Loch Vachlan

We sat close to the fire. Huddled in its warmth; hypnotised by the flames like a couple of human moths. The crackling of wood and occasional sparks, were for that moment, more engrossing than our need for conversation. Our fishing rods where beside us, perched on Y shaped branches.
The Loch was still as ice, cold and uninviting in its dormant state. Silver moonlight danced across its black surface. Trees surrounded us, like shadowy giants. Their tips roughly conducted by the rhythm of the wind.

Simon was first to notice it. “Daya hear that?” The fire cracked in anger as my attention wavered. “Hear what?” Simon pressed his finger to his lips and held up his free hand. “Shhh, listen.” I cocked my head and strained to hear. Coming from what seemed miles away, were low thumping noises. They were uneven and growing louder by the second. I straightened my head. The noise kept building to a heavy thunderstorm level until eventually, it became unbearable. Simon was shouting something, but there was no way to hear him. The ground began to shake and our footing became unsure. To the east of where we crouched covering our ears, trees exploded into more trees. Clots of earth flew up and plummeted to the Loch, sending a wave on us, and our campfire. Then it stopped.

As I removed the wet hair from my face, and flicked water from my beard, I noticed a boat floating a few meters away to my left. In the light of the now full moon, I could see a blond haired kid lying on his back in the boat. His hands tucked behind his head, he stared up at the mast. He seemed lost in a daydream. Too captured in the moment to notice the chaos around him. I turned to Simon, my mouth agape. I pointed to the boat, just as a roar, which made the previous noises sound like a mouse scurrying across a wooden floor, erupted to our right. Clutching our ears and screaming, we collapsed. When the roar stopped, the thunderous footsteps started again. I staggered to my feet and grabbed the nearest tree. I looked across. A dark fog engulfed the Loch side trees.

The fog quickly started to dissipate. The trees cursed by its touch, stooped and ashen: resembled a cigarette when left to burn. The faintest sneeze from a bird would bring them down. The fog, almost gone now, still had a dark core. It moved up and down, in time with the hellish footsteps, finally stopping at the edge of the Loch. It began to grow again, seeping out into the night sky. Creeping ominously towards the water, giving it the appearance of a passing steam train. I still held the tree, like some paternal shield, transfixed on the mysterious vapour.

Gently, as the fog touched the Loch, it collapsed into itself; a monstrous forked tongue snaked out and dove under the water. In a second, it was out of the water again. A massive pike flapped furiously, imprisoned, in the coiled end of the tongue. “Fish!” Simon, still lying on the ground, shouted. I actually took my eyes off the thing to look at him and shake my head.

When I retuned my attention to it, the tongue was drawing back to a long snout. A snout lined with teeth the size of men. Its jaws were vast; they measured at least half the Loch in breadth. The black fog was coming from its cave size nostrils. As it brushed over the massive pike, which now looked like a baby goldfish stolen from the safe haven of its bowl. The pike stopped flapping; the forked tongue unfurled its thin tip and let the fish drop lifeless to the water. The creature then moved forward, into the Loch.

Seeing the creature in its entirety when it entered the Loch was like watching an old Japanese Godzilla movie. It had the shape of an Alligator. If an Alligator, could grow to the size of a battleship. Apart from the ash of the withered trees on its back, it was pure white. Its scales reflected the silver of the moonlight. It would have been almost beautiful, if it were not for the one burning red eye perched atop its huge snout, and its three mountain shaped cranium ridges. It lay in the water, half in, half out and started to open its mouth in a yawning motion. Water began to rush in through its gaping jaws. As if it was breathing in the entire Loch. When it closed them, the water flooded back out, creating a wave. The boy and the boat moved slowly forward, towards the monster.


The rest of this tale can be found on a cereal box near you soon.
Marky.