Week 11 Theme ~ Alienation

It is dark now, it gets dark early this time of year. I am rowing back to shore at this instance, from the east side of the lake and it is hard to see. My eyes are focused on the lights of my house burning bright in the distance. The water is like thick black pools beneath the gliding canoe, I thought I saw a glimmer of something slithering beneath the surface but when I look back there is nothing there save the reflection of the night sky. It was probably nothing. My paddle makes contact with the flow of the lake, much to my amazement; the water is thick and seems to be pulling the paddle along with myself down with it. I let go immediately and the lively water subsides. I sit there, in the middle of the canoe, without means to get back to shore, freaked out and alone with only my imagination to get the best of me. My biggest fear has always been the possibility of sea monsters, great fiends that live beneath dark waters, waiting to pull unexpected swimmers and boaters down beneath the depths. At the moment of my phobia recall the canoe started swaying from side to side and it wasn’t me rocking it. Then I started to hear thuds on the bottom followed by a great churning of waters. I was standing up now in the middle of the canoe, grabbing the life preserver beside me, like that’s going to save me from the waiting beast. I am all over the place, teetering from side to side in the lurching boat. The water is splashing inside and a vertex seems like it is forming off the edge of the vessel. I shut my eyes, oh god what is going on? There is a large and slimy feeler emerging from the swirling vortex; pink, fleshy, slimy with scratches, scars and other mutilation covering the scaly tissue and it’s coming for me. This isn’t how I go is it? Such a mediocre death to be someone else’s lunch, tore apart and devoured by such inconceivable creatures.
And then I woke up, traveling in the back seat of my friend’s car, my ears adjusting to the sounds of conversation. “HEY GUYS WE”RE HERE!” Amanda’s voice is raised above everyone else’s. I peak out the window from my position in the back, glancing out of the window at the looming quarry of granite in front of us. Amanda parks the car and everyone bounds out, eager to jump into the water. They’re horsing around and joking as they march off down the beaten path to where you can leap from the rocks, no one noticing that I am slowly getting out and hanging back by the car. “Watch out for the quarry monsters they’ll pull you down into their caves,” Chris yells to the group before swinging off the rope swing, some 80 feet above the water. “Ha ha very funny,” yells Jen just now reaching the top. Amanda finally realizes I’m not with the group, “Where’s Kristen?” glancing back to towards the car, I wave to her from a distance. “Hey are you coming!” The two girls yell in unison. “I think I’ve had enough for one day, I’ll just watch you guys!” “What are you talking about, come on this is going to be awesome,” Jen yells before grabbing the rope and swinging off. Her body slips silently into the water, miles below. Flashes of tentacles and swirling water go though my head, I try to remind myself, it was only a dream. But still, I won’t be frequenting any bodies of water anytime soon.