Oscawana

by Frank Martin

  Yet April still woke up at the same time like clockwork. Following her routine, she put on her bathing suit, left the guesthouse, and breathed in the crisp morning air as she headed down the path to the dock. Only difference this time was she passed her paddleboard by like it wasn’t even there.

  Instead, April walked down to the end of the dock and stood with her toes curled over the edge. She looked out over the lake, which today had a fine ripple that gave off a wavy reflection. In a very short time, April went from dismissing the lake to admiring its clarity, especially when it was empty. The calm, peaceful tranquility cleared her mind and sharpened her thoughts. It allowed April to realize what was important to her. Not some stupid paddleboard that gave Oscar a platform to play. It was Oscar itself. Just him. He was what mattered. And as long as she had that, everything was going to be okay.

  April locked in on that thought and held it in her mind as she wound her arms back and then threw them forward, propelling herself off of the dock into a dive. Soaring through the air, April’s arms came together at the front of her head. Her hands, positioned straight out like a dart, carved the water as they pierced through it.

  April was momentarily submerged, her body gliding just under the surface before coming up for air. She took a deep breath as her arms seamlessly transitioned into a crawl. April wasn’t an excellent swimmer, but she had enough confidence to get herself across the lake. Getting back would be another story, but she chose not to dwell on it. Finding Oscar was the only thing on her mind.

  With determination driving her forward, April kicked her legs while continuing to swim. Her arms alternated in a strong, fluid movement as they rose into the air before cutting down into the water. Left. Right. Left. Right. Each stroke just as forceful as the last.

  She didn’t have to worry about boats or other swimmers. There was never anyone out on the water this early. It was why she chose this time to hang out with Oscar in the first place. So April kept her eyes closed as she swam, trying to stay on as straight a line as possible.

  She held onto the same pace for as long as she could. Until her arms burned and her legs started to cramp. April still didn’t quit, though. She fought through the pain as every breath felt like a gasp for life. She swore it had to have been at least ten minutes since she left the dock. Long enough for her to stop for a well earned break and check her progress.

  But when April opened her eyes, she grunted when she saw she was barely halfway across the lake. Certainly nowhere near Goose Rock, which was where she planned to find Oscar waiting for her.

  Treading water in place, April hoped to regain some strength, but she found staying afloat was just as taxing as moving forward. She quickly regretted not putting on her life jacket and started having second thoughts that she could make it across the lake at all.

  Tired and weak, her kicking feet began slowing down, and April found her head sinking lower into the water. Her mind falling into a panic, April started weighing her options. Maybe it was time to head back, but could she even make it? Maybe there was a house that was closer or she could float around on her back long enough for someone to find her.

  With the lake now up to April’s chin, water began seeping into her mouth with every breath. This was it, she thought. It was time to make a decision.

  Before she could, though, the rough texture of Oscar’s scales brushed against her toes. He then rose higher, pushing into her legs until April was firmly straddling his back.

  Finally able to relax, every muscle in April’s body instantly felt relief. Spent beyond her limits, April collapsed forward onto the ring of fins along Oscar’s back. For a moment, Oscar didn’t move at all. He just stayed floating in place, allowing April the time she needed to recuperate.

  When she was ready, April gave Oscar a hug and thanked him for the save. Only her arms couldn’t wrap around his body. Not completely. Not like before.

  It was only then that April realized she was actually riding him, which seemed strange given the fact that he was barely up to her knees the first time they met.

  Had he really gotten so big so fast? Was that kind of growth even possible?

  Before April had a chance to ponder her question, Oscar wiggled his body to swim forward. Unsure of the slippery grip her thighs had around his slimy scales, April stayed low against his back, hanging on for dear life.

  It wasn’t that Oscar swam fast. It was that his movements seemed strange and unnatural. His body gyrated up and down in a bizarre swimming motion, completely different than what April was used to.

  But she eventually got the hang of it and flowed in tune with Oscar’s rhythm. He must’ve sensed she was comfortable, too, as he started to pick up speed, gradually skimming along the surface faster and faster until April could’ve sworn she was on a boat.

  She knew how weird it must’ve looked if someone happened to peek out the window and saw her zipping and zooming around the lake, but April didn’t care. She was having too much fun. So much that she released her legs from around Oscar’s body and allowed them to trail behind her in the water.

  With a firm grip around the newly formed fins on Oscar’s back, April held on tight as Oscar dipped under the surface. Not too deep that her ears hurt. But just deep enough for April to feel the rush of gliding through the water. Oscar rolled around, twirling April in circles before leaping up into the air and then diving back down.

  When it was all over, April found the experience thrilling, if also somewhat nauseating. She definitely had a good time, though wasn’t quite sure she could handle going that fast again. One thing was undisputable, though. Being pulled around the lake by Oscar was way better than riding a paddleboard.

  CHAPTER NINE

  After Oscar took her for a wild ride around the lake, April decided the paddleboard just wasn’t cutting it anymore. The next morning, instead of dropping the paddleboard in the water, she went to the edge of the dock and jumped in. She swam out to the middle of the lake, which this time was considerably easier given that she put the life jacket on beforehand.

