Day 30: The Abandoned Lake

There was a small lake near the town where fishermen used to live. Their wooden boats remained tied to the docks, bobbing to the rhythm of the blue abyss below. Surrounded by hills, and forests, it was a perfect location for a families who wished to distance themselves from the town.

The houses were abandoned now, although the furniture remained intact, tables set for dinner, books lying open on couches. Every room appeared to still be lived in, if it wasn’t for the broken widows, cracked roofs, the faint smell of rot, and the coppery taste of blood.

It was no mystery why the fishermen left. The lake had run out of fish. Even the river than ran from the sea to the body of water was void of any life. A curse, perhaps. The fisherman had been married twice before. it wouldn’t have been hard to find someone with a grudge against him. So, the family left swiftly into the night, taking only what they could carry.

A blond haired man lived there now. For how long, no one knew. People had caught a glimpse of him stalking the area, scaling the hills, climbing the trees, diving deep down into the deep waters below, preparing himself for something no one dared to ask.

Sometimes there was a girl with him, no older than twenty. Her eyes were jet black, her skin pale as snow. The muscles in her arms and legs suggested she was a fighter, yet her mouth rarely shifted from a frown. Only once was the girl reported to have smiled, and it was when she was fully submersed in the water. She laughed as she held herself under but forgot to breathe and ended up near drowning.

The man had saved her but kept a leash on her from that moment on, a rope that was tied round her waist and attached to the house. The girl continued to try once more to touch the lake, but The Scientist had made it in such away that her fingers were always just out of reach from the water below.

She became more miserable after that. Her grey hair which flowed down to her waist became even lighter, her lips cracking and blistered.

Whatever purpose he had for her, no one knew, but every night he would give her a fish from the market, and she would gulp it down, raw. The blood would drip down her mouth, onto her clothes, and the poor girl would lick it off herself.

He laughed at that, at her starvation, at the extent she would go to.

“Monster,” He whispered to her one day, staring deeply into those black eyes which reflected nothing, conveyed no emotion.

The girl didn’t reply.

“Remember why you are here, a few more weeks and I shall let you return home.”

His words were a promise that she must have believed as she responded, “Please, soon,”

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So aside from bookending this whole project by posting the rest of Maeve and Cabhan (a story I don't Yet have an end to, even though it was originally the whole point to my NaNoWriMo) I wanted to share something new. As well as a puzzle.

There is actually one other story that lines up with the Maeve and Cabhan's tale, and I want to know if anyone can guess what the story is and how it matches.

Also, to mirror what I said on the Maeve and Cabhan post! I just want to reiterate how thankful I am to everyone that has read these. From the people who were able to read all of them, to the people who were only able to read one. Thank you! I appreciate it immensely, and I don't think I'll ever be able to explain just how overjoyed it makes me to know people have been enjoying these. 

So overjoyed, that I actually don't want to stop. Or, to be more accurate, I don't want to stop writing new stories, but I do want to stop posting them every day. Instead, I'm going to post them on a Wednesday every week. For Writing Wednesday! A holiday I just made up!

I hope you are excited, because I am! (Still pretty nervous though)

So thank you again! And Happy December!

This was the final day of my NaNoWriMo project where I aimed to write a new short story every day in November! Originally all of these were posted to instagram, but the 300 word limit was a little confining so I came here to post everything I'd written and a little bit more!