Beowulf, a Horror story of modern Proportions

Lake Danes in upstate New York was a smaller lake, only about 15 miles wide, and several leagues deep, in the center of this lake there is a island only about a mile and a half wide. But this island and that lake held many deep and dark secrets. Ones that were better left untold. The story I'm about to tell you is one hundred percent true, I was there and saw the whole thing it's something that I will never ever forget.

My name is Willa, I was 19 when it happened. Me and several of my friends were invited by a girl named Carrie's boyfriend to come up to Lake Dane with several of his friends. We had just finished the spring quarter and wanted to celebrate. It was early on the morning of June 6th, I remember pulling into the lot outside of the student union, we had gotten there about 15 minutes early so we had to wait for the boys. They arrived and I saw that there were 8 boys and only 5 girls. I knew most of them from class, we went to a small liberal arts school about 20 minutes outside of Albany. There were Carrie and her boyfriend Jeff, Christine, Raoul, Coufeyrac, Christine's friend Meg, Mimi, her boyfriend Roger, Tony, Christian, and finally Beowulf, it was his dad's boat that we were taking up to the lake. I had known Beowulf since he and I were little kids, both of us having grown up on the same street in Albany. When we were younger some of the other boys liked to make fun of me, one day they were chasing I was about eight and Beowulf was ten, when they caught me they were pulling on my hair when suddenly he was there and punched on of the bigger boys in the nose, ever since then we've been best friends. Most of the girls I knew wondered why I never tried to pursue him romantically when we were older, I would always give them the same answer.

"I'm just not that into him that way." Then whatever girl asked the question would quickly go and find him and proceed to ask him out. Lets just say Beowulf was very tall, blond, and handsome. I would always find my self laughing at the girls who chased him around. Always getting disappointed when he said no. He always said no.

Now we were on our way to Lake Dane, I was in Beowulf's pick-up truck with Coufeyrac, Christian, and Meg. Everyone else were in Jeff's van.

"Willa how much farther till the turn-off?" Beowulf asked me, I pulled out my phone and checked Google maps.

"It should be coming up in a couple of miles." I replied. Meg looked out the window,

"Did anyone remember to check the forecast before we left, cause it looks like it may rain." Coufeyrac leaned forward and peered out.

"I think Meg's right it looks like it could rain." He said. Christian had his phone out and was checking the weather.

"My phone says it'll be nice at the lake. Shouldn't be anything to worry about." Even now I could see the clouds breaking up. I looked back at my map.

"Ok the turn off should be coming up on your left." Beowulf turned off onto the road marked Lake Dane. Soon we were going deep into the woods the trees had an ominous look to them as we climbed up higher into the mountains. Soon the lake came into view, the solitary island in the dead center of the lake looking ominous, we pulled into the deserted parking lot. I thought that it was strange that we were the only people there.

"Beo, isn't it weird that we are the only people here on a summer day." I asked him when we were done getting the boat in the water. He nodded,

"It's a little weird, but I don't think it's anything to worry about." He smiled down at me,

"Think of it like this we get the whole lake to ourselves." He could not have been more wrong.

We spent the rest of the day boating around the lake. Roger tried very unsuccessfully to wake board while his girlfriend Mimi was a pro. Late in the afternoon Christine pointed out the storm clouds that seemed to come from no where. Ten minutes later it was a down pore. They were to far away from land to go to the dock when Jeff pointed out that they were near the little island and they could wait out the storm there, we all agreed that to that plan and soon Beowulf was steering the boat towards the island. Soon we had tied the boat to a tree and we were on the island. In the rain it had an extremely ominous look to it, the trees were dark and towered 50 ft. high. With the rain falling down and the tree line, it felt as though it didn't want us here. Like it had a secret that it didn't want us to find.

Much to several protests from me, Christine, and Carrie everyone voted to go and explore the island. As usual I stuck close to Beowulf. Soon we were deep in the island, the rain was coming down in buckets luckily the tree canopies were so thick the rain barley came through. Soon we saw a clearing in the distance. When we entered it we were amazed at what we saw, it was probably the biggest mansion I had ever seen. It was three stories high and made of dark stone all of the windows were dark. How we didn't see it from the lake I'll never know. As usual our curiosity got the better of us and Beowulf knocked on the door. When no one answered he checked and saw it was unlocked.

