Sanchez

— I met a man near the lake with an axe, he was crying and trying to break the ice.

• Oh, don't pay attention, he's our local idiot.

Pugod was a policeman who always lived by the law. He didn't take bribes, didn't drink, didn't smoke, and was generally a good guy. But he had bad luck with the summons. He was set up. The conflict was hushed up, and Pugod himself was sent packing. They gave him a place to live in a godforsaken village.

Arriving in the village, he realized it was completely isolated from the real world. Everyone knew each other well, there was a store. But something was always off.

With the onset of winter, everything became even more mysterious. The locals told tales of various wandering entities, the usual scary stories for children. Of which there were almost none. There were those who were born here, who came to visit their grandmothers, and the children rarely came here in the summer. Almost never. Only a few people, and even in the warmer months, it was quiet and peaceful. As if isolated.

Sanchez is "the madman," as they say in the village. One of his best childhood friends was dragged into the river by a strange entity.
Since then, Sanchez has been afraid of water, but despite this, he knows that the only way out of the village is the way there.