Easy Massacre

​Driving late at night recently I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in a strange land. Everything had an easy sheen, a luster of comfortable things, memories of feelings and thoughts I'd had before. After stopping at a lonely motel with a blinking vacant sign and one-armed desk clerk, I slept and dreamt of running through pools of quicksand and performing on stages in my underwear.
In the morning I went into town and the locals waved. But as soon as I passed, they'd sneer and grumble under their breath, "Outsider". I asked for a cup of coffee after petting a dog on the corner.
His name was 'Rufus' and he had just finished peeing on a fire hydrant. I asked for a latte and everyone laughed at my city ways. I asked what people like to do for fun around town.  One guy in the corner said there was a lake but I better not go up there because of an old folk tale about a beast.
I could tell they were pulling my leg so I tried to laugh along and thanked the 'barista' for my coffee as I skittered nervously out the door.  After asking the man at the hardware store for directions I was on my way.  He didn't seem to be joking when he warned me about the lake while he was scanning my sunblock and sandwiches. His warning wasn't much though.  All he said was, "uh oh."
When I arrived at the lake it was a beautiful day and local teenagers had decided to gather about and frolic.  Some were drinking beers and jumping off cliffs into the deep green water. Others were drinking beers and sitting in the shade.  Others were drinking beers and playing catch with various objects.  It was probably easier to point out those who weren't drinking beer.  There was one kid sitting by himself reading a book high up on a rock.  He would pause for a moment,  out at the lake, and then return to his paperback.
It must have been during one of these pauses that he saw something. Because I heard him shout and when I looked, he was standing bolt upright pointing vociferously towards the water.  Then someone screamed.  Splashing.  Pandemonium.
People were swimming to the shallows. People were running from the shallows to shore.   But how many were still out there?  Hard to tell.  Five? Ten?  So much splashing and yelling and running about. Then I began to notice patterns of blood.  Just smeared, impressions at first. Not enough to convince my mind as it took in a wash of activity though. Swimsuits and sand and flesh and - but no, there was more of it.
 
The popular kids had all congregated in this one shallow location. The beefy sports players & cosmetically primped cheerleaders had been floating on some sort of
commercial party apparatus with built-in water-proofed electric power for entertainment systems.  It had ballasts below and tall masts above strung with lights. While an inflatable subwoofer thumped out dance beats, its refrigerator opened up to reveal storage space for cold alcoholic beverages. The whole thing seemed to be slick with suntan lotion and glistened in the sun.
Now it glistened red.  Something flew up into the sky, spinning so rapidly a spray followed its rotation.  What was it?  As it slowed it's arc so too my horror came face to face with linear reality: a human leg.
I rubbed my sweaty palms on my pants. I had a history of shitting myself in situations like this so I clenched my butthole. I took in more of what was happening.  More limbs flying. One of them hit a young man in his face. It was as if I could see it in slow motion. His lip was quivering under his little mustache. He wore dark sunglasses and while I couldn't see the emotion in his eyes, the mayhem surrounding us reflected in his lenses.
Dear God I turn and ran.  Faster than I ever have. My feet so light they lifted me up off the sandy shore and back to my car.  Safety.  And cigarettes.
I was bizarrely still holding my sunblock and sandwiches so I tossed them and fumbled with my keys. As I backed out of the parking lot, I took one last look back at the bloody kids streaming in, their eyes either completely blank or filled with tears.
Sirens grew louder in the summer afternoon air.
Pulling onto the Interstate that day was a strange experience.  It's hard to put into words just how I felt so I won't.  That's one thing to know about me - I'm kind of lazy.