Quote of the Week: You do you and I'll do me and we're not gonna do each other.
- Created By art4life
Because I Need to Think of a Title - Part 1
*Unagi= Japanese freshwater eel
All he heard was the rapid pitter-patter of rain drops on the lake, against his boat, on the conical hat covering his head and face. All he felt was the sharp tap of rain on his skin, drenching his clothes, filling the bottom of his bottom.
Kang-Woo's boat was so small that there was no room left over as he lay in it. The water that kept rising around in the boat didn't bother him. It wasn't uncomfortable and the cold... he never really felt it.
It was dark enough already with the blackened clouds in the sky, but a thick fog had also descended, eating up more of the light.
Unagi* swam through the water underneath him. Of course he couldn't see them; it was too dark for that even if he tried, but he could sense their heat-
"Hey, mister!," a young voice called to him.
Kang-Woo didn't react.
"Your boat's gonna sink if you let the rain get in like that!"
Kang-Woo tilted the edge of his hat up and peered toward the source of the voice. Several feet away, on the shore, crouched a girl who looked to be about 8 or 9 years old. She was soaked to the bone and her black and silver hair was plastered to her face by the rain. She looked at him with an expression of anxious curiosity.
Kang-Woo let the hat drop back over his face and crossed his arms.
"I don't care," he called back.
"But what if you can never get it back?!"
"My problem, not yours."
They didn't talk for a while. Above thunder rolled loudly through the sky.
Then the girl spoke again. "Hey Mister."
Kang-Woo sighed. This was why he didn't like children. They were so talkative that there was never any peace.
"What?"
"Do you think...," she paused as if afraid to ask. "Let's say someone did something bad, right? Something really bad. But it was just an accident. They didn't mean to do it. They didn't even know they could do it.... Should they still be punished harshly?"
"Yes."
There was another clap of thunder followed by a strange sound from further inland. The sound came again. It sounded like a man's voice, shouting. Kang-Woo lifted his hat again and saw the girl now facing the direction of the voice with a look of terror on her face. One of her feet was in the water and he thought he saw a strange ripple shake the surface of the stream.
He didn't notice the change in the unagi moving below.
In an instant, she got up and ran away. The fog swallowed her up in seconds.
A few seconds later a man ran up to the edge of the lake, panting. His hair was as black as the girl's but without the silver.
"Did you see a girl around here?!," he yelled, his voice laced with hysteria.
"Not here."
The man groaned with frustration. His face was red with anger.
"When I find her..."
After looking both ways he decided to run in the direction that the girl had gone.
Kang-Woo crossed his arms again and leaned his head back. He tried not to be curious, it wasn't his business, after all. But a sense of dread was spreading through his chest and the questions kept coming. Why was she out in this terrible storm? Was it safe to leave her alone with that crazy man after her?
He finally sighed and stood up. Using a long paddle that had been lying next to him, Kang-Woo made his way towards shore.
All he heard was the splashing of the rain, the rolling of thunder, the shouts of a man crazy with rage. All he felt was water around his feet, the hard paddle between his hands, and the apprehension in his heart.
He saw lightening flash across the sky.
What he didn't see, in the sudden flash of light, were the forms of the unagi underwater keeping as still as if they had been shocked by lightening themselves.
To Be Continued...
End
