The Wolf's Eye: A Series of Short Horror Stories

Avagaara

On April 22, 2003, sightings of a strange creature at sea had been reported to the police department in the small village of Avali. In the large lake of Anare, two men had been fishing in their sailboat when they noticed a large, black shape swimming under the boat. Before that, over ten sailors had gone missing after they had gone out to Anare. The deaths and sightings have become a popular subject around Avali. They called this strange "creature" Avagaara.

Malcolm heard all of the stories about Cthulhu, the Loch Ness Monster, the Kraken. He never believed these stories, though. He wasn't interested in any of it, either. Malcolm had thought of the story around town as a mere rumor.

On a good day, Malcolm would go out with his good friend, Polo. It wasn't exactly a good day when Polo came to his house and knocked on the door. When Malcolm answered it, he only saw Polo holding two life jackets and a flashlight. "Let's go out to the lake," he said. "I wanna show you something."

Malcolm knew exactly what he wanted to show him. "I'm not going with you to look for some stupid fake monster," he said.

Polo shook his head. "Don't be such a wimp," he said. "Even if Avagaara isn't real, it'd be one hell of a story to tell the town."

"But it's eleven o clock at night!"

"What's wrong with that? Renee won't care."

Malcolm looked around to see if he could see Renee. She acted more like a mother to him than a sibling, so he never thought he could get away with anything while she was around. "What about Carter? Won't he know that you aren't at home?"

Polo smirked. "You think he actually cares if I run outta the house in the dead of night?"

Malcolm sighed. He knew that Polo would bug him about it until he gave in, and so he finally said, "Fine."

Polo cheered as they walked to the dock. He pulled up a sailboat and jumped in.

"Where did you find a sailboat?" Malcolm asked.

"It was my grandpa's," Polo said as he struggled to put on the life jacket. "Pretty neat, huh?"

Malcolm carefully stretched his legs to reach the boat. Stumbling into it, he felt it rock back and forth with the smooth, calm waves. He looked up at the deep blue of the night sky, staring at the small bright dots that scattered across the space.

It was a gorgeous night.

Polo started to drive the boat out of the dock and sailed out to the middle of the lake. He turned on the flashlight and shined it on the still, blue lake. After what felt like an eternity of searching for what seemed to be nothing, Polo finally said, "I can't see anything."

Malcolm sighed and stretched back in the boat. "I told you. Avagaara isn't real."

"Just you wait," Polo leaned over the boat and looked closely at the waters. "When this thing tips the boat over, I'm sure you'll believe in it."

"Or I'll believe you throwing me out of the boat just to scare me."

"I'm not trying to scare you," Polo sighed. "I wanna find Avagaara, too. You've got to know by now that I get scared of things, too."

Malcolm rolled his eyes and stood up. Curiously, he stood up and looked over the boat. "Gimme the flashlight," he said.

"What?" Polo turned to him. "You actually interested now?"

"Yeah, maybe a little bit," Malcolm said as he shined the flashlight at the water. "I'm just curious."

As Malcolm looked carefully at the water, he suddenly saw something move. Startled, he jumped back.

"Come on," Polo sighed. "That's not funny, man."

"It's not a joke," Malcolm replied. "I swear I just saw something move."

Polo chuckled. "Yeah, right. What, did you see a fish or somethi-"

Suddenly, something erupted from the water. It was a large, black creature that matched the description of the sighting reported, although Malcolm and Polo saw more detail on it. It had large scales that went down its neck and back, and horns that curled around the sides of its head. It let out a loud, screeching roar as Malcolm and Polo stared at it, unmoving. "It's Avagaara," Polo mumbled in fear. "I...I didn't think I would actually..."

Avagaara looked down at the two, peering at them through black, round, marble eyes. It gritted its sharp teeth, the rows of daggers lining its mouth. Malcolm watched as it reached down for Polo, picking him up by his head and slowly swallowing him. He shakily picked up a spear from the floor of the boat, holding it up at Avagaara. The waters around him stirred, rocking the boat violently. "I-I'm gonna kill this thing," he mumbled. "I'll kill it and bring it to the village! I'll do it, I swear to god!"

Malcolm found himself face to face with the creature, prepared to spar with it and only armed with a spear. As he looked up, he felt as if he were staring into the gates of Hell. Avagaara's eyes turned from a deep black to a menacing red. Malcolm took a deep breath and plunged the spear into the monster's ominous red eye. It screeched again, this time more painfully, and collapsed into the water, defeated. The corpse slowly sank to the bottom of the lake.

Malcolm's eyes flashed open with a sudden jolt. He lay in a hospital bed, his head bandaged and an IV in his wrist. The sun shined brightly through the window, the light reflecting off of the lake outside. Relaxedly, Malcolm sat back, beginning to drift off to sleep. His rest was interrupted when a man wearing a suit walked into the room and sat down. He took out a police badge and asked, "Is your name Malcolm?"

Malcolm nodded slightly.

"I work for the police department by the Anare lake," he said as he put his badge away. "I came to ask you a few questions, if you're comfortable with that. Were you on the lake with a boy named Polo Moreno last night?"

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah, at around eleven," he thought about Polo and shuddered. "He said he wanted to go to the lake."

"What did you see on the lake?"

Malcolm gulped. What if the officer didn't believe him?

"I saw a monster come out of the water," he said. "It took Polo away."

"Where is Polo now?"

He stared out the window at the lake. "He's gone."

The man nodded and stood up. "Thank you, Malcolm," he said. "And just so you know, they found the body of the creature."

Malcolm sat up with surprise. "They did?!"

"Yeah, although I'm not exactly sure what happened," he turned to leave. "All I know is that they found a spear stuck in its eye."