4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
DREDGING
BLACK LAKE
A COLUMBIA-PACIFIC HORROR STORY
Story by RYAN HUME
Illustrations by DYLAN TANNER
FOR COAST WEEKEND
A
look through the Chi-
nook Observer’s police
blotter would convince
no sane person that
Nathan Anderssen and Kyle Olson
were men steady of heart and
mind.
But when young Sara Olson
went missing, and the community
turned to uproar, fearing the worst,
Nathan and Kyle chugged enough
courage one moonless night to
want to hero it out.
And even though the police
had cleared Black Lake and its
vicinity weeks before, even though
the search parties had moved out
to combing the sticks and bogs
beyond Ilwaco proper, Kyle had
a real hunch the answer to poor
Sara Olson’s disappearance still lay
among the reeds and trout at the
bottom of Black Lake.
Nathan had no reason to doubt
his friend’s inkling. After all, it
was Kyle who had found Cory
Hoyt’s stolen Dodge Ram accor-
dion-smashed against a fir in a
ditch near Raymond. He boasted
something of a local reputation
for sniffing out lost things. He had
conjured car keys, wedding rings,
missing cats and dogs, a Garmin
fish finder and even a half-pound
of primo kush Nathan had mis-
placed after dipping into it.
Then there was Charlene — oh,
sweet Char. The night she left, Na-
than woke up on his face in a field,
rain and rot clinging to his beard.
He’d been socked with mud down
to his crack and felt like he’d fled a
grave. When he reached the trailer
near dawn, the cupboards and
utensils had spilled onto the count-
ers and floors. Broken plates rested
in shards like so many discarded
fangs. He kicked silverware across
the linoleum, puzzled a coffee mug
back together.
Char’s vanity was empty.
Nathan had been a sleep-
walker most of his life. To know
your body clocks in after you’ve
clocked out was something he
could never get used to. Neither
could Char, he guessed. Even with
her clothes gone, he couldn’t help
but chew over whether he had
done something primal and uncon-
scious to punctuate her exit.
Kyle was the one who told him
to steer north — think Aber-
deen, Seattle, British Columbia.
Sure enough the cops returned a
couple of days later having found
Charlene’s car at the Tacoma bus
station.
Continued on Page 7