This might be the first and last story that I will be able to share with all of you.

I have been "hooked on" fishing ever since I was a little boy. There was a river a couple of kilometers away from the place we lived, to which we would always go at least once or twice a week with my dad.

Each week it was the same thing. My dad would come home from work and ask me:

• Waylen, did you finish your homewo... - And I would always cut him off right before he could even finish saying what he was about to say:
• YES DAD, NOW PLEASE LETS GO TO THE RIVER! - I would then say to him in an excited manner.

He would then give me a faint smile knowing that I probably haven't even looked at my homework. And right he was, most of the time. At first we had a rule that I would have to finish my homework first, and then we could go to the river, but after a couple of attempts and a couple of missed fishing trips, that rule was quickly dismissed. That might've not been the best decision, but we couldn't help it since we both loved fishing so much. We would then go late in the afternoon, camp at the river the whole night and come back home somewhere around lunchtime. Those were the days I'm telling you.

Anyways that was a long time ago. Ever since he passed away things just haven't been the same. I have tried going fishing a couple of times but I just couldn't enjoy the fishing experience by itself, but rather I would reminisce about old times and how good things were.

I used to work as a delivery man, and most of the time I worked alone. I started enjoying the time alone, being able to listen to whatever music you want and not having someone on your head the entire day.

A couple of months passed and my boss decided to upgrade my truck to a bigger one. The problem was that I would have to deliver much heavier stuff and it would be pretty hard to do that by myself.

Problem solved. I had a new colleague accompanying me then. His name was Dave. He had been working for the company for a long time but we never spoke to each other. At first I thought:

• Here goes my peace and quiet that I love so much.

But after we got to know each other I found out that Dave was not a bad guy at all. People might have thought bad of him because of his appearance but he had a kind heart. One day we were going back and forth in our conversation:

• So what were you up to this weekend? - I asked him.
• Oh not much just went on a little fishing trip. There is a lake nearby and it's full of fish I'm telling ya.

My eyes widened up a bit. Dave didn't strike me as a guy who would like to go fishing.

• No way. - I snapped back at him.
• What? - He asked me.

We talked a bit and he got really excited when he learned that I loved fishing as well. That's the story of how we became fishing buddies.

Fast forward a bit.

It was Friday, somewhere around lunchtime and we had to deliver a package to a rural village right next to our town. On the way there we saw a lake a couple of kilometers before the village. We never knew about this lake and it peaked our interest. We always carried our fishing gear in the truck so there was no way we wouldn’t visit this new spot we just learned about.

Package delivered. We went around the village searching for a fishing store, because we had to buy some supplies first, and surprisingly we found one.

• Hey there boss! - I said to the cashier as soon as I entered the store.
• Hello mate what can I get for ya? - he replied.
• Ah, just a bunch of worms, and a can of corn. - I said.
• Anything else I can get for you mate? - He asked as he was typing on the cash register.
• No that's all thank you. Oh and by the way, do you know anything about this lake that's a couple of kilometers before the village? - I went back to ask him. His face dropped. This surprised me a bit, because he had such a big smile on his face the whole time.
• I'm sorry I can't tell you anything about it. - He replied coldly. I just assumed he didn't know anything about this lake so I just grabbed the bag with the supplies, gave him the money and headed towards the exit door.
• Have a nice day sir! - I said to him as I exited the store.
• Good luck.. - That was the last thing I heard as I was leaving the premises.

We were really excited about going to this lake despite not knowing anything about it, so we entered the car and took off.

• The way he said "good luck", I didn't quite like it. - Dave said to me.
• Why? He probably meant good luck with fishing or something. - I replied.
• Yeah, probably. - Dave muttered.

It was getting kind of late. The road that lead to the lake was really bad, but that didn't stop us and we finally reached the lake. The place was beautiful. Not a single ripple on the water, surrounded by thick shrubbery and tall pine trees. I was surprised how there was no one else besides us here. As we were getting our fishing gear out a tall bearded man approached us.

• Hello there! - I said to him as he was coming towards us.
• ...
• Are you the owner of this lake? - I asked him.
• ... - Nothing again.

