Chapter Text
The night was dark. The wind bit into his skin, as Frederick lay prone on the furthest edge of the pier. He was a handsome man, with his scrunched up face and wavy hair. He could turned many heads on a good day, but today wasn’t that kind of day. Today he only wanted to see, not be seen. That’s why he was flat on his belly on a pier. It’s very difficult to spot something that's lying flat on the ground. You can hide in a bush, but they aren’t comfortable, and the twigs get everywhere. Frederick preferred to just be patient and out in the open. When you’re looking for something that lives in or on the lake, the pier is a way better choice after all.
If he had reached down he could have touched the water. He didn’t of course, his fingers needed to stay dry for his camera. His pride and joy. Previous partners had complained that he spent more money on that camera than on them, but Frederick had told them all to shut up. The camera was still here. They weren’t. Why not look after something that had never let him down? Looking out into the distance, he could see all the stars sparkle on the surface of the water. They wobbled a little, on the soft waves of the lake, as below the fishes dreamt their fish dreams.
What did fish dream of anyway? Frederick wondered.
But he caught himself and shook his head clear again. He wasn’t here to think about fish. He had to focus, dammit. He allowed himself one big stretch, because he had been laying there for a while and his back wasn’t was it once was, and he went straight back to business. He looked through his lens, and the world was restricted through the little square once more. He felt at ease. He could control what he saw through the square. He could capture it.
He had been laying down like this countless times. Sometimes he had gotten lucky, and the shot happened 5 minutes in. He always knew when he had found the shot. He could feel it tingle all over when he captured the shot. It’s a sort of electric excitement that only photographers get, he mused. Sometimes he just got a crick in his neck for his trouble though. He sighed. Tonight it seemed that all he was going tot get was a crick in the neck. But he could be patient. He could keep his nerve. He knew it was here. It lived there. And in the morning, he’d get to the island and get even more proof for his boss. But Frederick knew that the best monsters always come out at night.
The wind sighed. Frederick didn’t even pay it any attention. But then he heard the water splash, loudly. It sounded like a footstep. But surely, that was impossible? You can’t have footsteps, there isn’t anything… to step on… Frederick tensed suddenly. He hadn’t felt the wind, so… what had sighed? Who had stepped? And on what?
He peered out into the darkness. Something moved, he was sure of it! It was just a blur in the distance, but something had broken the horizon. Something that didn’t belong there. He tensed, and aimed his camera at the movement. He fiddled with his lens, sharpening, enlarging. Something was moving out there, a shape, approaching.
Approaching him. Frederick swallowed.
It was coming straight at him.
Frederick looked up and the shape had disappeared, but the noises hadn’t. He could hear it so very nearby, cloaked by the darkness. He quickly went through his pictures, to see if he had captured it. Frederick could feel his nerve leave him. His heart was in his throat, and there were swirls of fear in his belly.
Quickly scanning the pictures, he found one with a strange shape. Something… solid, skating over the surface of the water. Sneaking, almost.
“That’ll do.” Frederick muttered. Still laying on his belly, he started to crawl up on his elbows, and turning off his camera at the same time. Before he could get up though, the water exploded in front of him where the pier ended. Something horrifying rose up, as if it exploded from the water. Frederick saw arms and legs that seemed to bend strangely, and were long. Too long! Green, horrifying eyes! Water droplets rained down on him, as he screamed loudly. In an automatic and feeble attempt to protect himself, he held his arms up, shielding his face from whatever was going to happen.
The monstrous shape flew through the air, and landed on his back with a sickly crunch. Frederick felt like he was being ripped in half, as the pain went through him like an electric shock. He could no longer feel his legs. Blood started pooling below him. His belly got sticky, as he lay there, leaking out. His strength disappeared. He felt his head thump on the wooden planks of the pier, and his vision shrunk. The last thing he saw was a strange foot step on the wooden planks in front of his face. It looked like a flipper, flat and wide.
He heard a woman scream. And his world went black.
. Intro