Story Spotlight: “At Water’s Edge” by Rebecca M. Senese

In “At Water’s Edge,” Rebecca M. Senese returns a grieving daughter to her family’s lakeside cottage—where the still water hides something ancient, hungry, and all too familiar.

Gemma thought a quiet stay at the old cottage would bring peace after her father’s passing. But the reeds whisper, the lake watches, and something long-submerged remembers her name. Blending grief, nostalgia, and ghostly horror, this story is as chilling as the water it centers on.

The trilling sounded louder, like it was coming from all around her. The glow faded, darkening the water to a deeper, richer purple. She slowed and stopped, moving her arms and legs in slow circles to keep her in place.

Something was there, in the darkness around her.

The spirit of the lake?

She felt her lungs start to burn. Any moment, she would have to let go of her breath. Then the spell would be broken. She knew it, could feel it. But she wanted to see the spirit of the lake. It was so close. And it wanted to see her too. She knew it.

She reached out toward the blackness, hands questing.

At the farthest range of her vision, as the dark purple faded into black, she saw something reaching for her. Fingers, webbed, and flowing, sweeping tendrils, like thin tentacles, reaching toward her.

Reaching.

Her lungs burned. Her head began to pound. Her temples throbbed.

She reached.

Something reached back.

About the Author

Based in Toronto, Canada, Rebecca M. Senese survives the frigid blasts of winter and boiling steams of summer by weaving words of mystery, horror, science fiction and contemporary fantasy.

She is the author of the contemporary fantasy series, the Noel Kringle Chronicles featuring the son of Santa Claus working as a private detective in Toronto. Garnering an Honorable Mention in “The Year’s Best Science Fiction,” she has been nominated for numerous Aurora Awards. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies.

Find Rebecca at: rebeccasenesebooks.com

What Lingers After the Last Line

This is a story about memory, danger, and the seduction of the past. Senese layers tension and atmosphere like ripples in still water—until what’s buried surfaces and demands to be seen.

Read the Story

“At Water’s Edge” appears in Haunted Places, available now from Blackbird Publishing.

📚 Buy the book from your favorite store

If you liked…

• The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon — for its water-haunting tension and layered grief
• The Honeys by Ryan La Sala — for creeping horror set in a deceptively peaceful retreat

…then you’ll enjoy “At Water’s Edge”—a ghost story that slips beneath the surface of memory and never quite lets go.

📘 Also featured in Haunted Places: “Blue Bride” by Alicia Cay, another story of grief, missing family, and coastal hauntings—where nothing is ever as silent as it seems.