A Tale Of Water

Chapter 2

Marnie was the first to scream, and I had to admire her tenacity because i was till struggling with the concept of continuous breathing.

We had somehow ended up back on the shore, dry mostly, except for the occasional mud splatter. All of us were splayed out, as if dropped, across the crushed rubble where the forest roots meet the water.

He, or it, whatever the thing in the middle of the water was, still stood silently in the water. It raised it's hands, as if to shush Marnie, but it was really no use. She was clearly in shock, and terrified. I know, because I was pretty sure we all were, I think. I knew I was at least.

A glance in Fitz's direction told me he was too. His eyes were darting from the group to the thing in the water. We locked eyes for a moment, and it helped ground me. I felt my breathing return to normal, and Fitz shifted his stance. We were in this together, even if we weren't exactly sure what this was.

Steve looked shell-shocked, his knuckles were white from his grip on a nearby branch. He looekd ready to run away, his jacket had a large gash across the top, and his usually styled hair was a complete mess.

Vivian was the only one who didn't look scared. She looked disappointed more than anything. Confused, maybe? I didn't know her well enough to even begin to try and figure that one out.

It, was still engulfed in the water, its body bobbing with the pulse of the waves. It was odd, there didn't appear to be a drop of water touching the thing. You would think it was dry, except for the massive amount of water it was currently submerged in.

It opened its mouth to speak, and that's all Marnie needed. It was the extra jolt to pull her out of the super she seemed to be in, and she bolted. Still screaming.

Fitz followed without a moment of hesitation.

I looked over at Steve, not wanting to be left behind with whatever this things was. We both quickly stood up, but Vivian stayed sitting. Staring at it.

Steve and I each pulled one of her hands, and she didn't struggle. We dragged her, and as we ran I waited for the retaliation.

But it never came.

Instead, a soft voice filled my head.

"Wait." It whispered in the same calming manner. I slowed my pace, and Vivian stopped moving completely. So, I knew she heard it too.

Steve was not wasting time though. "Keep moving!" He snapped.

--

The woods were pitch black now, and we held our hands in front of us to push away the stray branches. Marnie's screams were the only thing guiding us.

I had always been terrified of the dark growing up. In fact, I still had a nightlight in my bedroom. But somehow, I felt safe in the darkness of this strange's Scottish forest.

We soon caught up with Marnie and Fitz. They had reached a portion of the road that cut through the woods. Marnie was on the ground, still screaming, but Fitz was holding her now. Trying to comfort her.

He gave me a nod when we cleared the forest and met up with them.

"We should probably walk down the road until we run into a car. I'm sure people are looking for us."

I nodded at Steve's idea. "How late do you think it is? How long were we . . ." I let my question trail off, no one wanted to answer it. I didn't even want to think about it.

Marnie's screams subsided for a moment, and she lifted her head. "I don't know if I can walk anymore." She looked back down.

"I'll carry you," Fitz offered.

"Why didn't it come after us?" Vivian looked around as she spoke, finally returning from her shell. Her voice was soft, almost childlike.

"I don't think it could leave the water." Fitz mumbled.

"I think you're right," Steve nodded.

"So, should we wait here? Do you think someone heard Marnie's screams?" I had just finished asking when two bright headlight beams cut through the darkness.

"I think they found us," Steve muttered, glancing at Fitz and Marnie.

It was the same rundown school bus we took to get to Loch Ness. The sides were coated in a think layer of mud, inter cut with large patterns of rust. We could soon make out the grizzled driver, who wasn't exactly excited to take American high school students out here to begin with. His head was leaning out of the window, clearly people had been looking for us.

An extremely frazzled Mrs. Carnan bounded off the bus, before it had made a complete stop.

"Marnie, Olive, Vivian, Steve, and Fitz. Thank god." She let out a restrained sigh. There was a flash of anger across her face, once her panic subsided, but that immediately transformed into worry as she rushed towards us. She was taking in the torrent of tears gushing down Marnie's face. It was only then that I noticed the many cuts, and scratches across all of our faces and hands, and realized we must have gotten cut up running through the woods. I touched my own face and realized it was streaked with blood.

Mrs. Carnan turned to each of us.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Who needs to go to the hospital? Can I feed any of you? There's water on the bus." She didn't let any of answer, instead she softly steered and pushed us onto the bus.

"We've all been so worried, let me tell you, I almost called the superintendent. Everyone said you either drowned, or got lost making out in the woods." She paused, and looked at us. "You weren't all making out, were you?"

"I wish," Fitz sighed.

"Good." Mrs. Carnan passed us each a blanket, and a bag of snacks. "I thought, well to be honest, I didn't know what I thought, but I was so upset. Everyone was, even Mr. McPherson."

She pointed to the grizzly driver, and for some reason as I looked at him, he didn't strike me as the type of person to get too worked up over something like this.

"What happened?" Mrs. Carnan took a seat, as the bus lurched forward down the dark road.

I knew it was a question we were going to have to answer, I just didn't have an answer. You couldn't exactly tell someone like Mrs. Carnan that a few of you heard a voice and that somehow we had been pulled into Loch Ness, with a man or a thing. We'd sound insane, even if all of us said the exact same thing.

"Bear," Marnie choked out the word.

"Pardon?" Mrs. Carnan leaned over to her. Fitz grabbed Marnie's shoulder, and I saw Steve shoot him a glance.

"Bears," Marnie sputtered. "We got chased by a bear."

Mrs. Carnan's hand immediately clutched her chest, and then she moved next to Marnie.

"You poor dears, all of you. Thank God you're safe. Don't worry, everyone is waiting for your safe arrival at the hotel. I'll text them now. You can all have a warm bath, bears? Really? They did not warn us about that in the tour-guide. We'll have a doctor fix those cuts on your faces, a bear!"

She protectively stroked Marnie's arm, and Marnie erupted into a new round of soft sobs.
"No more bears, dear, no more bears." Mrs. Carnan muttered as she texted with her free hand.

Like I said, you really had to admire Marnie's tenacity.