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Wesley’s feet thudded against down the muddied trail as franticly chased the man as he made his way to the local water hole. “You don’t understand!” he cried out, fear lacing his voice. “SIR! It’s not safe!”
The man yanked on his horses’ rings sharply, causing it to nicker out as its head was pulled to the side. From atop the horse a red-faced man looked down with irk in his eye and his cheeks puffed with rage.
“For the lord above. Go pester some other poor soul with your foolish fantasies.” Wes skidded to stop in front of the man before he turned around and resumed trotting down the worn path. Wes let out a low growl and ran up to the side of the horse before ranting on again.
“Listen! JUST LISTEN TO ME! There is monster in the LAKE you assholes! Do you want to di-”
*SMACK* The man struck him with back of his hand. “Foolish boy.” He spat out.
Wes stumbled backwards from the strike, rolling his ankle as he failed to catch himself. He fell back into the mud on his ass and rolled onto his back as his hands shot up to his face. Wes looked up at the trees covering the path as he lay on the soiling earth. He could feel the coolness of the mud on his back and the water slowly seeping up his cloths. He felt around his nose, no blood and it wasn’t broken, he must have hit on the tip of his nose bone. Well, that was good at least. He sighed out as he pulled himself from the mud that had begun to form a suction to himself, he could feel a dull ache beginning to form around his ankle. That was less good he thought to himself as he grumbled before beginning the journey to his isolated spot along the lake side. The spot hosted a small field surrounded by trees that opened up into a muddy bank and was boxed in on either side by a collection of large rocks and boulders that created a small peninsula. On days where he arrived as the sun did he often would see deer skipping through the Meadow.
He sat down on the left rock cluster on top of the tallest rock which also happened to be the largest and flattest the perfect size for the human to sleep on. He removed his shoes add draped is lakes over the side but didn't dare let his feet touch the water. The townspeople may call him a fool and that he never had any marbles to lose but he was far from dumb he was actually a rather intelligent young man. So that's why even though he was caked in mud, and it was swelteringly hot out on this day he would not even place his toe into the water.
But despite it's danger he still found beauty within the lake. That's probably why he continued to return to the seemingly peaceful body of water. He looked down into the water at the tiny fish swimming, squinting to make them out beneath the sun's reflection from the waves around the rocks edge as the soft wave’s up against the stones. The largest boulder, the one he sat on shut it out into the water by just a bit, acting is sort of makeshift dock. It granted him access to view further and deeper into the water without getting his feet wet, although the depth only was a measly 3 inches.
“Why hello there Wesley.” a soft familiar voice came from behind and pulled the hairs on his neck upwards. He leapt to his feet and with fear fueled adrenaline he jumped to a large stone beside him to remove himself from being in between the water and his acquaintance.
It was Danny.
“What? Did I scare you?” he asked in a playful almost flirty tone, Wes sent him a glare as he looked him up and down as Danny held a smug grin. “The outfits new.” He quipped out, looking him up and down in a quick glance. Danny flashed a wide smile causing Wes flinch at the display of his many sharp teeth. Danny spun around on one hoof to show off his new clothing. It consisted of a long sleeve button up shirt with billowing sleeves, a black corset, and black pants which were barely long enough to cover his cloven-hoofed feet.
“Thanks, I got them off a sailor.” Danny leaned forward in a bow letting his black, perpetually wet hair that had water weeds intertwined between the soggy locks drape over his forehead. It casted a shadow upon his eyes revealing them to give off a faint blue glow and the more unnerving horizontal goat like pupil. He stood back up and smirked before he started over to where Wes was just sitting leaving a trail of water droplets behind him as he walked. He raised his arms above his head to stretch as he lifted a hoof over the edge of the rock before giving a little hop and pencil dropped down into the shallow water below. He vanished completely and silently as if someone had dug a large hole exactly where he jumped. Hesitantly, Wes crept closer to the edge of the boulder and peered down over the side to see that the crystal-clear water was now a swampy green. The discoloration of the water was far different from what it would be if the settlement was turned up.
