She slumped down on the boat, just letting it glide as her mind was drifting. Sifting through random, disconnected images as if drugged, she stared vacantly out across the water at the moonlight rippling on the surface of the lake. She trailed her hand in the water, feeling the coolness on her fingers, vaguely aware of the gentle rocking of the boat. She felt no relief at having escaped alive. She felt absolutely nothing. She was not aware of time passing. At some point, she noticed the sky turning grey with the first light of dawn. She became dimly aware of the sun's rays glinting on the lake. She seemed to hear as if from a great distance the sounds of birds singing.

Morning came and the mist began to dissipate. The woods around the lake seemed quiet and peaceful. Everything was still washed clean by the storm. The surface of the lake was mirror smooth.

A police car pulled up to the dock, lights flashing though Alice heard no siren. Two officers got out and walked down to the shore.

As if through a haze, Alice saw them cup their hands around their mouths, calling out to her but she couldn't hear a thing. She felt no sense of urgency—no desire to move. She just wanted to keep drifting out upon the lake where it was quiet and safe.

Something came bursting up out of the lake beside her boat!

She felt the spray of water. She caught a brief glimpse of a body that looked like a corpse, smelled the sharp odor of decomposing flesh, felt clammy, slimy, rotting skin as an arm encircled her and seized her, pulling her out of the boat into the water, dragging her down beneath the lake. She opened her mouth to scream.

Epilogue

Epilogue

"No! No! No!" She struggled against the arm dragging her down and suddenly saw bright light.

"Alice! Alice! Everything's alright!" the nurse said, her arm encircling Alice's chest, urging her back down onto the hospital bed.

"Come on! It's alright."

"20 milligrams of valium," the doctor said.

The nurse nodded and let her go.

The doctor bent down over the bed.

"It's all right now, Alice," he said in a soothing tone, "It's all over. Everything's over."

Alice was breathing heavily, hyperventilating. She glanced around wildly at the hospital room, not remembering how she got here.

"Roll over," said the Nurse.

Alice stared at her, eyes wide.

"Roll over," the Nurse repeated gently.

Alice rolled over onto her side and felt the nurse parting her gown, swabbing her cheek with a ball of cotton soaked in alcohol and then felt the brief sharp sting of the injection. She turned onto her back once more and saw the doctor standing there and a policeman too. He looked familiar. One of the cops from Crystal Lake.