Night Fishing

Dad crumpled up the local paper, tossing it on the empty seat beside him with a huff. The main article was about two fisherman that had vanished three nights ago during one of the harvest fogs over Lake Ridley; legend has it that during the foggy nights, it’s the best time to catch the fish usually hidden in the depths, but just as dangerous. A couple years back, Old Man Spencer pulled a massive catfish, setting a county record! I really wanted to go at least once, but Dad would tell me no, that it was too dangerous.

“See Thomas. Even men who have fished their entire lives get killed out there! The boat tips and into the water! With that dense fog, you’ll drown searching for your boat or the shore! You will never go, understood?

“Yes, sir…” I replied, but I didn’t care what he said, I as going to go… I had too…

At school, I could barely concentrate, my eyes staring out the windows at the lake, just a couple miles out, but just peaking over the horizon. I dreamed of it, that moment I pull up the biggest fish anybody ever saw! I’d put Tyler to shame, finally beat him at a fishing competition, prove I’m the better fisherman. Maybe then Lucy would like me.

“Catch anything this weekend, Thomas?” Tyler snickered at him, “I caught a big trout, I think it’s the biggest caught this season. How those guppies biting?”

He and the rest of the class laughed; I turned my head away. He was a jerk, I was fed up with him and his antics, I was going to prove myself, and I was going to make him eat his words. Professor Maximus was writing on the chalkboard, it was October, so he liked to do a week about urban legends.

“Class, does anyone know the story of the ghost light on Lake Ridley?” he asked, turning to face us, gazing over his spectacles.

Lucy raised her hand, “It’s the spirit of lost fishermen who perished during the harvest fog. Legend says they help guide others to shore, as long as they leave all of their fish behind. Some renditions say someone must die for the rest to be saved. That their soul guides them back as a final farewell.”

“Very good, Miss Sullivan. The legend dates back nearly two hundred years, when the town was first founded. To this day, fishermen still try their luck on that perilous lake, in hopes of catching the monstrous fish that may lurk within, living deep in the blackest depths of the water. The lake is quite large, and I do not advise anyone to go out upon it when the fog has rolled in. So, I ask you all to heed my warning and avoid it at all costs during this season. We have seen too many tragedies befell those that do venture out in search of the supposed ‘greatest catch’.”

The bell rang, everyone closed up their books and headed toward the lunchroom, Tyler was boasting how he was going to go out that night during the harvest fog, I grit my teeth as I watched everyone encircle him to listen. His eyes fell on me and he smiled, walking over and jabbing me in the chest with his index finger.

“I’m coming back with the record breaker of the season, guppy.”

I smacked his hand away, “You can think that all you want. Tonight then, we settle this.”

Tyler laughed, “Alright, tonight it is. Meet me at the lake at midnight! We’re going to settle this. Which one of us is the better fisherman. .”

Tyler turned and walked away; my hands were balled into fists. I was angry, I wanted to hit him, but he wasn’t worth the trouble. We were going to settle this tonight. He was going to eat his words; he was going to be the guppy. I turned to walk over to my lunch table when someone grabbed my arm, stopping me. I turned to see Lucy.

“Thomas, are you really going to go out tonight? After everything Maximus said, and the fishermen who disappeared the other night? What if there really are ghosts out there? The vengeful spirits of the lost souls taken by the lake?”

I let out a laugh, “Come on, Lucy, you really believe those silly stories? The guys who died went overboard and probably lost sight of their boat. It’s a long swim from the middle of the lake to the bank. They probably drowned.”

“Then where are their bodies? All that was found was their boat, broken into pieces, no bodies!”

“Lucy, everything will be fine. We’re going to catch a couple fish, and I’m going to prove who the better fisherman is once and for all.”

She frowned, “Are you sure about doing this?”

“What? Worried about me?”

She blushed and turned away before bringing her head up to look at me again, “Fine. If it’s so safe. I’m coming along.”

“What?” I said, taken completely off guard.

“Yup. If it is so safe, then I want to come along. You know Tyler will have Roger going with him. So I’m in your ship, captain,” she said, giving me a salute with a wide smile across her face.

“Fine. You can be my first mate. Meet me around midnight, I’ll have a spare pole for you. Welcome aboard.”

The rest of the day dragged on and on, I was so anxious about that night, it was all I can think about. I got home around three, ate dinner around six, and packed up my tackle and lures, going so far as to tuck in three rods, incase one broke. I went to bed around nine, my dad never suspecting anything out of the ordinary. My plan was working smoothly.

