear, thank you." Dottie took a sip of the water, "I haven't heard of anyone having that dream since the cult seemed to disappear."

"Are you sure?" Nessa pressed.

"I was hoping this wasn't related," Dottie anxiously wrung her hands together. "A backpacker went missing a couple of weeks ago. Police found no evidence of her whereabouts and the case went ice cold- fast."

Adanna swallowed hard and grasped onto Daves' hand. Nessa and Kate worriedly settled into their shared couch. Kasem just snorted and looked away.

"That can only mean one thing." Kate said

"The cult is back."

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Kasem and Dave looked at each other. Kasem was the first to speak up after a long moment of silence.

"I think we're jumping to conclusions here. Were in the middle of nowhere with vast mountains a few miles outside of town. It's very possible the hiker got lost out there."

Dave nodded, "And the dream could have simply just been stress and hearing the stories from other people around here."

Dottie's face started to return to a normal color, "These young men are right, I believe we're jumping to conclusions, girls."

Kate didn't look convinced, but Nessa and Adanna eagerly agreed.

"You're right, we're entirely over reacting." Adanna calmed down. "This is all purely coincidental. Especially since what Nessa saw was not terrifying at all."

Kate nodded, "Great point, if the cult was back, I feel like we'd know about it via the news." She relaxed her posture.

Twenty minutes later they were thanking Dottie for her hospitality and sharing her story with the group.

"It was nice to talk about Dani, I was so young when I lost her, sometimes I forget what her laugh sounded like. But, talking about her keeps her memory alive."

Kate quietly slipped out with the others, not saying a word. She didn't want to say what she was thinking exactly. Dani's memory was alive and well, because Dani is still here, bound to the town that was the cause of her violent death. And she wasn't going to let anyone forget her.

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