Stepping up to where he had previously sat, Wes peered down at the rock for a brief second to see that the scorching sun had already completely dried his muddy leg prints from where he sat.
“It's pretty hot out today, Wesley. Why don't you come for a swim?”
Wes gasped and jumped backward his eyes scanning the lake for Danny, and there barely a meter away his glowing blue eyes peered over the water. Wes knew that water there was much too shallow for him to be in that position, but he had long ago realized that physics do not always apply to supernatural beings.
Danny raised himself out of the water a bit, his shoulders were bared as they breached the surface revealing that he was no longer wearing his stolen shirt. His face suddenly shifted down in concern as he raised a hand to his nose. “What happened here?”
Wesley shifted his weight around uncomfortably and looked out to the other side of the lake before answering. “I was, you know trying to warn about the dangers of this lake.”
Danny dropped his arm back into the water before frowning. “Well, it doesn't matter how obnoxious someone is, you should never hit them.” Danny shifted in the water almost leaning back like he was in a fancy reclining chair. “You’re actually a very sweet person.” Wes shot him a dirty look.
Danny snorted “What?”
“Fine you're a very kind person and frankly I don't understand why you keep trying to warn all those people about the danger in the lake if every time you do, they just laugh in your face.” Wesley pouted.
“So, who did you try to save this time?”
He pondered for a moment if he should actually tell Danny who he had tried to save on his way to the lake. “It was that guy who owns all the pumpkin farming land to the north.”
Danny’s face soured for a moment. “You really went out of your way to try to save that greedy pig of all people.”
“It doesn't matter anyways, thanks to you flapping your mouth about I'm practically invisible to the whole town.”
Wes sat down next to the now completely dried mud print Only this time he did not toss his legs over the side of the boulder. Danny watched him do so from below and side with discontent when he did not drape his legs over the water. “Come on Wesley, you're covered in mud and it's hot enough to cook a whole roast on the blacktop cobble path from the village.” Danny tilted his head before placing his hands on the surface of the water and pulled himself upward as if he was holding on to a stone surface that lay just beneath the murky water. “If you stay out in the sun covered in mud like that for much longer, you'll become a statue. Then I won't have anybody to converse with and that will put quite a damper on my days.”
Wesley jumped backwards just a bit, startled from Danny's sudden movement. Wes watched Danny with wide eyes as he held himself out of the water with his physically impossible feat. The tops of he hips just barely pierced through the water's surface and the small waves that moved around them revealed his true skin. it looked almost as if someone had taken scoop of swamp mud and mixed it with various vegetation like water moss and seagrass and adhered it to his skin. ever since the first time he had seen it he had desperately wished to know it feels like, but he would not allow his curiosity to be satisfied at the cost of his own life. Danny pouted and dropped himself back into the water sending out small waves over the eerily stagnant water.
“Wes I am not going to eat you dude.”
“Oh yeah? It that what you told the sailor?” he asked with a raised eyebrow
“Of course not. I said ‘Neigh’.”
Danny tapped the water joyfully with the palms of his hands sending little ripples through the stilled water. “Wes, Wesley, come join me in the water, it’s nice.” he drew out the last word in a singsong like voice.
Wesley rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no thanks I'd rather throw a rock through the Baxters window than step foot into a body of water with you.”
Danny’s pouted “Alright gez Wes I can tell when I'm not wanted. So mean.” Danny whined dramatically throwing himself backwards into the water sending some water flying at Wesley.
Wes stood up and backed away from the water’s edge straining his eyes on the spot he went under. Small waves quickly returned to the stilled area as well as the waters transparency, the little fish that had once swam in the area quickly filled the empty space.
Wes squinted as he scanned the surrounding lakeside for Danny and although it appeared that there was no sign of them Wes didn't doubt for a second that he was somewhere out there watching him beneath the waves. Wes step closer towards the edge of the rock peering straight down into the water. He began to slowly walk along the rocks carefully hopping from stone to stone, dancing around the small peninsula that the rocks had crafted while he overthought his interactions with the water dwelling carnivore.
