He shined a light outside the window...and saw nothing. There was nothing beside the car, nothing on the road. Growing bolder, he opened the door, even though the sounds continued. He thought perhaps his friends from town had tied up a pack of dogs nearby, as a joke or laugh at his expense.

He stepped outside of the car. Suddenly, the sounds stopped entirely. The young man looked around and movement from the lake caught his attention. There, at the edge of the water, was someone crawling out.

The young man was frozen in place. Out of the lake crawled an old woman, her hair white and stringy and sullied with lake muck. She pulled herself onto the shore with bone-like, rotting fingers, and the eyes that peered out of her bloated face were blood red.

The young man tried to back away but his body wouldn't move. He opened his mouth but no scream came out, no matter how he tried. The dead woman in the lake rose to unsteady feet, dripping water and mire as she came toward him. He couldn't look away. The spectral woman was coming closer and closer, her mouth open in a silent scream, her corpse arms open to grab him....

And suddenly he heard his name called from behind. It snapped the young man out of his shock, and he looked over his shoulder. Coming down the road and carrying a lantern was one of his friends. He called out a warning and pointed to the woman from the lake...but she was gone.

All that was left were wet, muddy marks in the ground from the lake to the road.

[Lust sits back, finished with the tale and rather pleased with her own story telling abilities.]