Lake Monster

 

            “Aah! Something touched me!” Cassie shouted as she swam frantically for the side of the boat.

            “Relax, Cassie,” Annie said, trying not to laugh. “It’s just a fish or something.”

            Cassie shivered. She always got nervous being in the lake. A swimsuit and life jacket offered no protection from anything that could attack her.

            “Hey, girls!” Dad called from the boat. “I’m throwing the tube out.”

            Cassie heard the slap as the inflatable tube hit the water. She hurriedly swam over to it and climbed into one of the seats. She immediately felt safer, knowing that there wouldn’t be anything else brushing up against her legs.

            Annie climbed in beside Cassie, still smiling. “Still worried about the lake monster?”

            “No,” Cassie said untruthfully.

            Annie’s smile grew. “People disappear every year around the lake. Maybe old Nessie got ‘em.”

            “Stop!” Cassie cried. Her sister knew that Cassie had always been afraid of things in the water. She never wasted an opportunity to tease her about it.

            The two sisters got situated in the uncomfortable seats. Annie gave Dad a thumbs up, and they started to move.

            Cassie’s arms tensed as she held on for dear life. Dad did his best to throw the girls off their tube, but years of practice had allowed them to move with every twist and turn. The girls screamed and laughed as the tube moved and spun across the water. Finally, Cassie let go as Dad slowed down to do a sharper turn. She couldn’t hold on anymore. The muscles in her forearms burned, and she knew she would be sore tomorrow.

            The thrill of the ride had made her temporarily forget to worry about things in the water, but it came back full force when Cassie saw something huge rise out of the water, no more than twenty feet away. She froze in horror. Was that a head? She swore it was a glittering, scaly dragon’s head.

            Cassie tried to cry out, but her voice was stuck. The dragon head appeared to be eating something. Seaweed, maybe. Long fronds trailed from its mouth. Slowly, it turned its head and stopped with its eye focused right on Cassie.

            Cassie tried to backstroke further away from the monster, and then suddenly, the boat was there.

            “Did you get too tired, Cassie?” Dad asked as Cassie swam to the back of the boat and climbed up the stairs. Annie was still sitting in the tube.

            “Aren’t you going again, Cassie?” Annie called.

            Cassie tried to calm down her heart rate as she yelled back. “No, I think I’m done for today.”

            “Still scared of the lake monster?” Annie asked jokingly.

            “Yes,” Cassie said under her breath. She turned to look at the spot where she had seen the great head, but there was only lake water. She did not want to go back in there today. She had no desire to have a closer encounter with the lake monster.