October Stephen King Tribute Day 17: The Raft

The Raft was originally published in the November 1982 issue of Gallery magazine. It was later included in the 1985 collection Skeleton Crew.

Warning, this review does contain spoilers.

Randy and Deke take two girls, Rachel and LaVerne, out to Cascade Lake for some fun in the water. They swim out to a raft in the middle of the lake. Once on the raft they notice an "oil slick" on the water. Deke does not take this seriously until Rachel touches the slick. The mysterious creature wraps itself around Rachel and dissolves her body in front of the others.

After the panic of seeing their friend die, Deke decides to swim for the shore. But before he can get started, the slick moves between the board of the raft and wraps itself around his foot. Unable to help their friend, Randy and Rachel watch Deke die. Not wanting to chance getting in the water with this monster, Randy and Rachel take turns watching the monster in the water.

They sit together that night in order to stay warm. Randy's hand touches Rachel's breast and soon they are having sex. Caught up in the moment, neither realizes that Rachel's hair has fallen through the cracks on the raft and soon the monster is on her, devouring her. The story ends with Randy alone on the raft contemplating his options.

This is one of my favorite Stephen King short stories. This one is very short, but it made a lasting impression on me. The idea of evil where you least expect it is scary. Throw in the fact that there were four college kids just looking for a good time and it is down right spooky.

Stephen King sold a previous version of this story, entitled The Float, to Adam magazine back in 1969. The story was never published but King was paid for the story. A film version of this was included in Creepshow 2. The ending was completely different. Randy makes it to the shore but is then taken by the monster as it raises up out of the water.