He then reached his hand into his bag that he was carrying with him. I got scared for a second but then he pulled out a notebook and started writing something down in it. A couple of minutes passed and he was finally done. He left the notebook on the ground and he started walking back towards the forest. Not long after he was gone. All of this really weirded me out.

• Hey what's up? - Dave asked me. During this strange encounter Dave was in the truck so he had no idea what had happened, and so I thoroughly explained. For some reason Dave found this to be really funny.
• Don't think much of it Wayl. - He told me while giggling.

Dave started setting up the tent as I was getting the fishing rods ready. Maybe because the shock from all of this I completely forgot about the notebook.

An hour or two later I had to take a piss, so I headed towards the woods. On my way there I caught a glimpse of the notebook, but it wasn't on the ground where the mysterious man had left it, it was pinched underneath the wipers of the truck. I thought to myself - This is really weird. There was no way for the notebook to get over there by itself, and we haven't seen a single person go by. I forgot entirely about taking a piss and I headed for the notebook. I opened the notebook and the following was written down on the first page:

It requires you to abide to the following rules as soon as you read them:

1. Don't have more thank 5 fishing rods out at once.
2. Do not litter.
3. Release all fish that weight under 2.66kg.

The first set of rules seemed normal, setting aside rule #3 which was oddly specific, but then the rules started getting weird.

4. You can light a fire twice, and each fire must contain no more than 6 logs. Only after the first fire has gone out can you light a second one. 5. You must write down in this notebook everything important that has happened in the last hour. After you do that you must tear off and burn the page with the things you have written down on it within 6 minutes of writing it. 6. You cannot talk to each other about anything regarding your experience throughout the night, but you can read it from the notebook before burning the page. 7. If you break any 2 of those rules, you will be unable to leave the lake for the next 6 hours, starting from the moment you have broken the given rules. If that happens you must pay close attention to the notebook. 8. IF you make it through the 6 hours you will be able to leave, but you must never speak to anyone about anything regarding this lake. You have been warned.

At first I was unsure if I read the rules correctly. Is this some kind of joke? I ran to Dave with the notebook and I gave it to him. He read through the rules and started laughing.

• There is no way you believed any of this right? - He asked me while laughing.
• Yeah right. - I replied, letting out a nervous giggle.
• Come on, this guy is probably just trying to scare us so that we don't do anything stupid and ruin this beautiful lake, and by the looks of it he succeeded in scaring you. - Dave said.
• Nah you're imagining things. - I replied trying to not look scared at all.
• Anyways lets get back to fishing - Dave said.

As we only had 4 rods in total, we were respectful enough towards nature to not litter, and we didn't catch a single fish for the first couple of hours, so we complied with the first 3 rules without even thinking about them. It got cold really fast and Dave said that it's time to light a fire. While he was chopping wood for the fire I decided to play along with rule #5. And so as soon as the next hour came I started writing down what had happened. I wrote down that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred during this last hour.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw that the tip of my rod had started to bend a little. I immediately jumped out of my chair and I set the hook. And there it was - the first fish caught for the day. It was a catfish which weighted around 2 kilos. Dave said it would be perfect for the grill. I teased him and said:

• Aren't we going to keep to the rules?

He just looked at me and laughed. Dave put his knife through the fishes head and started filleting it. I then used the page that I had just written down on as fuel for the fire. The fire had 7 logs in it so while Dave wasn't looking I removed one of the logs. The other thing that was bugging me was the time. Six minutes hadn't passed so rule #4 and #5 were complied with. We ate and we got back to fishing.

The next hour came. I opened the notebook to start writing down what had happened but then I saw that rule #3 had been erased from the first page. I mentioned it to Dave but he didn't believe me and he thought that I was trying to scare him. I brushed it off as a coincidence. Man how naïve could I be... I wrote down what had happened during the last hour and I poured myself a drink.

As we were talking to each other Dave suddenly stopped talking. I asked him what's wrong but he didn't answer. I thought that he was mad at me for some reason so I decided to not bug him for the time being.

