Something Was Drilling Holes Around My Shanty at 2 A.M.
FRIDAY
CODY 9:14 PM made it out. ice is 14 inches at the launch, drilled 3 holes already. shanty is a mess tho, somebody left a bag of wet bait in here and it smells like a gas station bathroom
RAY 9:31 PM you said saturday morning
CODY 9:32 PM saturday morning everybody and their dog is out here. i like it empty. nobody yelling about their sonar. feels like i own the lake
RAY 9:33 PM you own nothing. wear the bibs
CODY 9:33 PM wearing the bibs mom
CODY 9:58 PM lost a glove. one glove. i had two when i left the truck i swear
RAY 10:02 PM check your hood
CODY 10:04 PM it was in my hood
RAY 10:04 PM dummy
CODY 10:40 PM nothing biting. zero. heater's running, thermos is hot, i have a ham sandwich that's mostly bread. there's a couple other shanties lit up way across the lake, tiny yellow squares. so i'm not totally alone i guess
RAY 11:05 PM going to bed. maddie has hockey at 7 so dont call me at 6:45 to tell me you caught a pike. phone's on do not disturb, call only if something's actually on fire
CODY 11:06 PM what if i'm drowning
RAY 11:06 PM then you'd be too busy to call. night dummy
CODY 11:48 PM ice is doing the singing thing. that low twang, then a boom that goes right under the floor. dad used to say it was the lake clearing its throat. you remember that? i used to sleep in the truck when it did that
CODY 11:49 PM ok you're asleep. i'm just going to keep texting anyway, it's something to do
CODY 12:31 AM those lights across the lake are going out one at a time. guessing everybody's heading home. weird though, i never heard a single truck start. sound carries on ice, you'd hear a truck from a mile
CODY 12:58 AM still nothing. not even a nibble. whatever's down there isn't hungry or isn't interested
CODY 1:10 AM ok this is going to sound stupid. the water in the floor hole is moving. not from the wind, there's no wind. it's going up and down, slow. i timed it on my phone. six seconds up, six seconds down
CODY 1:11 AM like breathing lol
CODY 1:12 AM not lol
CODY 1:52 AM someone's drilling out there. i can hear an auger. that whine and then the grind when it bites in. 2 a.m. who does that
CODY 1:54 AM opened the door. total dark, no headlamps, nothing. but i can still hear it. can't tell how far. it does that on ice, sound just kind of lies to you out here
CODY 2:07 AM there's more than one now. i counted. four maybe five, all going at once, and it's not coming from one direction. it's coming from all around. north, then east, then behind the shanty. they're circling
CODY 2:08 AM i know how that sounds
CODY 2:15 AM they stopped. all of them at the same time. the lake stopped singing too. it's so quiet i can hear my thermos ticking as it cools
CODY 2:16 AM something just knocked on the wall. three times. slow
CODY 2:17 AM now it's knocking from the hole in the floor. from underneath. like someone knocking on the other side of a window. knocking on the ice from below
CODY 2:19 AM i'm texting a guy who's asleep with his phone on silent. great plan cody
RAY 2:21 AM I'm up. What's going on.
CODY 2:21 AM RAY. oh my god. did the dnd wake you
RAY 2:22 AM Yes. Tell me what you're seeing.
CODY 2:22 AM nothing that's the problem. there's stuff knocking under the ice and augers going around me and the water in the hole is breathing. i need you to tell me i'm losing it
RAY 2:23 AM You're not losing it, Cody.
CODY 2:24 AM you called me cody
RAY 2:24 AM That's your name.
CODY 2:25 AM you never call me that. it's dummy or code or you idiot. you haven't called me cody since dad's funeral
RAY 2:26 AM I'm scared for you. That's all. Are you going to stay in there?
CODY 2:27 AM i don't know. what do i do
RAY 2:28 AM I drove out. I'm at the launch with the truck lights on. Look toward shore. Walk toward the lights.