Around eleven forty-five, I snuck out the backdoor, backpack on, and rode as fast as I could to the lake. I was the first to arrive, my boat was hidden where I’d left it a couple days before, under some brush with a net over it to disguise it. I smiled as I dropped the bag into it and started to drag it to the water’s edge. I glanced over as I heard the sound of people, Lucy and Tyler came over the hill, coming to a stop as they reached me.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d even show up,” Tyler jested, “Figured you’d chicken out.”

“I’m here. Where’s your boat?”

“Roger’s bringing it.”

“Where is he?”

Tyler glanced back, a look of nervous uncertainty crossing his face, “He… He’ll be here…”

“Do you want us to wait?”

Tyler glanced over the water, I followed his gaze, watching the thick mist roll across the lake till not even the dock end could be seen. It was dense, almost glowing with the moonlight that struck it. We waited a few minutes till midnight hit, that’s when Tyler walked over to where Lucy and I were sitting, hands in his pockets as he stared at the ground.

“Look… Thomas…” he said, the hint of defeat in his voice, “Can I go on your boat…”?

I looked at him, he never used my name and it sounded so foreign coming from him, “Fine, but the ‘guppy’ stuff stays on the shore.”

He looked up at me, “Deal. We’ll do this fair. Lucy can judge.”

She nodded, “I promise to remain impartial.”

Tyler helped me get the boat into the water, the three of us climbing in and Tyler and I each taking an oar and began rowing into the dense mist. Lucy sat at the stern, taking a flashlight and trying to watch where we were headed to little effect.

“I can’t see three feet in front of us…” she nervously said, “Maybe this was a bad idea…”

I glanced over my shoulder at her, “It’s okay. Tyler, you think we’re close to the center?”

Tyler stood up, stepped to the bow, looked around before taking a seat facing me, “I think so? It’s a big lake and we’ve been rowing for a while.”

“Okay, I’ll fish off the port side, you can take the other.”

We set up our poles, I helped Lucy with hers, and we casted out on the water. We couldn’t see the bobbers, but could hear the splash when the lures hit the surface, sinking below, into the darkness that surrounded us.

Tyler was the first to hit, pulling in a decently sized trout, he’d brought a bucket, and he tossed the fish into it. I was the second to get a catch, a bass, larger than the trout, decently sized for what it was; I threw it in with the trout. For the next hour or so, we ended up pulling almost a dozen fish out, I was up on Tyler by two when Lucy finally got a hit.

“I got one!” she declared, pulling on the rod, the end bending as it fought.

I got behind her, helping her pull on the rod as she tried to reel it in, the boat starting to tip toward the catch; Tyler moved to the opposite side with an uneasy look on his face.

“Hey! We could tip!” he cried out.

“We got this,” I called back, excitement in my voice.

We tugged harder, but the fish kept fighting us, the end of the boat just barely above the water’s surface, any lower and we could capsize. I looked at Tyler who look terrified and decided the best move was to cut the line to save us from going in. I pulled my knife out of my pocket when suddenly the rod snapped and we fell back, Tyler going overboard and Lucy falling back on to me.

“Are you okay?” I asked her as she pushed herself up.

“I’m not hurt, I’m sorry about your rod…”

I let out a laugh, smiling at her, “I can always buy a new one, the reel is the most expensive part anyway.”

“Hey!” Tyler called, “Where are you? Come get me! Help!”

I sat up, turning to the starboard side but couldn’t see Tyler anywhere in the fog, “Tyler! Keep calling! I can’t see you!”

“Over here! Help! Help!”

I grabbed the oars, trying to row toward his voice. The closer I got to where I thought he was, the farther his voice seemed to get; then suddenly it was coming from the opposite way. I swung my head around, looking out over the fog, Tyler’s voice coming from one side than the other, echoing all over to the point that I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“Lucy, can you tell where he is?”

She was looking over the bow, “No, I’m not sure. Tyler! Tyler! Where are you!”

“Help!” he cried, a gurgle of water intake cutting his voice, “Please! Help me! Help me!”

“There!” Lucy cried, pointing to the water, a loud splashing sound coming from it.

I rowed my heart out, till we came to him, he was struggling to stay up. I darted to the bow, reaching my hand out and taking his. I yanked him with all of my strength, his free hand pressing down on the bow. His eyes looked at me with a look I’d never seen before, one of actual appreciation and thanks.

Suddenly, a force ripped him from me, almost taking me over with him had I not let go. He was under the water as fast as I could blink, then there was nothing but silence. I slowly backed up, tripping over the bench and landing on my back, Lucy was sitting on the bottom beside me.

“What… what just happened…” she nervously said, eyes wide as she stared where Tyler once was, “Where did he go…”

I sat up nervously, looking around us, then I saw it, the ghost light, slowly moving across the water. I tapped her shoulder and pointed and she gripped my arm tightly, our eyes enchanted by its glow. She started to cry, nuzzling her face into my shoulder.

