by Frank Martin
The formless blob of a shape grew as it rose on an angle towards the shoreline. The strange shadow reminded April of the one she saw under the dock. It then suddenly came alive, wiggling as it approached her. April squinted to focus in on the water above the object, which bubbled and rippled just before a slimy, grey mass emerged through the surface.
April didn’t stay there long enough to see the object rise completely. Startled, she stumbled backward several feet before smacking into a tree. Stuck somewhere between fear and curiosity, April stayed in the position, her back pressed against the tree, her eyes fixated at the edge of the ground. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest against her short, forceful breaths, which stopped with a sudden gasp when a grey, tentacle reached up over the ground.
Frozen in place, April watched as the tentacle dug into the dirt and pulled up a bizarre creature unlike anything she’d seen before. It was short, fat, and about the size of a pit bull, but its pallid, rotund body stood on three completely different sets of legs. The front set held tentacles like the one she first saw, but the back two had sharp claws that latched up large chunks of dirt as it walked.
The creature’s head was about proportional to its body. It also had features that April thought she recognized, yet nothing was where she’d expect it to be. The creature’s face reminded April of a Picasso painting. It had what looked like two bright blue slats arranged in a cross pattern for an eye, which blinked by having slimy flaps of skin smacking over it. Wrapped above this “t” shaped eye was a full half-circle of a seam that would’ve stretched from ear to ear if the creature had them. April guessed the seam had to be its mouth. A very large mouth at that. And her theory was confirmed as the seam spread apart to reveal a gaping hole filled with a spiral of razor sharp teeth.
April knew there were more animals in the world than she could possibly fathom. Weird, almost alien-like creatures that were beyond words to describe. But those beasts lived in far-flung corners of the planet. The deserts of Africa. The mountains of Asia. Even the frozen tundra of Antarctica. Unlike the urban jungle she came from, April knew these woods were teeming with wildlife, but it was still New York. A porcupine was probably the craziest thing she thought she’d encounter.
This…was something else entirely.
The creature, whatever it was, continued to approach April, slapping its tentacles into the soil as it moved. Although she was nervous, April’s fear had yet to demand action. Carefully sidestepping around the tree, April slowly tried to distance herself from the creature. She steadily moved backward, one cautious step at a time, until her bare foot landed on a tree branch and filled the quiet morning air with the sound of a snap.
The creature reacted to the noise by snarling, unhinging its jaw down to the ground and opening its mouth as wide as its whole body. A glob of mucus spewed out from within the densely packed spiral of teeth and the beast unleashed a visceral roar that sent April into a panic.
She immediately turned around and took off through the woods. Again, April had no idea where she was going. All she knew was that she was running up the hillside away from the lake.
It was difficult for April to move up the hill. She had to pump her legs to climb while the rough brush scraped against the soles of her feet. She hoped to outrun the creature, whose short, chunky body seemed unfit for a chase, yet even without turning around, April could sense the creature gaining on her. It constantly grunted during the pursuit, snorting like some kind of deformed pig. The tentacles and claws alternated as it ran, slapping and scratching across the grass.
The chaotic noises behind April grew louder with each step she took until she could practically hear the creature beside her. For a second, April braced for the creature to catch her. She imagined the spiral of teeth sinking into the back of her calf, maybe even tearing her leg clean off. She pictured the blood and thought of the pain…but it never came.
Instead, April watched as the creature blew past her at an eerily fast pace. Its body seemed to run and slide at the same time, slithering its tentacles up while its back claws propelled it forward.
April stopped running to observe the creature move. She was still terrified, her heart racing faster than she could count, but she was also intrigued. Especially when the creature saw that she had stopped moving and turned around to face her.
They were now only a few feet apart. Close enough for April to see the tiny scales across its skin bounce up and down as it panted like a dog. The creature’s blue cross for an eye glossed a ghostly white, almost as if it were trying to focus on April while blinking several times. Still out of breath, its mouth hung open ever so slightly on a twisted angle, just enough for April to see the tips of its teeth.
It wasn’t snarling anymore, but the bizarre expression was difficult for April to decipher. She waited for several moments to see if anything changed, but it didn’t. If anything, the creature’s mouth curled even further in opposite directions. If April didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought the creature was…smiling.
April’s mind yelled at her to retreat. To get as far away from this thing as she could. But as ugly as it was, she felt a warmth from it. An indescribable connection that compelled her to reach for it.
April barely held her hand out, but the creature readily hopped forward, bringing the top of its head into her fingertips. Its flesh was just as slimy as it looked and its scales just as prickly. But the texture didn’t irritate April. It felt stimulating. Nice even. Like a ticklish scratch.
The sensation only grew as the creature nuzzled its head deeper into April’s palm. It seemed to like her and wanted to be petted. Despite its fierce grotesqueness, April found the creature to be innocently sweet. She wouldn’t go so far as to call it adorable. Cute would’ve been pushing it. But it didn’t seem dangerous. At least, at the moment.