"Hello, is anyone home?" Beowulf called.

"Who cares if any ones home I want out of this rain." Mimi said pushing Beowulf and I out of the way. Soon everyone was standing in the very large foyer. It was now obvious that the house was abandoned as soon as everyone had entered. There was a thick layer of dust covering everything. Beowulf walked over to the crest on the wall and rubbed the dust off a crest,

"Heorot Hall." Beowulf said.

"Why does that name sound familiar to me." Coufeyrac said looking around.

"It's weird how everything has just been left behind." Christine said looking around. She was right, the group had moved from the foyer into the parlor and from what they could tell who ever lived in the house had just dropped everything and left. I walked to a pair of broken French doors behind one of dust covered couches they opened up to a small patio. I noticed something on the floor and knelt down, there was some sort of dark staining on the floor, at first I thought it was paint, I got my phone out and used it as a light. The dark stain was red, there was also spatter on the walls. I got an extremely uneasy feeling in my stomach.

"Guys, you may wanna come take a look at this?" I stood up as every one gathered around me. Beowulf knelt beside the stain and looked up at me.

"Blood." I say. He nodded in agreement.

"Guys." Coufeyrac whispers, "Now I remember were I've heard the name before."

We all turned to look at Coufeyrac. I remember his eyes filled with fear as he told us the story,

"About 15 years ago, this place was the vacation home of some billionaire philanthropist. And well he wanted to clear a path from his house to the lake. So he hired a local lumber jack to do it. This lumber jack's name was Grendel," Coufeyrac paused obviously trying to remember the rest of the story. It was then that I noticed that Jeff and Carrie were no longer standing with us.

"Where's Carrie and Jeff?" I asked. Beowulf shook his head.

"Were do you think." He said motioning to the stairs at the end of the hall. I knew exactly what they must be doing, booty call. Carrie was my room mate so I was used to it. I turned back to Coufeyrac who was finishing his story.

"I don't remember the details my dad told me, but somehow they royally pissed Grendel off and he killed them all with his hatchet."

"So this guy is in jail, right?" Tony said. Coufeyrac shook his head.

"They never caught him." Everyone just looked at Coufeyrac expecting him to start laughing and telling them it was all a joke. He looked dead serious.

"Wait," Meg said,

"Your saying that there is a psychotic lumber jack some were out there." Coufeyrac just shrugged. I had, had enough of this.

"This is ridiculous I'm going back to the boat." I said. Christine looked at me nodding in agreement.

"This is stupid. Look it's even stopped raining lets go." Everyone nodded. It was also decide that they would leave Carrie and Jeff, who would most likely come running when they hear the boat. With that we all walked back towards the boat though the whole time I felt that someone or something watching us. Lurking in the shadows.

When we got to the beach, we were met with a shocking sight. Our boat was gone.

"Where the hell is the boat?" Raoul asked. The boat was gone. They couldn't even see it. Beowulf knelt down and picked something up, it was the rope we used to tie the boat to the base of a tree. I knelt next to him.

"This was cut." He said holding it up to all of us.

"Shit." Roger said. Suddenly we heard an ear piercing scream coming from the direction of Heorot Hall. I looked up at Beowulf and we all started to run back to the mansion. We all ran so fast none of us noticed that we had left Christen behind, he was not the most athletic of the group. We got to the house in five minutes flat, the first thing I noticed was that the door was open I could have sworn we left it closed when we left. Beowulf and I sprinted up the stairs looking for Jeff and Carrie, we noticed the room at the end of the hall's door was opened slightly.

