My name is Edward T. Head, but you can call me Eddie. I’m just an ordinary 16-year old boy. I’ve got a girlfriend named Charlotte T. Harlot. Our lives were perfectly normal, until the day I drove by the lake. So, here’s a little advice: don’t meddle with things you don’t understand, because sometimes, you might do something you can never undo.

It all started on July 9th, 1983, when I was driving around town on Friday afternoon to find a good place for my date with Charlotte. I was driving by the lake, and it was getting dark. I thought this would be beautiful place for our date. I could see it now: a romantic candlelit night by the water. Then, I looked in the lake and saw what appeared to be faces in the water. It was pretty blurry, but I immediately called Charlotte and made her come over.

About 30 minutes later, she came. “What’s so important that you called me to drive over here in the dark?” she immediately asked. “Take a look at the lake.” I told her. “What do you see?” “Water, ya ding-dong.” Charlotte responded. “Can’t you see them?” I say as I look in the lake to see nothing. “I know you don’t believe me.” I’ve never felt so strange in my entire life. “Eddie, are you going crazy?” my girlfriend asked me. “No, I’m not going insane!” I protested. Charlotte wasn’t having any of it, however, and drove home. I didn’t leave.

I stayed there for hours, just gazing into the lake, mesmerized my the faces that became visible again. I tried to leave, but the lake faces kept drawing me back. Even the park rangers gave up on trying to make me leave. I could feel them draining my strength way, and asking me to stay. I fell asleep, but had a nightmare about the faces. They were calling me, and when I tried to resist them, they rose from the lake and killed me. At least, I thought they killed me. I woke up before it happened. I woke up early in the morning, around 3 in the morning, and left the park.

Throughout the day, I could feel my life’s blood slowly draining way. I just felt like I was getting weaker and weaker. I had this feeling that I was going to join those spirits soon, at the bottom of the lake. That night, I fell asleep and had the same nightmare, but this time, the faces were clearer. They felt… closer. I woke up in the middle of the night, and drove to Charlotte’s house. I went inside with my copy of her keys, pulled her out of bed, and drove her to the lake. It was clear what I had to do. I had to take her to the lake to look at them with me, to join them with me.

When we got there, I woke Charlotte up. “What the hell is going on?” she asks. “Hand in hand, we’re going to jump into the pool to join those spirits.” I told her. “What, no!” she responded. As she tried to run away, I grabbed her. “I’m sorry, Charlotte.” I said. “Now, we’ll drown together.” I pulled her into the pool, and felt the spirits dragging us down. We died, and our spirits awoke in the lake.

Now, we rest in peace.

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This story is based on the Iron Maiden song, “Still Life,” from their album Piece of Mind, released 5-16-1993. The video at the top is by YouTube animator Val Andrade, who is best known for his cartoon series Tales of the Iron Maiden, where he animates videos to go with Iron Maiden songs, and its spin-off, A Christmas Cheers, a series he has done since 2015. Also, please don’t use the Eddie in the video (a grumpy old man) as a visualization of Eddie in this story. Maybe think of the Iron Maiden album cover version, where he looks more like a teenager, that way him dating Charlotte doesn’t seem too weird.

Note: Watch the video to 5:46, because the rest of the video is just a correction of an error in Val Andrade’s animation for Iron Maiden’s “Alexander the Great.”

Fun Fact: That weird audio that plays at the beginning of the song before the actual song begins makes sense when you play it in reverse. You see, there was this whole idea that playing heavy metal records backwards played a message from Satan, and Iron Maiden did it in a funny way by including a recording of a drunk Nicko McBrain (who, by the way, had just joined the band) doing his impression of John Bird mimicking Idi Ami saying, "What ho said the t'ing with the three 'bonce', don't meddle with things you don't understand..."