  April only made it halfway to Goose Rock before Oscar swept in under her and took off down the lake. April never considered herself much of a water rat. It was hard enough finding pools in the city, let alone ones she wanted to go to all the time, but in the days that followed, April found herself jumping into the lake more and more. Even on the weekend, when there was zero chance of Oscar navigating the traffic jam of boats to join her.

  April felt her swimming improve. Each time out she could go longer without getting tired. It was fun riding Oscar, having him whisk her around the lake on his back. April really enjoyed just swimming with him, too, letting him go crazy around her while she practiced her strokes in the middle of the lake. He would literally swim circles around her, under her, over her, with way more energy than was needed.

  It was a fun time April always looked forward to. Until one day she went out and Oscar didn’t come.

  At first, April thought she just had to swim out further and eventually he would join her. Maybe he was sleeping or just hadn’t seen her yet. But when April made it all the way out to Goose Rock and Oscar still hadn’t shown, she started to get nervous.

  She immediately headed back to the dock, worrying the whole way there. Her arms and legs burned with every stroke and kick, even worse than the first time she swam out into the water without a life vest. April didn’t care. She pushed harder, desperate to get back and figure out what happened.

  As soon as she pulled herself up the metal stepladder and onto the dock, April bolted to the grass, ready to search for her missing friend. There was just one problem. Where should she begin?

  April never had this issue before. Oscar was always right there waiting for her every time she went out. She never had to look for him. Ever. In fact, besides the lake, there was only one other place she ever saw him, and that was the woods beside the house the first time they met.

  Without a better plan in mind, April headed towards the
property line, dripping water across the grass along the way. She entered the woods without a second thought, much like she did on the morning she first encountered Oscar. Except this time she wasn’t a frantic mess, running aimlessly just to escape her own head. She was walking, every step measured and controlled as she looked ahead for movement between the dense trees.

  “Oscar,” she called out loudly, stretching out his name so that it carried through the air. “Oscar, you around?”

  It pained April to think about what could’ve happened to him. He could be hurt, captured, or…April struggled to consider it…dead. There was also the strong possibility that Oscar just took off and ran away. April assumed the lake to be his home, but she really had no evidence to back that up. This was just the only place she’d ever known him to be in the short time they’d been together.

  It was perfectly plausible that he was only visiting and went back to where he came from. But would he really leave without a final visit or even saying goodbye? April knew it was a strange thing to have hurt feelings over, but she couldn’t help it. She thought they had a connection.

  “I hope you’re not mad at me, buddy,” she said, again projecting her voice. “Don't know why you would be, but who knows what goes on in that crazy looking head of yours.”

  As April continued to wander through the woods, a single word she said caught her attention: crazy. Because that’s what this was, she realized. Crazy. She was walking barefoot through a forest, calling out to some bizarre creature she met in the wild. A creature she’d been swimming with every morning as if they were best friends. A creature with one eye, a spiral set of teeth, and two tentacles. Maybe crazy wasn’t even strong enough. Perhaps insane was more appropriate.

  There was always the chance that Oscar wasn’t real. That she’d imagined the whole thing. Some sort of post-traumatic reaction to avoiding her uncle. After all, what made more sense? That she discovered a new, rapidly growing species in upstate New York, or that her mind was fractured and broken after being abused by someone she trusted.

  Although she was still moving forward, April slowed down her search, which allowed the doubt to take hold. “You’re probably not even out here, anyway. I’m just drifting through the woods, talking to myself, wondering how the hell did I ever...”

  April’s train of thought drifted off as a mix of squishy, crunchy noises caught her attention. She rounded a tree in the sound’s direction and found Oscar not fifteen feet in front of her. She didn’t call out to him, though. He looked busy, hunched over something unseen, and the image of what he might be doing put a knot of dread in April’s stomach.

  Her body instinctually backed away, but Oscar instantly heard the ruffling of grass and brush beneath April’s feet. His head popped up, shifted from side to side several times, and then spun around to face April, who gasped at the sight of him. A cascading falls of blood seeped from his mouth, coating his face while flowing around his cross-shaped eye. His mouth was open, twisted and smiling, but also revealing a huge, shredded chunk of raw meat stuck in the spiral of his teeth.

  Looking to his feet, April saw what Oscar had been eating. It was a small, mutilated corpse covered in torn bits of reddish-brown fur. April thought she recognized a paw, maybe an ear that could’ve belonged to a wild fox or coyote. It was hard to tell. April wasn’t exactly an animal expert and the body had been disfigured beyond recognition.

  Now that Oscar was out of the water, April could see just how big he’d gotten. When she first met the creature, he was just a little pudgy thing. Short, fat, and rotund. Now he looked a bit fuller with firm definition in his slim legs and tentacles. He wasn’t quite as tall as she was but definitely wider and longer. Not to mention thicker. And definitely more than twice her weight. Way larger than any dog she could describe.

  The spikes along his ribs had changed, as well. They grew longer but never expanded into fins like those higher up on his back. The tiny spikes protruded out like fingers, a truly bizarre feature on a body that was already full of them.

