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''The Raft'' is a horror short story by Stephen King first published as a booklet included with ''Gallery'' in November 1982, and collected in King's 1985 collection ''Skeleton Crew''. ==Plot summary== "The Raft" is about four college students, two young men (Randy and Deke) and two young women (Rachel and LaVerne), who go out to swim on a remote Pennsylvania lake during the autumn, when nobody is around, in order to celebrate the end of summer. While swimming out to the raft in the middle of the lake, Randy notices a mysterious oil slick-like substance that appears to go after the girls as they reach the raft. Deke and LaVerne ridicule Randy's suspicions that the "oil slick" was chasing the girls, refusing to take the situation seriously until Rachel touches the water near the creature. The oil-slick, revealed to be a living creature, instantly grabs her finger and pulls her into the water, where it covers her with itself. Quickly realizing the danger, the trio are forced to ignore Rachel's screams for help as the creature violently dissolves and absorbs her. After the initial panic, the group contemplates their next course of action. Swimming past the creature is not an option, as it moves with lightning speed. The group has driven eight miles off the nearest back road without having told anyone where they were going, making rescue impossible. The group assumes that the creature may leave them alone after some time, and attempt to quietly wait, but it does not leave. After some time passes, the creature squeezes under the raft. Deke decides he could make a swim to the shore, but as he prepares to jump into the lake he steps on a crack on the raft and the creature grabs him by his foot. Unable to free their friend, Randy and LaVerne watch as Deke is slowly consumed by the creature through the crack from the bottom up. Randy later realizes with horror that he and LaVerne could have swum to shore while the creature was busy eating Deke. Now unwilling to risk swimming for shore, Randy and LaVerne take turns watching the creature (which changes positions every now and then and produces colors on its surface that hypnotizes and disorients them into almost falling off the raft). One stands while the other one sits. During the course of the night, LaVerne convinces Randy that they should sit together and keep each other warm. He eventually touches one of LaVerne's breasts and they end up having sex. During intercourse, LaVerne's hair falls over the side of the raft. Before Randy can pull her up, the creature grabs onto her hair and manages to flow over her head, melting her face. Unable to save LaVerne, he kicks her over the side of the raft in a panic, quickening her death. A day passes, and Randy fantasizes about rescue, while beginning to suffer fatigue from lack of sleep. The creature begins to flow under the raft every time Randy tries to sit down, forcing him to remain permanently standing. After nightfall, Randy finally gives up, acknowledging the hopelessness of the situation. He turns to the creature and begins to think that the colors the creature produces will take the pain out of being consumed. Randy does not look away as the creature begins to produce its colors, and the story ends. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Raft (short story)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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