Almost Barefoot

1208 words

Rated PG; blood, gore

Prompt: Set your story on (or in) a winding river.

My shoe was gone.

I was walking along the stream at noon when it fell in. I was trudging along, tired from lunch, kicking at all the stones in my path. One kept staying in front of me. I made a game of aiming it straight so that I could kick it again. My foot had been off one time. I had kicked it to the left.

 On either side of me, fields. Tall stalks of grass shoot out of them. If I cared to venture further, if I wanted to push the grass aside, then I might have found beautiful creatures. There could have been snakes and frogs, crossing paths and nodding. I might have seen a fox, a mouse, or even an owl flying by.

Then I wouldn’t have lost my shoe.

Instead, I kicked at the ground in anger. I missed the dirt, and my red sandal with white trim was launched into the air. It landed in the water and sank like a brick. babbling water turned into an overwhelming force when the shoe landed. There was a splash, and instantly the waves became so big that they could swallow my waist. 

It didn’t slow down. It became a typhoon, expanding onto the other shore and eating up the land. It took about 10 metres of grass before finally settling down, and going back to its calm and peaceful existence. In less than a minute, the stream became a deep river.

I had to get my shoe back. 

I took off my other shoe and placed it gently on the ground. I could not risk having to do the same thing twice. I removed my beige sweater. It was knitted especially for me, and ruining it would not be a good idea. I also took off my glasses. They would do nothing for me underwater.

Following the actions of my shoe, I dove into the water. 

I no longer needed to breathe. It wasn’t that I couldn’t--I was frequently inhaling and exhaling. However, breathing no longer did anything to help me live. The water was the only thing I knew I had to have.

I began swimming down and was immediately immersed in light. I squinted. The light was warm and looked to be coming from many different spheres. They were mystical, and I had to look closer. I kicked downward just a little more to see what was going on.

I was right. My glasses didn’t help my vision. I could perfectly see the scene in front of me without any help. It was unusual to be able to rely on my eyes. But I trusted them.

I trusted them that I was seeing a card game, illuminated by a string of lanterns hung in between two rocks. Who was playing, you ask? I’ll tell you. It was minnows. Lake chubs, to be exact. The small fish with a black stripe and yellow and grey bodies were hovering over cards. The cards lay on the river bed and were as big as each fish’s body. 

They were all extremely focused on their game. It seemed as though they were playing something of the utmost elegance. Is this what water life does while we humans aren’t watching? Engage in activities that we might not even be able to comprehend?

“Go fish!” Yelled a fish.

The fish in question was one with deep yellow scales that faded into black at the very bottom. They grabbed one of the cards in front of them, swam to the middle of the circle, and tossed it out of the light of the lanterns. Another fish--probably the one who inquired about what card the first fish had--dutifully turned around and raced out to catch it.

The rest of the circle looked in the direction the fish rushed to. For a few seconds, the silence and suspense were unbearable. I found myself holding my breath, which still didn’t do anything. 

With an ace of spades in their mouth, the fish emerged. They spat it towards the first fish.

“There you go.” They smirked.

I think they did, at least. It was a bit hard to tell.

The circle cheered and congratulated the fish. They chanted their name--Cora--and danced around them joyfully.

“You know,” Cora said, staring straight at the first fish. “There were a lot of human things down there.”

The other fish quieted down. Humans had intrigued them.

“A tire, a shoe, and even an old telephone.” 

My shoe was close.

The fish exchanged looks. Maybe. Again, fish aren’t the best at expressing their emotions.

“Dinner!” One of the fish exclaimed.

They were going to eat my shoe.

I turned my head to where the fish had gone. As quickly as I could, I dove in that direction. My Dad would not be happy if I didn’t get my shoe back.

It was darker there. I still had faint light from the lanterns, but it was getting further away with each kick. As soon as I found my shoe, I could go back to land. It would be fine.

The gravel was small. I might even consider it sand. I tried to put my foot on it. It worked. Suddenly this was my gravity, walking on the river bed like a floor. I would have to go back to where I came from to escape it. My hair still floated above my head, though.

I saw two of the human treasures the fish had been talking about. The tire was that of a bike, and the telephone was blue with a twisting cord and no receiver. The third thing that fish had promised, my shoe, was not there.

In the place of my shoe was a monster.

It had that vague outline of a fish. I could see flippers, a tail, and a fin in front. It was about the size of a refrigerator. I could make out no other details. It was painted in shadows. It reminded me of a black hole, the way it could suck up light.

 It faced me. I could not see its eyes, or know if eyes were something it had, but it was facing me. It knew I was there. When I moved a bit to the left or a bit to the right, it followed me. No matter how I maneuvered it was blocking me from going forward.

I started walking backwards. I slowly took steps behind me. The thing still followed. It kept pace with me. It had no concern with touching me, only to be able to feel my presence. 

I had to run. I could come back later when the creature had gotten bored, and look for my shoe. Until then I could just play and talk with the minnows. As long as I didn’t have to fetch any cards.

The thing opened its big mouth and swallowed my entire being. It gulped down my essence. they trapped me forever in a void in the universe. It cut off my arm, and the blood stained my existence. It gouged out my eyes, and my world was now as black as it. It turned my insides to stone, and now I’ll never recover.

I didn’t find my shoe.