Gone, Fishing

It was a bright and beautiful mid-June Minnesota morning at the Lima Bean Lakes, when Chris and Marcus exited Marcus’s car and walked, fishing supplies in hand, towards the narrow strip of land that separated the two lakes. There was nothing in sight but a perimeter of trees surrounding them, and the road that had led them to the lakes was dirt for miles. 

“I’m warning you, I better like this place,” said Chris as they trudged along.

“It’ll have you hooked,” replied Marcus with a smirk. “Trust me.”

Once they reached the center of the land between the lakes, they set down their chairs, set up their poles, and tossed out their lines. Almost as soon as their hooks hit the water, their lines started spinning.

“No freaking way,” said Chris as he reeled in a fish that seemed possessed.

“What did I tell you, buddy,” replied Marcus as he took it easy reeling in his fish.

The fish seemed to go still as soon as the men had them out of the water, and they placed them inside a cooler Marcus had brought full of ice. Chris turned his chair around to throw his line in the opposite lake, but before he did he asked, “Hey if that cooler is for fish, where is the cooler for the beer?”

“Shit!” said Marcus. “I knew I forgot something.”

“Really?” replied Chris. “I guess we’ll have to stick to water.” Continuing to stare at a speechless Marcus, Chris continued, “Don’t tell me you forgot to bring water, too.”

With a smirk and a shrug, Marcus said, “Sorry.” All Chris could do was shake his head in disbelief, so Marcus continued with, “I know, I know. Tell you what… You stay here, relax, catch some fish, and I’ll go to a gas station to grab some beer and water.”

“Really?” replied Chris. “I don’t mind going with you.”

“No, no. I screwed up, and now I’m going to make up for it,” said Marcus. He got up and started to walk towards his car, but turned around to say, “In fact, how’s about a wager. If you can catch the biggest fish of the day, I’ll buy you a nice crab dinner.”

“Okay, but when I win, don’t get crabby,” Chris shouted back with no reply. Marcus got into his car and drove away, as Chris checked his watch; it read 8:42 am.

Alternating between the lakes, Chris continued to fish, and each time his hook hit the water, a fish would grab and pull for its life. The fish were larger each time, and once his haul hit a count of ten, Chris decided to take a break and lay his pole on the grass.

He sat, looking at the green trees around him, the green grass below him, and the clear blue sky above. It was all too perfect. After admiring the scenery, followed by a bit of daydreaming, Chris looked at his watch which read 9:33 am. He looked towards the dirt road that was the passage to the Lima Bean Lakes, and no one was coming.

There was a splash sound, and Chris stood up to look at the lake behind him. Swimming back and forth was the largest fish he could imagine being in those lakes.

Chris bent down to grab his pole, hoping he wouldn’t spook off his desired prize. Once his pole was in hand, he threw out his line in the middle of where the fish had been circling and hoped for the best.

The fish kept circling and circling the spot where Chris’s hook bobbed in the water, not paying it any attention. Chris began to worry that the fish he wanted to get the most was the one he might not have, leaving him with all the lesser fish that came so easy. He tugged on the line a bit, hoping to entice the large fish, but didn’t get a nibble.

Chris lost all hope, and decided to reel his line in so he could cast it out again. As his hook was lifting out of the water, the big fish he was hoping to catch lept up and grabbed the hook. Chris was filled with excitement, which was then replaced by fear as the fish yanked the pole into the lake with Chris holding on.

Once he was in the lake, Chris let go of the pole and grabbed land to pull himself out, but as he began to lift himself out, something caught his leg and pulled him all the way under the water. He struggled and panicked as he was pulled deeper and deeper into the dark depths of the lake. Chris was losing air fast and had no hope to hold onto.

There was a light coming from an underwater cave, and Chris could see that was where he was being dragged to. As he got closer to the light of the cave, he could see that it was the big fish he had tried to catch that had a hold of him. Chris tried to kick it off of his leg, but it kept dragging him at full speed as if he had done nothing at all. The fish dragged him into the cave as they were reaching the source of the light.

Gasping for air as his head flew out of the water, Chris looked around the cave to see that the light was coming from a twin-head LED work light on a tripod running off a generator, and next to it was a cooler filled with beer, and next to that were two large humanoid crabs sitting in lawn chairs, both holding beers and one holding a remote control device with a long antenna.

The crab person holding the remote control device said, “I told you! I told you I could get him! Just another pretty head to fill up my wall.”

“Don’t be so proud,” said the other crab person, snapping his free claw for emphasis. “I don’t care to catch a specimen this puny anyway. Next time tell Marcus the human to bring us one bigger.”