A SAMPLE OF PROSE

Underneath the reeds and cattails in the murky waters lie countless peaceful-seeming figures, hidden away from the world above. Something flits from one figure to another, fiddling, adjusting.

A young man with big brown eyes and a strong jaw was holding a fairly expensive camera in his hand and pointing it toward his own face. ”Yoooo, what up creepers, it’s Carl the Occultist with another spooky challenge” he exclaimed in an overly enthusiastic tone. Behind his wildly swinging head peeked out some greenery and a cloudless sky.

”This one’s a real doozy. I’m at the Deepwater Marsh, and I bet some of you are already excited hearing that name! For those of you who are not in the know, this marsh is the centre of some pret-ty chilling folklore. I’m talking swamp corpses out to get you! If you stay in the marsh for too long”, Carl brought the camera in closer to his face and lowered his tone, ”they get mad, and drag you under to make you one of them.” 

”Nah, that’s not what I’ve heard”, a new, extremely laid back voice was heard. The camera swung towards a lanky yet muscled person clad in a plaid shirt.

Car’s voice was back to its usual cheery state: ”Creepers, say hellooo to Greg. He’s a long time friend of mine and a local. He’s gonna be helping me get to the marsh proper, and then help me set up some cameras to get all of the angles as usual. But yeah, you were saying Greg?”

Greg gave a lazy nod and explained: ”The way most people tell it there’s only the one creature. We call it the Bog Beast. If you don’t appease it right, it drags you under and preserves you for later eating. And that’s how you get the bog bodies.”

”So I hear there’s something weird about the corpses, and you know, atctual swamp corpses have been found here for decades,” Carl’s excited voice spilled out from behind the camera.

Carl crossed his arms and leaned on his beat up four wheel drive. In the distance waited an airboat. ”Oh yeah, it’s pretty well documented that at least over ten bog bodies have been found over the years, internal organs and all perfectly preserved. I think only like one of them still exist, since if you don’t treat those suckers right they decompose pretty fast. But yeah, the real weird thing about the bog bodies is that no one’s figured out how they came to be.”

The camera gave a little shake as Carl adjusts his grip. ”But aren’t those like, a pretty well documented thing.”

”Oh yeah, normal bog bodies, sure. But the water here isn’t nearly cold or acidic enough to allow for bog bodies. Hence the name ´Bog Beast`.”

”Oooh, that’s proper spooky. No wonder it’s got people scared. You said something about appeasing the Bog Beast”, Carl said and shifted his weight to his heels and then to his toes in a rocking motion. The cause for this motion seemed to be excitement.

Greg hummed in agreement and answered: ”Throw in a bit of food if you stop somewhere. It’s not likely to bother you if you’re on the move.”

The camera swung dramatically back to film Carl’s face. ”Well, I’m gonna do none of that food throwing, ’cause as I mentioned, this is a challenge. A 24 hour challenge! That’s right, I’m gonna stay riiight in the middle of the marsh for a whooole day in an inflatable boat.”

”You’re crazy, man”, Greg could be heard in the background.

”Oh yeah. Time to head out!” Carl shouted exuberantly, and then shut off the camera.

He turned to Greg and said in a slightly more blasé, yet still quite enthusiastic tone: ”All right man, let’s go.”

”Sure”, Greg replied with his customary chill.

The ride in Greg’s airboat was fairly pleasant, with the fan whirring loudly at their backs and the breeze hitting at their fronts, cooling them down in the summer heat. Finally they arrived at the location that Greg had picked. After some careful manouvering Carl and Greg had six camera’s scattered around to capture all of the action, and a seventh right in Carl’s hand.

Greg gave his arms and back a good long stretch to work out any kinks from all of the fiddling. His back cracked audibly. As he straightened back up he turned to Carl and said: ”So we’re talking ten hours?”

Carl wiggled his hand back and forth a couple of times, his expression turning thoughtful. ”Eeeh, I should get enough in about eight hours. I want some light changes and a chance for some random stuff to happen. But I’ve got my phone and a power bank too. If I don’t call you just come back in ten.”

