The Water Monster 2

Who is she...? Where did she come from...? Patrick... I shouldn't have shouted at her... Patrick... May be that scared her and... May be that's why she attacked...
PATRICK!
"Huh?" I asked, looking up, startled. Mother and Jason were both staring at me (well, Jason was glaring actually) while Maggie was giggling.
"W--- what happened?" I asked, totally lost. I was sitting at the dinner table with my family. It is a low table and we sit on cushions around it. I and Maggie were on one side while Jason and Mother sat facing us. Mother was ladling soup into our bowls, Maggie was staring eagerly at it and Jason was sitting with a pencil and a small notebook on his hand, scribbling something and nodding to himself. He works in a baker's shop in the village and often does that at the dinner table while Mother serves us food. Apparently, he takes care of most of the things sold there, noting them down in his notebook and the old baker depends on him immensely for running the bakery. The only time Jason leaves his notebook and talks at the dinner table is when Father comes home.
Tonight, however, he was glaring at me, his pencil suspended over his notebook, a slight frown on his face. I got really annoyed by his stare and looked at Mother instead. Maggie was still giggling.
"Is something wrong, Pat?" she asked with concern.
"No," I answered, a little defensively. "Why?"
"Nothing," Jason spoke sarcastically. "Just that she was going on asking you how much soup you want but you didn't answer and were staring into space with a blank expression. But that's perfectly normal though, isn't it?"
Maggie burst into a fit of giggles.
"You should have seen your face, Pat!" she told me, somehow managing to speak coherently. "You looked funny!"
"Yeah," I muttered to myself. "I wish she would have found my face funny."
"Did you say something?" Mother asked, now clearly worried. "You are not sick, are you?"
"No, I'm absolutely fine, Mother," I assured her hurriedly. "Really. And I would like my bowl full. That soup smells darn nice!"
Mother smiled at me, reassured. Jason stared at me for a long time, but I was quite attentive towards my food after that and he didn't say anything else.
I couldn't sleep that night. Beside me Jason snored away under the single sheet we were sharing. Jason and I share the same room and the same bed, while Mother sleeps with Maggie in the second bedroom beside ours. Each of the beds in our home consists of a thick hand-made mattress laid on the floor, preferably beside a large window, with two fluffy pillows and light-coloured sheets in the summer or dark blankets in the winter. A water-jug always stands on the wooden floor beside the bed in every bedroom.
Jason's snores are not too loud. I sleep beside him every night and I don't find it that much disturbing. But that night, I just couldn't sleep. I kept tossing in the bed from side to side, my eyes closed, trying to shut out the thoughts which were coming to my mind. But it was no use and after about an hour or so, I found myself sitting up on my bed, fully awake. Jason was muttering in his sleep, "... two loaves of white bread... that would be... I will buy a new blanket for my mother..."
Blanket, I thought, watching him. It was not winter yet, the weather was warm enough, but the nights were a bit cold. I lay down on my bed again, pulling the sheet up to my chin. Tomorrow I'll ask Mother if I should take out all the blankets from the other bedroom and lay them out in the sun, I thought. I'll be glad to have a blanket at night before long, its getting cold. Then suddenly this thought came to my mind, I don't think she has blankets...
I shook my head vigorously, trying not to think about her. Jason gave a particularly loud snore and muttered, "... the oven's not working properly..."
Is bakery the only thing this guy thinks about? I shut my eyes again and a voice in my mind said, "Is that mysterious girl the only thing you think about?"
I got out of my bed, drank some water from the bedside jug and went to the window. It was a full moon and silvery light was streaming into the room. I hoisted myself up on the window sill and felt the cool breeze on my face.
Why did she attack me? Is she really the monster everyone talks about?
I could see the dark trees of the forest... they looked tiny and black, even in the full moon. I could see the river as well, flowing silently, its surface shimmering in the moonlight. And I remembered her face as she stepped back from me... in the forest...
She seemed scared... May be her actions were defensive. But...
I thought of her long, claw-like nails... Perfect to kill a living being with one easy swipe...
That doesn't prove anything, I argued against my negative thoughts. They are just...
"Just what?" nagged the voice in my mind again, prodding my common sense within. "Whom are you kidding, idiot?"
Still, I went on, still... the nails don't prove anything...
"You want more?" the voice challenged. "You forgot about her savage teeth bared threateningly... inches away from your throat... "
I shuddered and bit my lip.
Still, I want to go back... back to my hideout. Its mine and I won't let anyone else have it... not even a monster. I'll have to check tomorrow.
This time, the voice in my mind remained silent. I smiled.
Tomorrow afternoon, I thought decidedly, going back to sleep quietly, pulling the sheet back on myself.
Tomorrow was a disappointment.
She didn't come.