"Carrie, Jeff. are you guys all right?!" I called, there was no answer. We slowed to a walk. I looked up at Beowulf his jaw was set as we reached the door he paused, slowly he pushed the door all the way open. What we saw in that room shocked us all, I stifled back a scream. I heard someone faint behind me and looked to see Christine lying on the floor, Meg trying to wake her up with Roul. Inside the room Carrie lay on the bed her body contorted in ways it shouldn't, her head was nearly clean off her head, the only thing that kept it attached was a piece of skin, there were cut marks all over her body. Jeff lie on the floor his arm was on the other side of room next to him there was mass of something, I guessed at what it was. There was blood every were, so much I could smell it. The window on the other side of the room was wide open. It was obvious that someone else was with us, and he wanted us dead.

We closed the door to the room were Carrie and Jeff were. None of us wanted to look at the carnage inside. It was when we were down stairs that we realized that Christian wasn't with us. Tony and Raoul both volunteered to go look for him. We had decided no one will go any were alone. I already had a feeling about how they would find him. After they left we broke some of the furniture and lit a fire. The sun had set, they would have to spend the night on this island. About two hours later we heard something outside Beowulf and Coufeyrac went to check it out. They came back with Roul he was barley conscious, his shirt was ripped and there was a large gash across his chest. We lay him on one of the couches,

"Raoul what happened?" Christine asked leaning down to him.

"We.. found Christian… his.. head… was gone." We all were silent for a minute.

"Then what happened?" Mimi asked.

"He.. just… appeared. Behind Tony.. he was dead before he even looked behind him… I ran… but not.. before… he…" Raoul motioned to his chest. The bleeding still had not stopped, they knew that he was bleeding out, dying. Christine took Raoul's hand.

"It'll be ok just relax."

"Christine… please…could… you kiss me…?" Christine nodded tears in her eyes. Every one at school had known that Roul had a crush on Christine, but Christine was in a relationship with a boy named Erik, a musician. Christine leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to Raoul's, when it was over he looked at her, smiled then he was gone. Roger, Coufeyrac, Beowulf, and I carried Raoul's body into one of the spare rooms, we could hear Christine crying from downstairs.

When we got back downstairs we all just sat there like we were waiting for Grendel to come and kill us.

Eventually we decided that someone would stand guard while the rest of us rested. Mimi took the first watch at the back door and Beowulf would take watch at the front door. The rest of us would hide in the kitchen, but before we did anything, we searched the house for weapons, I grabbed a carving knife from the kitchen so did Christine, Meg had a fireplace poker, Roger had found an old shot gun and some buck shot, Coufeyrac and Mimi both had furniture legs, and that left Beowulf who had nothing.

"I'll be fine." He told us. We believed him. Then we settled in for the night.

I don't remember what time I had fallen asleep. I remember waking up under the kitchen table hearing a noise that sounded like a wounded animal slowly dying. Suddenly it was cut off. I was about to move when someone pulled me back under the table and covered my mouth with their hand. I looked up and saw Coufeyrac looking worriedly towards the back door. It suddenly opened and someone entered. It was not Mimi. From under the table all we could see were the guy's boots, they were covered in mud and something darker. Suddenly he lowered something, a hatchet covered in blood, it was still dripping.

"Come out, come out where ever you are." His voice sent chills through my body, It sounded so much like nails being dragged over a chalk board.

"I know your in here, I can smell you." I held my breath, Coufeyrac kept his hand over my mouth. I knew if he moved it I would some how make a sound. He was now right in front of where we were. Just as I thought he would bend down and see us. But suddenly there was a slight whimper from some were near the door that led out of the kitchen. He walked away towards the other noise. I looked up at Coufeyrac he nodded silently as if he knew what I was thinking. I tightened my hand around my knife, suddenly a scream filled the kitchen, but then ended abruptly I heard a door open and close. Silently I got out from under the table, Coufeyrac close behind me I heard Roger climb out of the cabinet he had been hiding in. He quickly went to the back door and opened it only to close it quickly. He looked over at us, we already knew what was out there. I walked over to the pantry by the door where the scream had come from and peaked in. Christine was lying in a pool of blood, her throat sliced open so deep I could see her neck bones, dead eyes looked my way. I closed the door and turned back to Roger and Coufeyrac. I felt tears running down my cheeks, Christine had been one of my closest friends.

"Where's Meg?" Coufeyrac asked. I looked around she wasn't there.