It was still a wild animal. If it was indeed an animal, at all. April wasn’t so sure. She didn’t necessarily believe in supernatural creatures or aliens. In her eyes, the simplest explanation was usually the right one, which meant she probably just discovered a new species. But still, April couldn’t deny that this thing was just so…weird.
None of that really mattered now, though. For the time being April forgot where she was and how she got there. More importantly, she forgot why she was there in the first place. All that mattered was that she found a creature that liked her and seemed determined to make her laugh, rolling around on the ground with an abundance of goofy playfulness.
The smile on April’s face never left as long as the creature was with her. In fact, the smile remained as the creature eventually scooted off down the hill some time later and slipped back into the water.
CHAPTER SIX
April wasn’t quite sure what to do about her new friend. She found the experience strange and bizarre yet oddly exciting. What if she really did discover a whole new species? And not just that. She bonded with it, too.
A whole swarm of questions bombarded her mind as she trekked back through the woods, barely concerned that she was headed in the right direction. Were there any more of those things in the lake? Was the one she saw fully grown or just a baby? If it was a new species, could she name it?
But in order to do that she actually had to tell someone first. But who? She couldn’t tell Mark. As much as she loved her brother, his first instinct would probably be to hunt and kill the thing. If it were a scientific discovery then calling a scientist made sense, but how does one even go about doing that? It wasn’t like there was a science hotline she could dial. Maybe there was a university or some kind of research center she could reach out to, but then what? They would just try to capture it, too. Lock it away in a cage somewhere, poking and prodding the poor guy until it keeled over and died. All so they could cut it open and see if it was as strange on the inside as it was on the outside.
April knew she always had the option of confiding in her uncle, but after last night…
She was too frightened to even finis
h that thought.
April emerged from the woods into her uncle’s backyard about the same time she decided to keep the secret to herself. No one was out on the water yet, but the sun had completely risen over the treetops, shining amidst a clear blue sky. The remnants of mist that were still floating through the air when she left the house were now gone, leaving April a clear path across the grass and up the walkway to the guesthouse.
She was surprised to find Mark awake and eating breakfast. He greeted her, but that was about it. If he was curious as to where she went so early in the morning then he didn’t show it.
April wondered if it was even worth telling her brother what happened last night. In order to do that, though, first she had to think about it. She was having trouble even acknowledging it happened and spent the night trying to think of anything else. Her new friend in the woods helped distract her from the horror, but now that was over. It was time for April to figure out how to handle the repercussions.
She briefly weighed the pros and cons that came with telling Mark the truth. Her brother was already having so much fun at the lake. He thought the world of Henry and April didn’t want to be the one to ruin that. Plus, it might’ve been the one and only time Henry would even try such a thing. Was it really worth ruining their summer over one stupid night?
In the end though, April asked herself one question that made up her mind: if it happened to Mark, would she want to know about it? The answer was a resounding yes. Protecting her brother was the most important thing in the world, and April would want to know if someone, anyone, wronged him. For all their bickering, she knew Mark felt the same way about her. So keeping a secret like this from him would be betraying that bond. He deserved to know the truth, and April sat down at the breakfast table to tell him.
“Mark,” she said, gravely. “There’s something you should know.”
Mark’s eyes eagerly shot open. “Oh, that reminds me.”
Before April had a chance to react, Mark wiped the stream of milk dribbling down his chin, pushed the bowl of cereal aside, and leapt from his seat, zooming back into the living room. When he returned, a box with a cheap plastic chess set rested in his arms.
“Wanna play?” he asked with a daringly raised eyebrow.
He looked so excited that it pained April to shake her head with a regretful frown. “Not right now. I have to tell you something.”
Undeterred by her response, Mark sat back in his seat and took the lid off the box. “Uh-uh. You want to talk then you’ll have to play me.”
In less than a second, Mark turned the box upside down, dumping the board and pieces across the table.
April knew this was no time for games. The two of them had to have a serious discussion, but fighting her brother was pointless. Once he got an idea in his head there was no talking him out of it. He already had the board flat on the table and was standing his pawns in a row. The only way for April to get his attention was to just come out and say what Henry did to her.
She opened her mouth to speak but choked on the words when Henry’s voice interrupted. “April, can I talk to you for a second?”
April fought the urge to face her uncle standing in the sliding glass door beside the table. Her pulsing heart sunk deeper into her chest as the moment froze in time. She could sense him lurking there, staring at her, waiting for an answer.
Luckily, Mark piped up in her place. “Aww, c’mon, Uncle Henry. We were just about to start a game and—”
April stood from the table, waving a hand over the chessboard. “It’s okay, Mark. Just set everything up. We’ll play in a second.”
“Fine,” Mark huffed disappointedly. “But I’m not making any promises I won’t cheat when you get back.”
When April finally turned towards the door all she saw was her uncle’s back as he walked around the outside of the house to wait for her. She followed him out, but her mind was elsewhere. She imagined herself at home in the city, lying in bed, texting with one of her friends. Not here. And certainly not about to talk to the last person in the world she wanted to see.
