THE GIRL AND THE HERDEROU

Prologue...

The crisp morning air was cold, and on this particular day—as it always was—the sky was thick with storming clouds. Maddy stood on the dock, along with the rest of the townspeople, her rain boots already filled with rain water. All had cheerful smiles spread across their faces, but their eyes showed their grave worry. Every year a hunting ship is sent beyond the horizon, to defeat the great hurderou. A snake-like beast —over one hundred feet long—that has terrorized the water for centuries, maybe even decades. And every year that ship fails, washing upon the shore with its sailors long gone at sea.

The crowd began to part, and erupted into an array of cheers as the new crew made their way down the rocking dock. And amongst that line of sailors was her older brother. He paused in front of Maddy.

"Regan!" She hugged him tightly, his scarlet scarf whipping in her face.

"What do you think? I'm an official crew member of Herderou ship, pretty cool huh?" Nothing could wipe the smile away from her face.

"It's amazing. You know, one day I'm going to be just like you. And we'll fight the monsters together hand in hand!" Regans soft chuckled slowly faded as he pulled off his scarf and wrapped it around Maddy's neck. She stared for a second mouth open in confusion.

" I want you to have this, dad gave it to me as something to remember him by. Now I'm giving it to you, so you can remember me." A man called from on the ship and he ran to join them. Maddys smile faded as the boat departed farther and farther from the dock.

"REGAN!" She tried to call from him, but her voice was overtaken by the crowd. Her excitement had been overtaken by her worry. She watched as men lowered themselves to the side of the boat, spears in hand and canyons were loaded.

She could feel her heart burning as it pounded against her chest begging for her to stop her brother from continuing. Before she knew it, the boat drifted into the far off mist, where the giant head of the hurderou raised out of the water.

Waiting.

Watching.

Maddy clutched the end of her brother's scarf, as the first canyon was fired, and the first spears were thrown. The howl of the sea snake could be heard from the land, as it dove under the water, sending a wave of sea and foam over the ship.
It rocked in the unsettling silence, no one dared to breathe. Just watched as the lighting lit up the sky. The fog thickened, and every lighting strike revealed a shadow puppet of the ship.

FLASH

The hurderou's tail emerged from the water towering over the boat. More canyons fired as the image faded back to cloud...

FLASH

The deep boom of the canyons stopped as the snake's tail crashed into the end of the ship, sending pieces of wood and sail into the air...

FLASH

The herderou's head lifted out of the water, its fierce glare piercing through the shattered ship...

Maddy could feel herself begin to go lightheaded but she couldn't breath, the worried murmurs of the crowd around her had gone silent, not a single sound entered her head. Tears already stung her eyes. She wanted to look away more than anything. But the fury of destruction was like a hypnotic screen. Forcing her to watch until her brain began to rot.

FLASH

The herderou roared before diving head on into the ship, crushing it with its fangs.Maddy dropped to her knees, a waterfall of tears ran down her cheeks, invisible in the pouring rain. Her whole world had shattered, the one she looked up to the most, was gone. Regan had been her mirror, and now he was broken to pieces.

In just seconds, the ship, the crew, the cheer, and her brother, were lost at sea...

One year later...

"Come help me will you!" Mrs. Key's faint shouts echoed across the house. With a roll of her eyes, Maddy shoved the rest of her bagel into her mouth and trudged down the hallway. The attic stairs hung from the ceiling, and had a flashlight already waiting for her on the steps. The stairs moaned and creaked under Maddy's feet. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had been up there, but judging from her dust-stained socks, it had been a long, long time. She plopped down near her mom, who had already begun sorting through boxes.

"Morning"

"Ah, there you are! You can throw any old stuff we don't need over there, but keep the photos and stuff like that." she pecked Maddy on the forehead and went back to work. With a sigh, she pulled out a light cardboard box, she knew Regan would do the same, he was always helping her mom with stuff around the house. Dust flew off the top of the box as she opened it, thickening the air with more little speckles. Inside were little grey tapes, stacked neatly over one another.

And each and everyone of them had a fading title that read R E G A N. Maddy's heart pounded, she hadn't seen her older brother in so long, and he was right there in her hands.

She eyed her mom making sure she was completely distracted. She had every intention to sneak the box down to her room, and sit in front of the television for hours just to see her brother's face again.

The box was heavy and quickly tired Maddy's arms as she hauled it down to her room. The tapes clattered against each other, and with every reminder that they were there, it just made her want to watch them more.

She gently placed the box on her rug before tilting it over letting the tapes pour out like an avalanche. But amongst that avalanche was a little brown chest, just slightly bigger than the tapes. It toppled to the ground and lay there on its side. What the? Maddy picked it up and admired it in her hand. It wasn't very heavy and it was tied shut with a thin halyard that had been knotted multiple times. She picked at the rope until her fingertips were sore.

Maddy crept out of her room making sure to be extra quiet as she passed by the attic. As she listened to her mom shuffling in the attic, guilt dragged on her shoulders. But the need to know what was in the chest was much greater.

She tiptoed into the kitchen, the cold tiles leaving imprints in her bare feet. She pulled out a sharp knife from the kitchen drawer before quietly sprinting back to her room.

The chest raddled as she sawed the knife back and forward along the halyard, dried algae crumbled into her hands. Where did mom even get this from? Why was it hidden amongst Regan's tapes? At last the halyard snapped free, Maddy opened the lid only to be disappointed by another tape that lay inside. With a sigh she flipped the chest over and let the tape fall into her hand, before setting it on the floor. As she reached for the plug of her television she noticed her hand was black with smeared ink.