“It’s okay…” I said, holding her tightly.

“He’s gone… That’s… that’s his spirit… Dump the fish Thomas… I want to go home…”

“It’s okay, Lucy. Just sit and relax, I’ll row us back.”

I sat down, grabbing the oars and began rowing as she cried. I felt awful. I might have hated Tyler, but I didn’t want him to die… I didn’t want things to end like this. I just wanted to beat him, I wanted to prove myself and show him that I was the better fisherman... And now… There was no one to prove anything too…

I started rowing toward the light as it moved, it seemed the closer I got, the more it moved in a different direction until it felt like we’d been going in circles. After sometime, I was getting tired and I stopped, Lucy looked at me nervously.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’re going in circles; I don’t get it…”

“I want to go home, Thomas! I want to go home!”

“Screw the light, I’ll start rowing in a direction, we have to hit land eventually!”

I picked up the oars, chose a direction and began rowing. I watched the light move across the surface, then it began following us, slowly gaining. I glanced at Lucy who was staring at it, fear over her face, her blue eyes wide, her face red from crying.

“Thomas… Thomas!” she cried out, “It’s getting closer! It’s getting closer! Go faster! Please go faster!”

She grabbed the other set of oars and began rowing with me, but even with her, the ghost light was getting closer, gaining speed and closing the gap between us. I glanced back once more at her, the look of sheer terror upon her face as it was illuminated suddenly. I turned and the light smacked me hard, knocking me back.

I stared up at it as it dangled over the boat, some round orb like nothing I’d ever seen before. I crawled back to be next to Lucy, her arms around me as she breathed rapidly. I was terrified, I scared, but I was also curious. I pulled away from her, crawling over to where it was.

“Thomas! Get back!” she cried out to me.

“Lucy… It’s solid. Ghosts aren’t solid. This isn’t a ghost. It’s something else.”

I placed my hand on the orb, it was slimy, wet, but brighter than anything I’d ever seen before. As I turned to look at Lucy, I heard a rush of water. I looked down as the boat suddenly shifted, my whole body falling back. The orb suddenly dropped out of sight. I moved to the edge, looking into the water to where it could have gone when suddenly there was a scream from behind me then silence as the boat almost tipped backward.

I looked back; the other half of the boat was gone… So was Lucy. I frantically scrambled to the remaining end. All my gear, the oars, all of it, was gone. All that was left was me, shipwrecked somewhere on Lake Ridley, alone in the mist. Not even my dad knew I was out here, there would be no one coming.

“Hello! Tyler!”

I perked my head up, it was Roger, it had to be.

“Roger! Roger! Help! Help!” I cried into the mist.

I could hear the splashing of his oars in the water as he drew closer till finally, I could see him, the stern of his ship tapping against my boat giving him a fright. I hopped into his, he glanced back at me, a worried look on his face.

“Where’s Tyler? I’m sorry I was late; it was hard sneaking my dad’s boat out here. Been rowing for hours, caught a couple though. Wait… Is that your boat?” he asked, his eyes staring at my sinking vessel till it was beneath the water.

I started to shake and cry, my arms pulled tight against my body. Roger came over and gave me a hug, he wasn’t sure what to do, just told me to take it easy, that everything would be okay, that we’d be alright and we could row back to the shore.

“Where is Tyler?” he asked me, drawing back and holding me at arm’s length.

“The ghost light…” I stuttered out, “It took them… Took the whole boat… Everything…”

“You sound crazy, Thomas, seriously. Did he not show up?”

My eyes widened as I looked past him, the ghost light was there, in the distance, coming towards us. I began to shake, pushing away from Roger till I was against the end of the boat with nowhere else to go. I pointed past him, his head turning to look upon it, his jaw dropping.

“What… It’s real…” he muttered to himself.

I got up, mustering all my courage and grabbing his pocket of fish, dumping them overboard to Roger’s anger, “Why the hell did you do that!”

“Row damn it! Row!” I cried out.

The light dropped back under, our eyes frantically searching the horizon. Suddenly I heard a line going, Roger’s pole was bending over the bow. I darted for it, grabbing the rod and looking back at him, holding my hand out,

“Give me your knife! We have to cut the line!”

“Here! Here!” he said, giving me the knife. I cut the line, falling back.

We rowed back in silence, unsure of what to say or what to tell anyone. We should have listened, instead, Lucy and Tyler were dead. We never spoke of it again, and I never fished again. I moved away the moment I could, I just wanted to leave Lake Ridley behind. Sometimes, when there’s mist outside, I could swear I can hear Lucy and Tyler crying for help. I used to run outside, but I can never find them, so eventually I just gave up trying.