It started as these things often do, with stories.

There were only murmurs around town, but Habitsville is so cavernous that even the whispers

of echoes, and so it wasn't long until the news reached me, Samuel Singer, Habitsville's

resident investigative reporter.

There's something at the bottom of Lake Laura.

Have you ever heard of...

The Lasophobia?

Many people have, without even realizing it, though it's mostly used in reference to the

sea.

I would extend that definition a bit.

Put simply, it's the fear of vastness, wide open skies, the dead infinity of space,

or the murky surface of a large body of water.

That's why most of the citizens stay away from Lake Laura.

It isn't especially huge.

It's pretty charitable to call it a lake, rather than a pond or a pool, but the terrifying

thing about it isn't how wide it is.

It's how deep.

And this is why the idea that there's something below the surface is so troublesome.

As far as we know, Lake Laura has no bottom.

Kids do it as a dare sometimes, traveling back through the trees and captails, diving

deep into the sun-wormed water.

Their friends wait on the shore, and soon the diver resurfaces.

...