  Taking the sight in left April in a state of shock. Something Oscar was oblivious to as he started bounding towards her, happily allowing his tongue to flap around out of his mouth.

  “St—stay back a second,” April stammered, holding her hand out to halt the creature’s approach. “Just…let me catch my breath, okay?”

  Oscar obliged by stopping a few feet from April’s hand. He casually sat down and stared up at her with the same cheerful expression April had come to love. Only this time the blood sopping across it put her on edge.

  “Nice, Oscar,” she said, cautiously reaching out to him. “Easy, boy.”

  He extended his head, ready for her to pet it. But April reached past his neck to examine the spikes on his side. They were sharp, she noticed. Much sharper than his fins. Almost like tiny versions of the claws on his feet. Talons was the best word she could use to describe them.

  As she brushed her fingers across them, Oscar closed his eye and nuzzled against her hand. It wasn’t her intention to scratch him, but the fact that Oscar enjoyed it nonetheless made April smile.

  “Oh, Oscar,” she sighed while staring into his placid, blood-soaked face. “What am I ever going to do with you?”

  While watching the creature enjoy himself, April contemplated what came next. She always had an inkling he was dangerous. How could he not be with teeth and claws like that? But he was always so sweet and kind to her. There didn’t seem to be a violent bone in his body. April wasn’t feeding him, though, and knew he had to get food from somewhere. What did she expect? The real problem was could she continue to see him knowing what he was capable of?

  Refusing to answer her own question, April continued scratching the talons for about a minute when a voice echoed through the forest. “April!”

  Opening his eye, Oscar’s head shot up as he listened in for a follow up.

  “April!” the familiar voice repeated.

  “It’s all right,” April said, petting Oscar’s back to calm him down. “It’s just Mark. My brother.”

  Oscar turned to her and tilted his head, confused by her remark.

  “I have to go to him,” she explained. “Just stay here. Can you do that?”

  He relaxed his tense body into a sitting position, a sign that he understood. Even with him covered in blood, April still couldn’t help but feel touched by the creature’s obedience.

  “I want to see you later, though,” she said. “I’ll come out to the rocks this afternoon. Promise me you’ll be there?”

  Oscar’s body didn’t move. Only his eye blinked, as the wet blood still streaming around it dripped to the forest floor. It was kind of a sad, almost desperate sight that April struggled to look away from as she started back the way she came. “Just…be careful, Oscar.”

  She then continued on while periodically glancing back over her shoulder. Oscar remained sitting in the same spot. He never moved as long as she was in sight.

  When April emerged from the woods she found Mark patiently waiting for her on the grass.

  “What were you doing in there?” he asked, curiously.

  “I wanted to explore,” April stated flatly as she approached him.

  Mark’s face scrunched. The answer only added to his confusion. “With no shoes on?”

  April stopped in front of him and let out an annoyed sigh. “Is there something you wanted?”

  “Uncle Henry wants to take us to Mr. O’s for lunch,” he replied.

  April cringed on the inside. She’d done a decent job of avoiding her uncle over the past couple of days, but the thought of sitting in the car with him, acting like everything was normal, made her skin crawl.

  Even though she was screaming in her head, April kept up the role of apathetic teenager by rolling her eyes. “Pass.”

  “Come on,” Mark nagged. “They have ice cream there, too.”

  April coldly waved off her brother’s appeal as she stepped to walk around him. “Not in the mood.”
>
  Mark waited until April made it halfway across the grass before calling out to her. “I lied. Henry doesn’t want to take us.”

  Surprised by Mark’s confession, April stopped in her tracks. The revelation could’ve meant a million different things, and not knowing the reason behind it irritated her to no end.

  “What?” she asked while turning around, glaring at her brother with more scorn than she intended.

  Nervous to reveal the truth, Mark fidgeted his hands against his stomach. “Well…he does. Or he will. It’s just…I asked him to take us. It’s me who wants to go.”

  April apathetically shrugged her shoulders, as if she didn’t understand her brother’s point. “So go.”

  “I want to go with you,” he said, his voice sincere and vulnerable. “We haven’t gone anywhere since the movie and Mr. O’s has really good wings.”

  Now it all made sense. They’d been living in the same house together. Eating meals with one another. Even sharing in the occasional conversation. The two siblings interacted more this summer than they had all last year. And despite purposefully annoying her when the situation called for it, Mark actually liked spending time with his sister, no matter how often she beat him at Scrabble.

  But lately, Oscar had been taking up a lot more of her attention. When April spent more and more time on the lake, that meant she spent less and less time with her brother. The bottom line was that Mark missed his sister, and it pained her that it was mostly her fault.

  “Please,” he implored as he gawked at her with wide, puppy dog eyes.

  April silently cursed at herself and had to muster the strength just to nod. “Let me change. I’ll be up there in a few minutes.”

  Mark pumped his fist and took off up the walkway towards their uncle’s house. April watched him the whole way until he disappeared inside. She then said a little prayer for herself before sulking off towards the guesthouse, wondering how the day could get any worse. At least she had a couple of minutes to prepare before being stuck with her uncle in an enclosed space.