17 Apr The dark lagoon.
It all started like another summer day in South Alabama. The heat was up, the sky was clear and the humidity of the weather was just starting during the first hours of the day.
His mother knocked at his door as usual “Tommy, wake up, breakfast is ready”. If it wouldn’t be just because the heat was too much and the sheets were already sticky, he wouldn’t have stood up from bed, he was feeling surprisingly lazy that day…
“Coming, mom” – He said, slowly put his feet on the floor, looked around his room, stretched his arms and then he though on another sunny hot day as he could see the sun already shining through the curtains. – “Ugh, another sticky day of boredom”… Anything was better than that, even going to school – he thought… luckily his father was not around so he wouldn’t make Tommy work during one of HIS summer holiday days.
He took a step out of his bed, slowly started to dress, he took his blue shorts, his striped shirts, some old dirty sneakers and headed to the bathroom to clean up.
Have you heard about’em? – Said his mother. While she slurped her coffee
About what?
Them kids who act like mad dogs… I swear ya…. This world…While she shook her head.
What? What kids? – Tommy wasn’t very interested in the conversation, he thought it was his mom coming with another lecture about life and respect between kids and parents.
“Heard those rumors, Betty’s kid, the one of the gift shop. People said the kid got crazy, he came back from somewhere in the forest with the eyes white like a boiled egg, fever and talking weird stuff, they said he had rage like a dog but there was no bite nowhere. They called the doctor, said he had something like yellow fever, but there was no way to now”.
Tommy was beginning to get interested… “Well, there’s a lot of stuff out there”…
“Nu-uh…. This was different – said her mother, and continued with a higher pitch voice. The next morning the kid had blood all over his eyes, they say he started to attack people like one of those mad dogs. He tried to bite betty and they had to tie him up to his bed… They just called another doctor from the capital city, but I tell you, that remind me of a kid who was possessed in my youth days”.
“Mom please, that’s not possible…” – Said Tommy as he started to laugh with Irony…
“You laugh young man, but I have seen things. Back then in the days, two kids in Fayetteville, the next town. Had the same thing. It was all fever and skepticism until them kids got crazy and started attacking people. They say one of the kids attacked and killed his little brother and the other one started to eat himself. They had shoot them. One of the maids of the house, an old woman from Louisiana who was told practiced and believed in voodoo said the kids were possessed by a demon, and they had drink their waters. The whole town left, nobody knows what happen…
“OK, Mom” – Interrupted Tommy with a slight upset tone as he raised his hand- “That’s enough, people say many things, all these are rumors, yellow fever as bad as it is, it is a medical condition and it has nothing to do with demons and superstition. Back in your days people would tell stories just to make things interesting or out of ignorance but either way it has nothing to do with what’s happening to Betty and her kid”…
As Tommy stood on the porch of the house thinking of the story that his mother told him, he started to figure out the shapes of the clouds. There was something different, the air felt thicker, the clouds were darker than before and he started to notice some weird and almost creepy shapes on the clouds, as if they seemed people screaming. -“Ugh, must be just my imagination, again. The mind can do powerful stuff”…
Then he heard a car approaching, he stood up and they were their friends, he stoped thinking about old town stories and he started to smile. He started waving and buttoned his shirt, when the van stoped.
-“Hey Tommy, wanna come”?.
-“Where y’all guys going”?
-“We’re going to the dark lagoon, people is talking about it”
-“What about the dark lagoon”?
-“They say that’s were Pete, Betty’s kid was yesterday before he got weird stuff. We are going to see what’s up”.
-“Come on guys, that’s just a stupid lagoon and those are rumors”.
-“Then the more reason to come, you don’t want the girls to think you’re afraid, right”?
Tommy got blushed and upset… “Not at all, I am no coward. I’ll show you what’s up with that stupid lagoon”… He took his sneakers, his hat and as he was jumping in the van his mother came out.
“Where are ya’ll going”?
“Is baseball time, mom. See you at dinner” – Said Tommy.
After two hours driving there was a fence with an old red and yellow sign that was prohibiting the entry to everyone. Tommy took of his shirt to cover his hand and took the rusty fence away so the van could get in.
As they were entering the lagoon they noticed something eerie in the air. The grass was gray around the area, there were no animals, not even crickets or the annoying mosquitos, and there was no air. It was like if that place was sealed from the rest of the world.
The dark lagoon had a hypnotic color, like a dark blue sapphire in the areas closer to the shore. As it went deeper it was darker as a summer night, and then completely black. It was beautiful if it wouldn’t be because it was water and water is not meant to look black and dead.
The kids came out of the van slowly, nobody said a word. Tommy put his hands inside his pockets, the girls hold each other’s hands and John bit his lips…
“Well, this is it”, Said John.
“See, just a stupid lagoon”, Said Tommy.
“Right, then let’s see you swimming, boy” – Dared John.
Linda, One of the girls, who were sisters said: “Guys I don’t think that’s a good idea, I think we should come back. We just don’t know anything about the lagoon and people has been talking lots about it lately”.