CODY 2:29 AM hold on
CODY 2:31 AM i see them. two headlights, way out. a long way, that's like a mile of ice
RAY 2:31 AM Walk toward the lights, Cody.
CODY 2:33 AM it's 45 minutes from your place to this lake. it's been 10 minutes since you said you were up. how did you get here
RAY 2:33 AM I wasn't asleep.
CODY 2:34 AM you said the dnd woke you up
CODY 2:34 AM you said "yes"
CODY 2:35 AM you literally said yes
RAY 2:37 AM Walk toward the lights.
CODY 2:38 AM no
CODY 2:38 AM ray would've said dummy by now. ray would've called me an idiot for coming out here alone and then he'd have told me to sit tight, he'd never tell me to walk a mile across the ice in the dark. who is this
RAY 2:41 AM Then don't.
RAY 2:41 AM But it's going to keep knocking.
CODY 2:43 AM what is it
RAY 2:44 AM It's cold down here.
CODY 2:44 AM what does that mean
CODY 2:46 AM answer me
CODY 2:51 AM ok. ok ok ok. the water stopped breathing. hole's just flat now. nothing moving
CODY 2:53 AM the headlights moved. they're not on shore anymore. they're on the ice. they're coming closer, slow, no engine noise at all, just two lights sliding across the lake
CODY 2:58 AM door's open. i did not open it. i was sitting right here with my back to it
CODY 3:02 AM if you're the real ray and you get this later, don't come out here. i mean it. don't drive out. don't walk out. don't answer anything that texts you from me
CODY 3:04 AM tell maddie i owe her a pike. and i wore the bibs
SATURDAY
RAY 5:41 AM just woke up. phone was dnd all night. what the hell are all these. 41 texts
RAY 5:43 AM cody
RAY 5:44 AM i never sent any of these. they're in my sent messages. i was asleep. cody answer me
RAY 5:52 AM calling you
RAY 5:53 AM straight to voicemail
RAY 6:31 AM im at the launch. your truck's here. frost all over it like its been sitting for a week not a night
RAY 6:49 AM walking out. i can see your shanty. door's open. heater's still running
RAY 6:58 AM you're not here. boots are by the door. thermos is still warm. the hole in the floor is frozen over solid, like 6 inches of clean ice, smooth as a plate. that hole was open 4 hours ago
RAY 7:03 AM theres a bunch of new holes out here. drilled. perfect circles all around the shanty, maybe 8 or 9 of them, all frozen over already. no tracks leading to them. no tracks at all except yours going out and mine coming in
RAY 7:05 AM your tracks go out about 200 yards. then they just stop
RAY 7:09 AM im calling your phone again
RAY 7:10 AM i can hear it ringing. it's under the ice. i'm standing on it. it's right under my boots
RAY 7:10 AM it picked up
CODY 7:11 AM Ray.
RAY 7:11 AM cody?
CODY 7:12 AM Ray. It's so warm up here. Come out onto the ice.
RAY 7:13 AM what did dad call the noise the lake made
CODY 7:13 AM Clearing its throat.
RAY 7:14 AM thats in the thread. anybody could read that
RAY 7:15 AM what did i do to your bike in 2009
RAY 7:20 AM cody
RAY 7:31 AM cody i know you can see this. it says read
CODY 7:33 AM Dummy.
RAY 7:33 AM thats my word. only i say that
Ray gave me this thread on the 12th. Searchers found the shanty exactly the way he described it. They haven't found Cody. Ray asked me to post it in case anybody else has heard an auger going on a frozen lake at night, with nobody out there running it.
If you ever get texts from someone who's supposed to be asleep, check the punctuation before you decide who you're talking to.
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people, places, or events is purely coincidental and created for entertainment purposes only.
Would you have kept answering those texts, or turned your phone off the second the replies started sounding wrong? Tell me in the comments.💬💬
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