Great piece of writing to go with your pictures of all the gloom. May I ask the location for I gathered Sinister lake was just your nickname for the place? (Snake island on google takes you to BRAZIL.)
The shot of @raili reminded me of a geography field trip where we engulfed our geography teacher in a pile of pebbles / rocks up to her knees. Near Swansea, Wales. Only temporarily, of course. We got a similar photo for our records.
Thanks for your feedback and comment. the place is actually a quarry lake in Estonia, Lake Raku and the names of the lake and island are fictitious :)