Loch Ness Horror

Christiaan made his way down to the water's edge. The pathway was enclosed by trees and he walked past a shelter that overlooked the Loch. The path came out in a stretch of shingle and a rectangular rocky edge that stretched out to be submerged in the water. To the right trees covered the steep valley slopes and the valley walls ran parallel with the water towards the horizon; disappearing around folds. The water was calm and reflected the hills. The day was clear and sunny as Christiaan looked out over Loch Ness.

Half a mile away he could see the caravan park where several caravans overlooked the Loch; it's occupants like him hoping to see the monster. Christiaan also saw a small sailing boat in the distance. He'd only been in Scotland twice and like every other tourist, had always wanted to come to Loch Ness. He was not a monster hunter but had always wanted to see what was the largest and deepest lake in the British Isles. He'd heard divers say the water was a murky whisky-brown.

Christiaan had been on his way to the Loch Ness Exhibition at Drumnadrochit, but he wanted to try and get a sense of the atmosphere of the place. Although surrounded by trees and with the Caledonian Canal running into it, the Loch had an eerie atmosphere. It's steep valley walls carved out during the ice age seemed to protect it's secrets. He'd also heard that an RAF Wellington bomber had crashed there during the war and that John Cobb had been killed in 1952 while attempting a world water speed record. It had been suggested that the monster had caused his death. His memorial was near Castle Urquhart which Christiaan intended to visit as well.

It was very quiet. Christiaan saw some ducks swimming nearby and quacking to each other. The boat was far away into the distance now. The water gently rippled but there was nothing else. The air was fresh and Christiaan felt pleased to be away from the city where you went out at lunchtime and came back with your lungs full of pollution. The A82 which ran past the Loch was the only modern intrusion, and that had only been built in the 1930s.

Christiaan saw the ducks take off, still quacking as the water rippled again. He saw a rock appear towards the bay but it wasn't angled; it was almost smooth. The tide could be going out to reveal a rock he hadn't seen before. He noticed another, smaller rock had appeared in front. The indetations in the nearer rock looked like eyes. Christiaan thought of an alligator poking it's head above water: watching. Don't be stupid, he told himself.

Then the monster suddenly rose out, water spilling off it's head. The head was triangular and was at the end of a short, slender neck. Round eyes set forward in the skull looked intently at Christiaan and it's mouth opened to reveal teeth which he rapidly guessed to be four to five inches in length. Flippers were half out of the water and the rest of the monster's body trailed back onto the shingle. Christiaan felt a chill run down his body and he knew he should run. But his legs were like stone.

He staggered back, turned, and was hit; falling to the shingle. At the same time, he felt his leg seized and Christiaan screamed as he heard a crunch as well. He turned and saw the monster with his left leg in it's mouth. Christiaan saw his shoe pop out from the side of it's mouth as it crunched and cracked the bone. Christiaan saw a stump, gushing blood, where his leg had been.

The head lunged forward and Christiaan screamed as the teeth seized his stomach and jerked violently back, tearing a bloody mass of meat, tissue and fat along with shreds of his t-shirt and jacket and gulped them down. Christiaan didn't see this as he was dead from shock.

The monster grasped Christiaan's shredded body in it's mouth, and tilting it's head back swallowed him in several gulps. Then it pushed itself off the shingle back into the water and submerged head first. The water heaved and then settled leaving only ripples that spread out and were gradually absorbed back into the Loch's wide expanse.

A few minutes later, the ducks returned and settled in the water.

THE END

26.05.12