"Maybe she went to go take Beo's place for watch." I say. Suddenly there is a loud crash from the other room, without thinking the three of us run towards the sound. We entered the room and saw Meg in one corner by the French doors. Grendel is coming towards her. I finally get a look at him, his hair is unruly covered in dirt and god knows what else. His clothes are equally as dirty. I can't see his face. He hasn't noticed us yet, he's to focused on his prey. Roger already has his shotgun loaded and aimed at Grendel's head, he pulls the trigger before Coufeyrac and I can stop him. The blow back knocked Roger to the ground the gun falling from his hand. The bullet must have at least nicked Grendel because he dropped his Hatchet and turns towards us, Meg was able to escape through the French doors. To say Grendel was ugly was a slight under statement, he had a grimy bead that covered all of his features. But it was his eyes that were the most disturbing all of the humanity was gone from them. All they wanted was blood spilled. Suddenly he was coming towards us, his hatchet was still on the ground. I don't know what I even know what I was thinking, only that I charged at Grendel, then tried to stab him. Ya, really bad planning on my part. I tried to stab him, but he grabbed my knife around the blade and tore it from my grasp and threw it strait back. I heard someone cry out in pain. Then Grendel grabbed my neck with his other had, then effortlessly lift me off the ground. I tied desperately tried to pry the thick finger that were more like small branches from my neck. My world was slowly going black around the edges. Suddenly I was flying backwards, then I was crashing into Coufeyrac and Roger. Behind Grendel Meg held a broken branch the other half of the branch lay at her feet. Grendel once again turned towards her and let out a snarl of rage. Meg ducked a fist and tried hitting him again.

Roger in the meantime had found Meg's fireplace poker which she must have dropped when she first encountered the wild man. Suddenly Roger was running towards Grendel. Grendel hearing the attack coming turned and grabbed the poker from Roger and stabbed it into his neck. I tried to scream but no sound came out. I watched helplessly as he kept stabbing Roger, until Roger was completely drenched in his own blood. I turned to Coufeyrac who was lying beside me the knife buried in the right side of his chest just below anything to vital. Suddenly he was walking towards us Meg lying unconscious on the other side of the room a blood flowing from a wound on her forehead. Hoping that my voice would finally work I cried at the top of my lungs,

"BEOWULF." Just as Grendel was on top of us Beowulf appeared. He had a long cut across his cheek and one arm was defiantly broken. He grabbed Grendel's disguarded hatchet.

"Hey, Basterd this is for my friends!" Grendel turned just in time to try, Try to block Beowulf's sudden attack and in one smooth move, Beowulf cut Grendel's arm off. Grendel let out a howl of pain that sent shivers down my spine. With his other arm Grendel tried to grab Beowulf again. This time Beowulf got Grendel in the neck, slicing his head off. All of us were sprayed with his blood. His body stood there for a second, as if thinking about what to do, then it fell with a loud crash. I looked up at Beowulf who just stood there holding the bloody hatchet.

Suddenly Meg let out I loud moan and sat up holding her head. She looked over at us.

"What the hell happened." I looked down at Grendel's head which lay at my feet, Coufeyrac who still had pulled the knife out of his side and was now trying to stop the bleeding, then down at myself my throat felt like it was on fire, and back up at Beowulf, who had finally dropped the bloody hatchet. We were all covered in blood. I tried to answer Meg but the only sound that came out was choked sob.

After about fifteen of twenty minutes of all of us standing there. The sun slowly started to rise and we left Heorot Hall, Beowulf, Meg, and I had to carry Coufeyrac. We walked through the forest only stopping when we saw the two forms that were Tony and Christian's bodies. When we got to the beach all of us just sat there. Waiting for god knows what. After about two hours of sitting a search and rescue boat came. Beowulf's dad's boat was found early the evening before so for the whole night they had been searching for us in the water. Everything else was a blur, Paramedics taking us to the hospital, the police questioning us on what had transpired. The funerals for all of our friends, the first thing I remember clearly was the Mayor giving Beowulf a metal for bravery. None of us were charged with anything it was all in self defense. But now that night haunts us all, we'll never be able to forget it.