Greg frowned a bit. ”I could just hang around and stay out of shot, you know. There may not be a Bog Beast, but we’ve got some ’gators here. Though not so much right in this spot. It’s still not 100% safe, dude.”

This time Carl flapped his whole arm around. ”It’ll be fiine. And I’ll have an easier time by myself. Besides, let’s keep this at least a bit real.” Carl gave Greg a rakish grin and an over the top wink, and changed the subject: ”How’s the wife?”

Greg’s whole face seemed transform into something softer as a smile emerged: ”Yeah, she’s good. More than ready for the baby to be born.”

With a genuine smile Carl replied: ”How long now?”

”Only about a month ’till she’s due. Though the women in her family tend to go overdue, so we’ll see how it goes.” Greg seemed a bit concerned, but still almost deliriously happy.

”I have every expectation that I know who the godfather is”, said Carl, waggling his eyebrows.

Greg barked out a short but honest laugh. ”Yeah, yeah. We’ll see. I’ll head out now so you can get started. Stay safe.”

Carl lifted up his camera and pressed record. He filmed Greg’s exit and the panned out to show off all of the equipment. ”All right, I’ve got my cameras, my tiny little boat, water and food, I’m good to go.”

Carl had spent a few hours acting up for the camera and spewing out whatever theories he could come up with about the Bog Beast, before he decided that it was time for something at least a bit more interesting. He pretended to see something off camera: ”Oh, what was that?! Oh man, I hope at least one of the camera’s caught that. I saw some movement in the water, and there’s no way it was a ’gator man. I could’ve sworn I saw friggin hand there.”

”Oooh, I gotta know - I’m going in. Thankfully we noticed this pretty big rock thing over here, under the water. Otherwise I’d be outright swimming, this is the Deepwater Marsh, after all.” Carl let out a nervous sounding chuckle. His boat was tied up fairly close to the rock so with a bit of shoving and paddling he was right next to it. Carl shucked off his shoes and clambered onto the rock. He was in waist deep, and the water felt surprisingly freezing. An uncontrollable shiver ran down his spine, but he decided to ignore it and lifted his camera up once more. ”I really dunno why the water is this cold guys”, Carl was now talking much quieter than earlier, hoping to create some suspense. ”I’ve been here for well over twelve hours now, and I’m starting to suspect that I’ve attracted something’s attention. Is it the Bog Beast?”

The cold was starting to make Carl shiver. The temperature difference between his upper body and legs felt unreal. Carl was starting to feel light headed. He flinched violently as something briefly touched his calf. His breathing sped up noticeably. ”I’m not even kidding, I’m really freaked out right now” he whispered hoarsely. ”Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s time to climb back into the boat.”

Carl turned back to the boat and carefully threw his camera in. He was just about to pull the boat closer in order to flop his way back on to it, as suddenly the water around him churned violently. Carl’s scream was chilling as he was dragged under the surface.

Something flits in the waters of the marsh, upkeeping, easing. Long, thin fingers caress leathery surfaces, and a wide mouth full of sharp, jagged teeth is fixed in a sweet smile. Suddenly it cocks its head inquisitively. It senses that something has stopped above, disturbing the flow of the water. It will give it time, as there’s no way to know otherwise.

Much time passes, and though something leaves, another thing remains. It waits some more. Finally the creature is sure, and it approaches, it’s humanoid body gliding gracefully through the water. It comes to a stop when it’s bulbous eyes catch the sight of a being standing precariously on a rock. The being flinches as a piece of driftwood brushes by. The creature knows what it must do, and so it springs forward and engulfs the being, pulling it underneath the surface.

The being’s eyes are wide open and wild, and there are bubbles streaming out of its mouth. The creature runs a soothing hand through its fine hair and looks calmly into its panicked gaze. The creature opens its mouth and speaks in a tongue no living human can understand: ”Lost soul, let me protect you.”