I passed the guarding wall of trees with difficulty. It was not because of the trees (they were the same as always), it was because of the load I was carrying--- a bunch of firewood from a dry tree on the other side of the forest, away from the river. We never had to get firewood from the forest. Jason used to buy a bunch of good, dry firewood on his way home from the bakery every evening. It didn't matter too much, since we were better off in financial matters than most families in our village. All because of Father, working so far away, and Jason as well, who laboured hard to keep everything in order in the family. But then, one day Mother told Jason that we shouldn't spend on things which we can get easily from somewhere else, without spending anything. I remember it was after Father fell sick for a week or so and couldn't go to work. He stayed at home while Mother looked after him, till he was cured by the herbs given by the village doctor. So, she asked Jason not to spend unnecessarily and the first thing she wanted to change was buying firewood. Jason, in turn, told her that he can't get firewood from the forest since he has to work in the bakery. I was there when this discussion was taking place. At that point, Mother and Jason went quiet suddenly and I looked up to find both of them staring at me.
So, that was it. I was given the responsibility to get firewood from the forest every afternoon. I accepted the work gladly, because that meant I could be at my hideout every afternoon without any awkward questions. It was not because of that mysterious girl who had appeared there out of the blue, attacked me and disappeared suddenly... I had never seen her since. It had been almost a year now and I didn't expect her to turn up again. I had even forgotten how she looked like. Even though I used to wonder about her at times, it was as though I was thinking about something which doesn't exist. That was just a hallucination, I told myself, shutting her out of my mind. A stupid hallucination I had...
I crossed the guarding wall of trees, dragging the bunch of firewood along. I had my lunch packed neatly in a parcel of cloth; Maggie had prepared egg-sandwiches for me. Her cooking was improving a lot and she knew what I liked. I stepped into the clearing, put down the bundle and as soon as I proceeded towards the river to wash my hands and face I saw something in front of me and frowned.
A pile of what looked like seaweed was dumped on the edge of the water, glistening in the sun. I stepped forward cautiously towards it and (trust me, I got the shock of my life) the pile suddenly moved. Before I knew what was happening, I was staring into a face which was eerily different and weirdly familiar at the same time. In an instant I recognized her. My God, I thought, it’s her!
She looked the same as before--- dark eyes with no whites, traces of eyebrows, almost absent nose, long claw-like hands and feet, scaly skin and some lichen-like stuff as clothing. Only her hair had grown longer and messier, what I had taken to be a pile of seaweed! She didn't speak as I stood there, nor did she jump at my throat like the day I first met her. I half-expected her to attack me again and didn't move an inch.
"Err...“ I began uncertainly. "It’s you... Isn't it?"
She nodded slowly, still looking at me. She seemed to understand me and for some reason I was surprised that she did.
"W--- who are you?" I was going to ask her, "What are you?" but stopped myself.
She remained silent for a moment and then said, "Fish."
I gaped at her. She can speak and understand my language? Though I don’t know why it baffled me so much. May be because she seemed like a non-human creature. Her voice was hoarse and a bit rough, and she spoke slowly. Fish? I thought. That doesn't make any sense at all...
"You can't be a fish," I told her and her eyes widened enquiringly.
I’m too fast for her, I thought, trying to understand whatever she meant by fish. I have to slow down.
I spoke to her more slowly and clearly. "You mean... You live in the water?"
She frowned this time. It’s hopeless, I thought, staring at the river which was flowing silently. Then suddenly an idea struck me.
I walked to the edge of the river, put my hand in the water and moved it back and forth, making a swishing sound.
"Water?" I asked her again. "Do you live in the water?" She looked at the river, then back to my face and nodded.
Good, I thought, satisfied that I was able to make her understand, and smiled. She smiled back.
"Well... What is your name?"
It was my turn to frown at her in confusion this time. She simply shook her head.
"Your name," I repeated even more slowly, but she just shook her head.
"You don't have a name?" I asked in surprise.
"No," she said, in that same hoarse voice. Then she pointed at me and asked, "What are you?"
Pretty offensive, I thought, half-laughing. I guess she just wants to know my name.
"Umm... Patrick," I told her.
"Umpatrick," she repeated and my face fell.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "Patrick. I am Patrick."
This time she understood and said, "You Patrick."
I nodded enthusiastically, but she was looking elsewhere... looking at something behind me. I turned to see what had caught her attention. It was my lunch.
But it’s wrapped in a piece of cloth, I thought. Can she see through that? Don't tell me...
"Do you want to eat?" I asked her, speaking slowly again.
"Eat," she repeated, whether she understood or not I didn't know.
I brought the parcel over to where she was sitting and unwrapped it. There were four thick sandwiches. I tore-off a small piece from the topmost one and gave it to her. She sniffed at it.
"It’s not for sniffing, you know," I told her. She stared at me in confusion. "Yeah, I'm too fast... sorry."
I tore off another small piece of sandwich at stuffed it into my mouth. Maggie is really getting good in the kitchen, I thought.
Taking the hint, she slowly put her piece of sandwich into her mouth as well. First she chewed slowly, then swallowed it fast.
May be she liked it, I thought and held out the remaining of the sandwich to her, immediately wishing I hadn't.
For a moment she gazed at the sandwich in my hand, and then she lunged at it. Totally taken by surprise, I withdrew my hand but the damage was already done. There were four deep cuts on my forearm which was bleeding heavily. I hurried to the edge of the river and put my hand into the running water. It throbbed painfully.