A Scary Story and Encounter: Chapter 1

“Skit!” A somewhat feminine voice hissed just above his head. Skit made an ungraceful splash in surprise to find Tesseracht hanging off the dock’s support beams to greet him. “Tessa, hello!” He smiled as he turned in the water to face her properly. “What are you doing?” He asked quizzically, prepared for some new ridiculous antics. “Looking for you.” She replied, repositioning herself to properly lay along the beam, her spindly tail coiling and uncoiling idly. “Oh? What for?” Skit ducked back beneath the water, but was back in mere seconds. Tessa was familiar with his need to keep his skin wet so hadn’t bothered to reply until he had resurfaced. “I just heard a scary story! Do you know any scary stories?” She sighed, not even giving him a chance to reply, “I bet they’re just about sharks though.” 

 

Skit, for his part, was used to Tessa by now and didn’t take offense. “Well, and orcas too. But if you’re just looking for a scary story, I could tell you about Skeddington.” Skit offered, making up the name on the spot. “Skeddington?” Tessa asked warily, as if sensing some jest but unable to call him on it. “Depending on the story it’s a ghost or witch. Some say both.” Skit told her, not wanting to give too much away. He still had to figure out the story, after all. “Hmm. Tell me!” She snipped in her excitement. Skit laughed and ducked under the water again. This time, when he resurfaced, he spouted water at her. Tessa screeched but managed to stay on the beam, though Skit was there to help her if she’d fallen. “Now, you know the drill. Interrupt or start with your shenanigans and it’s in the water with you.” Tessa nodded solemnly, she’d learned pretty quickly that Skit meant what he said, though sometimes she had to push his buttons for the heck of it all. 

 

“Once, long ago-” “You’re supposed to start with ‘once upon a time’” Skit used his tail to splash her hard enough that this time Tessa was knocked into the water. She surfaced, spluttering, and skit came up under her to place her back on the beam dripping. “What did I say?” He asked firmly. “Not to interrupt. Okay, okay. So ‘once long ago’....?” 

 

“Once long ago there was a fluke singer named Skeddington who was larger and more powerful than any other Aquiron. They were accused of heinous crimes of witchcraft against others of their kind, even stealing calves. So the other Aquirons banded together with a tribe of humans to slay Skeddington. Their first ten attempts failed, for Skeddington 

 a very powerful witch. Finally, the humans and fluke singers who had banded together to kill Skeddington managed to strike a fatal blow. As they were dying, Skeddington cast a curse- that whoever repeated the lies of their betrayers would have a nasty end. For time out of mind Aquirons who repeat that Skeddington was the villain have met mysterious accidents, most fatal. They say that before Skeddington strikes, you’ll hear ghostly singing in the ocean though no fluke singers will be near. And then you’ll hear their slowing heartbeat. As their heart comes to a stop, the survivors have said that they could feel their own hearts slowing. They say that if something hadn’t snapped them out of it, they would have died too.” 

 

Tessa waited expectantly for Skit to finish, but it was apparent that he had reached the end of his tale. “That’s it?” She asked, disappointed. Skit laughed, “Well, I did just make it up on the spot.” He ducked his snout back in the water sheepishly, “I'm sorry.” “Hmm. Tessa considered jumping off the beam to land on his face for a playful nip to his nose, but thought better of it. “It’s okay. Would you like to hear the story I heard earlier?” Skit nodded, “Sure!”

 

Hours later, Skit returned to his home thoroughly shaken by Tessa’s story. He couldn’t even bring himself to try and think about it or recall it, though bits of it still made him shudder. Particularly the knocking sound and the burst of heat that boiled fish alive. He was swimming in restless circles around his den when he heard it. A knocking sound, like something in a metal tank banging to get out. Was the water getting warmer or was that just his fear making him think it was? “Calm down, Skit it’s all in your-” He was about to say it was all in his head when he heard something very real close by. A whooshing sound, and yes the water was definitely warmer! Heart starting to race in panic, Skit shot out of his den into the open water, circling to find the source of the noise. At first he didn’t see anything, but as he circled again he realized that there was a cloud of roiling bubbles out in the meadow by the ruins. A flash of something brown and yellow- and blue? Amid the bubbles told him something real was really there. And there was that knocking sound again! 

 

As the bubbles receded Skit saw fish floating toward the surface, raw and red and clearly dead. With a cry of alarm, he swam closer to see what had caused their violent ends. A flash of movement from below him caught his attention and he ducked his head down toward the sea bed. There, coiling about itself was a strange abyssal the likes he’d never seen. In a place he’d never seen. “H-hello?” Skit ventured nervously, uncertain how such a creature could be in the relative shallows where he lived. The serpent’s coils tightened in surprise and she dropped the fish she had been eating. Their eyes locked as the dead fish floated up past Skit and the abyssal continued to coil and uncoil continuously as she flashed through the water like a weaving arrow. “Hello.” She replied curiously. Skit visibly relaxed, glad to see she wasn’t hostile. He soon learned she was the source of the scary story, that Tessa must have heard about her from some fishermen she’d inadvertently frightened earlier that day. Relieved, Skit made a mental note to tell Tessa next time he saw her the truth of her scary story, though she didn’t need to know how badly it had scared him.