Here comes the next hour. I reached for the notebook but Dave got it before me. When I took a closer look I realized that he was shaking a little. I asked him what's wrong, but he didn't answer. I've never seen him look scared ever. This was a first for me. After he finished writing in the notebook he handed it to me. It read the following.

• I know you might not believe me and think that I'm trying to scare you, but I shit you not I saw something on the other side of the lake. It resembled a deer in a way, or only it did at first. I think it realized that I was looking at it, and when it did it stood up on its back two legs and it started staring at me. I know my eyes might be playing tricks on me but it looked like its flesh was rotting and it was hanging down from parts of its body. I just couldn't take my eyes off it. Please tell me I'm not going crazy!

As I was reading this I took a glance at Dave. I could see the terror in his eyes. I was scared to look at the place he mentioned this creature was , but I did. There was nothing there. Dave looked as well. Confusion was written all over his face. I ripped the page out of the notebook and I threw it in the fire.

• Maybe we should slow down on drinking Dave - I said to him.
• I am perfectly sober Weyl. I don't think alcohol has anything to do with this. - He replied, his voice was trembling.

It was midnight now. We both took turns writing down what we thought about this strange occurrence. As I was writing in the notebook we both heard some branch break in the distance. We both looked in the direction of where the noise came from. To our relief it was actually a deer. A normal looking deer passing by. I started laughing, on the other hand Dave got mad that he had been scared for nothing. He took an empty bottle and he threw it at the deer as it was running away.

• Hey you should go pick that up. - I told Dave.
• Yeah, yeah my bad. I just got really mad for a second there. - He replied. And we both started laughing.

Dave went off to look for the bottle that he threw at the deer. I decided to write down for the last time what had happened in the notebook. I thought to myself: "Maybe the person that handed me the notebook is the owner of this lake, and he likes reading about the experiences of the people that visit the lake."

I took my pen and opened the notebook, only to see that all of the rules from the first page have disappeared. I started getting scared again.

• What is going on? - I asked myself.

Then I realized that Dave just broke another rule. No littering. As I was started to panic I saw a new rule appear right before my eyes on the first page of the notebook:

• Do not move...
• What? - I muttered.

As soon as I read the new rule I felt a presence standing behind me. Chills went down my spine.

• D.D...Dave? - I whispered.

...

I could feel and hear something breathing right next to my ear. Chills went down my spine once again. And the smell... it smelled like something had died and had been rotting there for weeks. I wanted to scream, but I was horrified of what might happen if I do. So I just stood there staring straight ahead not moving a muscle. A couple of minutes passed and that "thing" finally started going back into the woods. It had only been a couple of minutes but for me it felt like hours had gone by. I started running towards the truck. I got in but when I tried to start the truck nothing happened. I whipped out the notebook to see if a new rule had appeared but it hadn't. The only new thing on the page was the following sentence.

• I warned you.

I once again felt like something was watching me and unfortunately I was right. When I looked in the side mirror of the truck I could see it, it looked exactly how Dave described it. It was standing behind a tree, peaking at the truck. Taking a closer look, it had arms and legs like a human would, but the torso and the head of a deer. It was holding something in its left hand. When I realized what, or "who" it was ,I wanted to throw up. It was Dave.

I guess all of this was too much for me and I passed out.

I woke up in the morning with tears flowing down my face. The notebook was gone, and so was Dave. Everything was right where it was the night before - the tent, the fishing rods, the stools - everything. I started looking for Dave. I was way too scared to scream his name, because I thought that, that thing might still be out here. The feeling of helplessness overwhelmed me. I went back in the truck and this time I managed to start it. Without a second thought I floored it, leaving all the stuff that we brought here behind. As I was driving on the bumpy road I saw that the tall bearded man was staring at me from the edge of the forest. I never looked back again and I drove straight home.

People have asked me what happened to Dave. I was never able to tell them the real story because I was too scared of what would happen to me. Well no more. This burden is too much to carry and that's why I'm sharing this story with all of you. I do not know what might happen to me but I can't blame anyone for it.

We had been warned.