“Talking what?” Said Tommy.
“A bunch of lies” Interrupted John.
Nancy, the other girl, hurried to say “We don’t know, they just said that the black lagoon is dark because of the souls of people who died there. It used to be crystal clear, but in the civil war, some kind of voodoo warlocks poised the water so the confederates would die if they drink or drink that water. One of the confederate captain killed the warlocks daughter as he owned some slaves. The woman was pregnant and in retaliation the voodoo people put a spelled on the lagoon. It is impossible to drink or swim on the lake”.
-Ha! Of course… – Said John- Right, another old people story. So typical. Just telling any kind of story just to scare kids. There’s no voodoo, there’s no such a story. You can not poison a whole lagoon, you can not kill a whole army with some kind mambo jambo spell…
Well – Interrupted Tommy- My mother told me something similar today, something like the whole town had to move because there was no water they could drink because of a possession or something like that…
-See? Possessions, death, voodoo, the more I hear about it, the more unrealistic it sounds. Come on guys, there’s nothing to be afraid – Said John.
“Well, you can do whatever you want John, but Nancy and I, we are leaving, this place just looks dead. There’s nothing here, even the air is afraid of coming nearby the lagoon”.
“Just think about it” – continued Nancy- “200 people supposed to die because of this lagoon, crazy things happened around here. What would it do to us if we just dive in?” That’s it we are leaving…
Come on guys, I didn’t drive 2 hours and spend $3 worth of gas for that. At least let’s take a good luck at the lagoon, I mean the shore looks gorgeous.
“Ok”, replied everybody with a mix of fear and angst….
“You see? I told you, Nothing to be scared about, it is just another stupid lagoon. Voodoo, dead armies, right…That’s just another story to prevent kids of having fun…” – Said John as he threw some stones into the water…. ” See? Not even the stones bounce on the water, HA!”.
Ok, got it, enough. We already saw the lagoon, you threw some rocks, can we please leave? – Said Tommy as he raised his arms.
Nope, not really, I think it is time to swim in the lagoon – Said John with a daring face.
“John, – Said Linda- that wasn’t the deal. Seriously just stop, this isn’t funny anymore, we really wan’t to go back home. It is getting dark and our parent’s don’t know we are here. Seriously, don’t jump into the water”.
“Me? Who said me, let’s see what can you do Tommy boy!” Said John as he pushed Tommy to the water falling into the shore….
TOMMY! screamed the two girls….
Tommy fell into the lagoon, there was no noise, there was no water splash. It looked even the water had no life there. Everything was silence, there was no sight of Tommy for about 5 seconds, the water was so dark that no one could actually see where Tommy was, despite being a not-so-deep lagoon.
At the sixth second they saw Tommy’s head but he wasn’t moving….His face was rigid, had no expression, like made out dry wood… He wasn’t moving at all… The current of the lagoon pushed him near to the shore.
“All right, I’m coming buddy” – Screamed John, he entered slowly into the lagoon, he could feel something was wrong, it was like if he was floating, on the water, he couldn’t feel his feet, nor the soil where he was standing and as he tried to swim, he couldn’t really feel like he was moving anywhere, it was actually as if the lagoon started to absorb him and move towards him…
He grabbed Tommy by the neck, and started to pull him out slowly and backwards. Johnny didn’t really feel like he was going anywhere, for a moment he felt stuck in a dead sea of darkness and solitude.
Then Nancy and Linda pull them out with a peace of wood near to the shore and John started to walk back wards slowly with Tommy in his hands….
The girls started to cry, both took her hands to the mouth started to incriminate John… “You’re so stupid, we are done, this is bad… This is really bad… Oh my God, Tommy please, breathe!”….
“Shut up, you two! Not now, – Followed John… Tommy, come on buddy, breathe please, breathe”- John started to hit his cheeks and move Tommy back and forth…
Everything was silence, no one could hear a thing, not even as they were crying….
Then in a sudden grasp for breathe, Tommy woke up and scared the whole group….
“Oh my God, Tommy, buddy you’re OK”! That’s it pal, that’s it… Keep breathing… See? Nothing to be worried about, everything is OK, see? I told you…- Johnny was too wet to show that he actually had peed his shorts…
It was another day in Alabama, the air was thick, humid and hot. Tommy’s mom knocked at his door…”Boy, lunch is ready, you’ve been sleeping too much, time to wake up”….
Tommy jumped in his bed, he woke up all of the sudden full in sweat… Scared and lacking some air…. He saw around him and he was in his room, nothing had changed, everything was normal. The sun was shinning through the curtains and there was a light smell of flowers around…
Tommy put his feet on the ground, look around his bedroom, touched his forehead and felt no fever, everything was in place and he felt a huge relief, everything had been just a dream. It had been all a dream. He stood up slowly, and still shaking he proceeded to get dressed and cleaned up. It was time for lunch.
-Have you heard about’em? Said his mom as she slurped her coffee…..
Tommy stoped eating and the whole world stoped with it……
John… Martha’s son has a horrible fever and the doctor from the capital city is coming to see him…
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