What did Henry want? Was he going to apologize? Did he want to smooth things over? Cover his tracks? April had no idea. All she knew was that she couldn’t ignore him and had no choice but to confront her fear head on.
As she stepped outside and turned the corner she found her uncle standing in a weak power pose with a merciful smile under that stupid bucket hat. April stared him down, blank and emotionless. Last time, he took advantage of her vulnerability, slipping into her room like a snake. She was determined to never show weakness again.
April thought it wise not to make the first move, to wait and see how best to approach the conversation, so she remained silent, waiting until Henry clasped his hands together to begin. “So about last night...”
He paused, bearing his teeth in a wide, awkward smile. April’s eyebrows rose, anticipating her uncle’s next words. Would they be remorseful? Embarrassed? Dodgy?
Henry held the expression a moment longer, leaving April in momentary suspense before spitting out the sentence in a single breath. “I think it’s a good idea if we keep it as our little secret, don’t you think?”
April shook her head, her teeth and nose flaring into a sneer. She wasn’t surprised by his reaction. Mainly because she didn’t know what to expect. But her uncle’s shameless request cleared her head. Where there was confusion before, now there was only rage. “You should have never—”
“Think about Mark,” Henry interrupted, calmly.
For the second time, Henry caught April off guard by bringing up her brother. He then looked to the small window beside them, which had a clear shot of Mark sitting at the kitchen table with his back to them.
“You’re a very smart girl, April,” Henry said as she watched her brother dutifully setting up the chess pieces. “If someone were to find out about our secret then bad things could happen to him.”
Henry’s voice was soft and caring, but the meaning behind his words were as clear as day. April understood the threat perfectly, but that didn’t stop her uncle from spelling it out for her. “They’d take you and your brother away from me. And with your parents unreachable out of the country, who knows where you two would wind up. I wouldn’t worry about you, but Mark…”
Henry trailed off, only resuming his thought once April took her focus off the window and returned it to him. “They’d send you back to the city and put you in separate homes. It could be weeks, months even, before you’re back together. Imagine what could happen to him during that time. He’d be scared and alone, instead of laughing and having fun on the water. The lake is where he belongs this summer, and I would hate to see you do anything that would crush his little heart.”
Weighing her options, April’s piercing scowl slowly returned to her face. From the moment she saw him, there was something about her uncle that didn’t sit right with her. But after several days of kindness, April brushed aside her feelings about him, wrote it off as quirky weirdness. Now she realized the truth. Her uncle always was a creepy sleazebag. There was no doubt about it.
That didn’t mean he was wrong, though. Mark would never keep this secret to himself. He would desperately want to tell someone to protect his sister’s honor. But that meant throwing their summer into an uncertain future, filled with group homes and social workers. In order to avoid that fate, April really did have to keep the horror of that night to herself, at least for the time being. And it would be well worth it if it meant protecting her brother’s happiness by keeping him in the dark.
Staying this course meant there wasn’t anything April could do about the past, but she put a firm finger in her uncle’s face, determined to control her future. “You don’t touch me again. Understand?”
April’s stern warning had no effect on Henry, who smiled and nodded, satisfied by her response. “Good girl.”
They continued to stare each other down. April with fierce intensity. Henry with obnoxious pleasantness.
“Oh,” Henry exclaimed suddenly, giddily holding up a finger as if a thought just popped into his head. “I almost forgot. I bought you something.”
April was sickened by the way her uncle so casually changed gears. He brushed off her feelings as nothing, his mind already elsewhere as he picked up a giant surfboard that leaned against the house. “I was so hurt when you told Sheriff Thompson I didn’t have a boat that I wanted to find a way for you to enjoy the water.”
He held the board out for her to take, but April scanned it instead, confused by the gesture.
“Hard for me to surf on a lake with no waves,” she chided.
Henry chuckled while struggling to maneuver the giant board in his small hands. “No, silly. This is way too big to be a surfboard.”
April crossed her arms, still suspicious of the gift. “Then what is it?”
“It’s a paddleboard,” Henry replied as if the answer were obvious.
“Paddleboard?” April repeated.
Henry looked the board up and down again, proud of his purchase. “Yeah. There are a bunch of people out on the lake that have them.”
“You lie down on it?” April sighed, annoyed that she was even bothering to show an interest.
Henry nodded. “You can. A lot of people stand up, though. Or you could kneel. Whatever you want. I left the paddle down by the dock for you. Give it a try whenever you want.”
April eyed the board one more time, her glare burning a hole through its hull. It was pathetic, she thought. A pitiful bribe for an unspeakable betrayal. The fact that Henry even considered this acceptable made her want to rip the stupid board from his arms and beat him over the head with it.
Or she would…if the thought of actually getting out on the lake didn’t appeal to her so much. The board, however unlikely it was, served as a reminder of the creature she met and provided an opportunity to encounter it again.
Swallowing her pride, April clenched her teeth as she reached out and took the gift from her uncle, careful not to brush against his hand as she did. “I’ll think about it.”