The Murky Pond

I stood knee deep in the murky stinking waters of the swamp watching as a few feet away the water boiled up, swirling and churning and praying that it was some harmless fish and not an ill intending alligator. The moon was obscured by the clouds that were sure to bring torrential rain any minute. Back maybe 4 good long strides behind me on the bank my younger sister whispered "come on Renee, if dad catches us out here we are in deep s**t!" She wasn't wrong but I just couldn't ignore those damned cries for help one more night. In the last week alone I had been startled awake by what sounded like the screams of a woman in distress, calling for help. Every night! And then without fail it would wake Emily, I could hear her breathing change as she roused from whatever dream she was lost in at the time. Her sheets would rustle just enough to confirm my suspicions and my eyes would shift from the window to her bed against the far wall where all I could make out was the glint in her eye from light cast by the moon outside. She would lay there not making a sound for hours until the cries became distant and faded away. Tonight though I had had enough, we had told our father every morning just like we were supposed to and every morning it was the same answer, "it's just a big cat, maybe a bobcat or cougar. They scream like that when they are in heat . Just ignore it and go to sleep." He didn't seem to understand just how unnerving it was and honestly I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that he and my mother could just sleep through it. Mom could hear you sneak from bed on your way to the kitchen for a midnight snack but somehow she couldn't hear a woman screaming for help 10 feet from the house? I had spent hours laying in bed tonight waiting for the barage of "help me's" and "hurry it's coming!" but got nothing. Honestly I was relieved at the idea that I was going to get to sleep . I started drifting off while starring at the ceiling and hoping we had heard the last of the woman or cat or whatever it was. My eyes burst open, my heart pounding in my chest as I was startled awake, at some point I must have passed out . I lay there motionless trying to catch my bearings and breathe. The window pain had rattled , I was sure of it. I didn't think it was a dream, I'm sure it wasn't. From acrossed the room in a hushed tone I could hear Emily's voice "Renee? Did you hear it? It was right outside the window and it hit the glass!" ... I responded equally as quietly "Yeah I think so, it woke me up!" We layed there in silence for what seemed like an eternity , too scared to move until the familiar screams began again. A chill ran up the back of my legs and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck raise. "Help Me .. Please ... Someone Please Help, It's Coming" A shriek cut through the stillness of the night and slowly faded to a moan . Emily spoke hastily " I'm going to go get dad!" And just as quickly I saw my sister's white nightgown shoot from under her sheets,her feet emerged at lightning speed carrying her from our room towards my parents door acrossed the hall. I froze for a brief moment only to do the exact same. I burst from my blanket like a jackrabbit with a dog on its heels. As I sprinted from our doorway into the hall I was hit by a wave of panic and fear that stopped me dead in my tracks. My body froze, I had no control. A sudden sense of impending danger in the pitch black hall just 2 feet shy of my parents open door had me in a cold hard embrace. I slowly turned my head towards the far end leading to the kitchen , feeling my heart beat slow and somehow so hard at the same time that it felt like it would shatter my rib cage. Nothing but inky black starred back but something in that void had me too terrified to move. My eyes attempted to focus on any movement in that abyss but nothing stood out, nothing moved. Just as suddenly as I had frozen my body began to move again. I made it into my parents room and to the bed side where Emily was making a futile attempt to shake my father awake. I flipped the light switch on the wall and my dad sat up like he had been hit by lightning. "What in the hell is going on in this house!". Mom rolled towards us sleepily rubbing her eyes "what's going on!?" Emily was practically hysterical as she clambered into the bed between my parents sobbing. My mother turned from her position on her side and sat up, lost at the scene before her. "What is wrong? What happened? " I looked back and forth between my parents as I recounted the events that had just taken place. Mom undid her long braid from the back of her head letting it fall down her back and began to remove the rubber band holding the hair in its delicate blonde braiding. "Dan, I think we better have a look. What if it's some weirdo? You know how creepy some of these neighbors can be. That fella up the road that came over and tried scaring us into backing out of buying the place our first night might be messing with the girls so we leave." My dad slid his legs from under the covers, his flannel pajamas were a stark contrast to the bleach white sheets. He slipped one foot at a time into his well worn brown slippers. "Yeah you have a point, I ran into a couple in town last week that kept saying we best be careful out here. " Mom placed a hand on Emily's back, rubbing side to side and looked up at my father "take the gun, you never know. Even if you're right and it's a cat it could come after you. I can come along if you need me?" Dad stood from the bed, stretched his arm out and removed his robe from the hook on the back of the door " No, I can handle this, but if you wouldn't mind I could use a pot of coffee " his voice held a slight grump to it. He normally left for work around 5 am and it was just past 3 am so it was doubtful he could make up the lost sleep. Mom pried herself loose from Emily and pulled the covers back shifting her legs off the bed and her feet into her slippers as dad rummaged in the closet from my grandfathers old .22 rifle. His hands landed on the scratched and worn butt of the gun, its wood grain standing out. "Alright, I'm going to go have a look around" He said as he grabbed the flash light on his night stand . "Can I go and hold the light " I asked. "Sure, maybe if you see the cat or some sign of it you girls will calm down and actually sleep at night" He said in a humorous tone. At least he wasn't mad we woke him. I was beginning to feel a bit better now that my parents were awake and with us. It was odd how no matter how scary a situation was I always felt safe with my parents, like they were invincible forces that nothing in this world could rattle or threaten. We all made our way out of the room and down the hall to the kitchen with my father flicking the light switches as we went. Mom made her way to the coffee pot and Emily climbed onto a bar stool at the island in the center of the room as dad and I made our way to the sliding glass door on the far side and out to the patio in the back yard. I can't explain it but the moment I stepped outside it felt like entering another world. The cold seemed to swirl around me and just beyond the small yard a wall of dense fog stood so thick that you couldn't see the small hedge row that bordered the lawn.i clicked the button on the end of the flash light illuminating the fog. Not even the light penetrated it. My father followed the beam and whistled, "boy it's thick this morning! Alright come on Renee let's go look around by your window" He spoke low and began to make his way to the right and around the corner of the house to our bedroom. I hastened to catch up. As I rounded the corner behind my father with the beam of light bouncing haphazardly I heard him mumble "f**k" and stumble. A low whine sounded from the ground and a small shuffling sound was heard. I immediately shown the beam down to the ground where my father had caught himself on his hands and knees. Beneath his right leg was a furry animal the Size of a small dog pitifully whining in a low tone. As my father righted himself and stood I could see the entire animal, it was a small terrier I had seen on numerous occasions wondering the yard and chasing squirrels. We had been told to leave it alone since my parents weren't sure who it belonged to or if it was friendly. The dog was lying on his side, eyes open and panting heavily, a small trickle of blood coming from its nostril, his little white hip was coated in blood and you could see he had puncture wounds that looked like something had bitten him. His side had 2 large gashes that were oozing blood as he tried to kick his front legs and twist his body in an attempt to get away from us. My father immediately put his hand on the poor creatures neck to secure him and scooped him up with his other arm while exclaiming a plethora of swear words "come on Renee we need to get him in the house , move your butt" he said as he hoisted the pup as gently as he could and went back around the corner the way we had come. I swiveled in place, turning to follow my father and as I did the beam hit the side of our house just bellow our bedroom window, I gasped as a smudged hand print with finger prints larger then even my father could make was lit up. Scratches were visible in the siding as if this giant had had claws, the hand print was surrounded by more muddy blood smeared prints. There was no way I could believe these were cat paws! "Dad, you have to see this" I squeaked.