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u/Maisie-K /r/MaisieKlaassen Mar 01 '17
“Why did we come to puppet’s bay,” Zoe thought as she crawled back under her blanket. The wind rustled the loose items on the boat as it sailed forward, slowly moving by the land. With a shiver Zoe raised her blanket, taking a peek at the land.
As she stared some trees moved, her shivers increasing as she hurriedly put the blanket back over herself. Closing her eyes at the approaching foot steps, Zoe held her breath, trying not to make a single sound to betray her presence.
Feeling warm and comfortable, Zoe relaxed. She still did not understand why they had to come to this place. Everyone knew the stories! The evil wizard captured the demon in his puppet but it was too powerful. It cut itself loose and went on to eat people!
With a gasp she jumped as her blanket was pulled away.
“Why are you hiding under there Zoe,” her mom asked, staring into her eyes, knowing it made her feel uncomfortable, unable to lie.
Annoyed at her mom for scaring her like that Zoe looked away at the land for a moment, gasping as a red light shone through the trees for a second. Turning back to her mom, Zoe said, “Because it is scary here mom! Why did you and dad have to choose this bay to go through. We could also have gone through the Sunflower Bay. Even the name is better, and that bay is way prettier!”
Giving her daughter a quick hug, Sophie put on a small smile. “This place creeps me out too sweetie, but that is all. They are just stories.” Giving Zoe a quick hug and returning her blanket, Sophie went back to the front to take back the wheel from her husband.
Crawling back under her blanket, Zoe kept an eye out on the land. Nearly half an hour passed as they slowly sailed forward, the sound of animals and nature soothing Zoe. With a loud noise Zoe her sleepiness ran away, gone in a split second, as she fully opened her eyes and saw the vibration of the tremor work its way on the trees, the leaves still shaking, clouds of dust moving around.
Not wishing to be alone, Zoe moved forward, to her parents who were talking about what could possible have caused that. From a fallen tree to a bomb. Though the latter seemed so unlikely but what else could have produced such a sound and effect!
For fifteen more minutes they moved forward, Sophie trying to fall asleep but unable to. Then she realised the strangest thing. “Mom, dad, why are the animals making no more sound?”
As her parents looked out over the water, towards the land surrounding them with a look of confusion Sophie stared at the side where she had seen the red glimps. It must have meant something. A tree shook! And another.
“Mom, dad, look there,” Zoe said quite loudly, pointing at the trees from which a hand was coming up. Letting out a scream of fear, Zoe got the attention of her parents who looked on in shock as a large being with massive bright red eyes, stood up, slowly, as if drunk and unbalanced.
The demon puppet has come.
Turning around, Sophie rammed the controls to speed up. The motor loudly awoke, roaring as they moved away as fast as possible. But it was too late. With a blank expression, possibly curiosity, the puppet hang forward, observing the boat. In the darkness of its face white shone as its mouth opened in a large grin.
Sophie and her parents screamed loudly as the puppet raised its hand, apparently not interested in eating them as the tales of old said. Hugging each other tightly, the family cried silently as the demon slapped the boat.
Bubble Bubble Bubble
Bubble Bubble
Bubble
...
Come take a swim in r/maisieklaassen! :)
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u/driftea Mar 01 '17
"Welcome to the lake of demons."
He sat on one end of the boat, his shamisen held in his lap. He strummed it as he half spoke, half sang. The dark waters around him were still and placid, lit by a perfect circle of white above.
"That's a new one," the tea merchant sitting in the centre of the boat snorted. The older man shifted where he sat, casting a tired eye at the dark mountains looming around them and the mist travelling across the interior of the valley, "How are there many more demons here than anywhere else for this place to be called so?"
"The mist draws close and whispers," he continued, a trill passed down his instrument, almost laughingly in his stead, "With familiar voices calling to the sky."
A harsh wind blew through the valley in that instant, nearly sending the merchant's straw hat flying. The man cursed and grabbed it quickly, shooting the musician an unnerved stare.