Gradually he became lost in thought and began to neglect analyzing his next step for taking it. Lost and thought mulling over Danny’s look of disappointment upon turning down his invitation to swim he stepped forward with his left leg placing all of his weight onto the sore ankle. A sudden violent wobble tore him from his thoughts, he shot his arms out to study himself and lifted his right leg behind him I see being forward in a desperate attempt to balance himself out. A sharp pain reminding him of the events that conspired earlier this morning shot up his leg causing his left ankle to give out under his weight.
He began to fall landing face first until the freeze in the water awakening his mammalian reflex.
Fear shot through his veins as he thrashed in the deep water he needs to get out before he was
dragged down to the body of the lake and eaten alive like with chicken well, he had forgotten to lock away in its coop for the night. He didn't want to die he didn't want to be ripped to shreds; he didn't want to end up like the chicken with its organs scattered across the yard. He yelled out under the water in fear, involuntarily letting water rush down his throat and into his lungs. For a moment he became extremely disoriented as if he had just been spun around 1000 times before his head breach the surface of the water allowing him to cough out a portion of the assaulting fluid. As he continued to hack up the water aggressively, he flailed his arms about, desperately trying to keep himself afloat. Although the fact that he did not know how to swim hindered him greatly.
As a child he had never learned to swim in his old village as there were no water sources deeper than a foot or two for him to try to learn in, and when they were eventually forced out of the village thanks to the reputation brought on by the curse bestowed upon his grandmother. The new location they have settled at had this wonderful lake nearby but thanks to its resident fear had kept him from entering the waters.
Still splashing about in panic Wes barely felt two hands firmly grasp the underside of his shoes and pushed up him upwards towards the closest rock. He only noticed when his hands smacked the warm sunbaked stone and as he was pushed up over the edge. Ignoring the stinging from where he smacked the rocks, he hysterically grabbed what he could of the stones edge and drug himself further up onto the boulder. He kicked blindly in an attempt to defend himself from his attacker.
Finally, with a burst of adrenaline-fueled strength he pulled his self-up out of the water and onto the rock and crawled away from the edge. Wes rolled over on to his, he could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he panted from the sudden shock. Exhaustion hit like an angry bull, he let his eyes slide shut as a light breeze blew across his wet clothes and skin. A shiver crawled up his spine and he sighed.
“See the water ain't so bad.” Wes had never sat up so quickly in his life.
Danny lay on his side next to him, one arm propping his head up with inquisitive look. “Hey, look you got all the mud off.” Wes stared at him wide eyed. “Wes?” Danny sat up; Wesley slowly raised his hand to his chest to feel his heart beating madly under his skin. “You didn’t kill me.”
“Well, I said wouldn’t.” Danny sat up and tilted his head. “I don’t think of you as food Wes.
He looked at not really knowing what to make this. “You didn’t because you just ate someone”.
Danny rolled his eyes. “What you never heard of leftovers before.”
Another gust of wind blew across the land only this time a little stronger. Danny snapped his head to the direction the came, the playfulness dropped from his face. Wes followed his gaze to the mountains on the edge of the land, nothing in particular caught his eye other than a few stray clouds. Danny’s eyes narrowed as if he was staring down some unseen predator then without breaking his gaze he asked.
“Wes your older brother can do visions into the future, correct.” He could but he doesn’t like to do them. “Yea, but he don’t do them no more.” He began to feel unease in the wind.
“Ask him to one tonight.”
“Tell him to look at the weather in the next two weeks.”
Danny turned to look at him. “Okay Mr. Cassandra.”
Wes scoffed but nodded. “Alright Ill see you later then, bu-buy.” As he spoke he made his over to the edge of the rock and turned to face him, then gave a small wave and dropped backwards into the water.
“Stupid Kelpie.”