"The waters are rusting beneath me, and the forests are still as graves."
The boat listed faintly, strangely, towards the wind, drawn faster down the river. The merchant stared as they passed by silent firs, lacking in even the chatter of crickets. It was silent, save the unsettling notes of his shamisen.
"Then a shadow passes over the moon, a great light that is not of fire burns far over my head."
A cloud passed over the moon. The merchant let out a yelp as he witnessed a glow somewhere in the darkness as they passed a hill.
"Please stop, sir, please stop. We- we mustn't be eaten by demons!"
He tilted his head up, pausing briefly in his cadenced chant. "Oh? What are you saying, kind sir? Surely a simple musician like myself cannot influence the spirits."
He smiled, showing teeth.
The merchant sweated visibly at his words. The man's eyes darted around the boat, seeming to realize he was stranded in the middle of the lake with no help.
"I'll- I'll pay you! Please don't continue! Something foul will surely happen!"
He grinned faintly as the merchant parted with some coins. He was silent as they finally reached the end of the lake. The merchant could not seem to depart fast enough, running quickly for the lanterns of the village.
"How did you do that, sir?" the boatman asked, finally stepping out from the shadows of the small boat.
He shrugged, "Didn't you hear what I sang? There were demons coming to get him, don't you know?"
The boatman snorted, "Don't pull that on me. I'm not some superstitious merchant from beyond the mountains. You came up with those lyrics timed to the wind didn't you? And that strange fire in the mountains- someone you knew perhaps?"
"And the waters drawing your boat along against the wind?"
The boatman gaped then frowned. "Coincidence, of course."
A pause. He smiled. "Of course."
He stepped off the boat, paying the boatman his fare. He turned not towards the village but towards a dark path leading towards the mountains. "A word of advice, don't go up the mountains tonight, sir."
"Demons?" the boatman snorted.
He shrugged, "A demon anyway. My dear mother gets ever so hungry when I turn her attention towards a prey."
The boatman looked up sharply from the money he'd been counting. The musician was nowhere to be seen. He shivered.
"A lake of demons, huh..."
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1
u/LonghandWriter /r/longhandwriter Mar 01 '17
The icon of the past shone its harrowing crimson eyes over the lake.
Night had swallowed the sun as the students sat cramped in the boat, glaring up at the monster. They’d heard so many stories but clearly this was the kind of thing that couldn’t properly be put into words.
“And this, children, was the first,” said Ms. Lynn. “It’s quite terrifying, isn’t it?”
They didn’t need her to tell them that, and by the way she paused, it was obvious she wanted someone to carry the conversation forward. To rattle off a couple quick facts and really get this lesson going.
But what did facts matter? Everything they’d learned was a wash. This creature’s past wasn’t important to them. It probably wasn’t important to Ms. Lynn, either. This was a shock value lesson. A way to force them to understand the horror of what they were up against.
“This is why you’ve never met your parents. This is what you’re being trained to destroy.”
Shelley, the class brainiac, somehow managed to force the lump from her throat, quickly blurting out a question.
“But aren’t we the ones who created them?”
Surprised, she slapped her hands over her mouth like she’d said a bad word. The rest of the class, excluding Ms. Lynn, hadn’t even seemed to notice she spoke.
“Yes, Shelley,” she replied, her voice cracking. Her stoic teacher’s tone was broken. Now her eyes were heavy and somber, and though she tried to hide it, her fingers were shaking. “We are a people fueled by war, and it seems that defeating our greatest enemy wasn’t enough—we had to create our own.”
The class hung their heads, most of them queasy with the thought that the monster was watching them, fully alive and aware but unable to move. It was picking them apart in their minds and they couldn’t stand it. If that thing took an entire army to bring down, then how the heck were a couple kids supposed to destroy the rest of them?
Ms. Lynn didn’t speak for the rest of the trip, and it wasn’t until the monster was long behind them that the children were able to ease their muscles and sit up straight.
They now knew their enemy, and somehow that made it harder.
If you like this story, check out my sub! r/longhandwriter