GONE
FISHING
©
2002-Destiny West
Lake
Ahuizotl has a reputation for two reasons: one of them
being its great fishing, but second?
Well, that’s the stuff that fireside ghost stories
are made of.
Although the officials say that all “incidents”
can be explained, the locals know better; and even though
the attraction of the good fishing brings in tourists
and keeps the town financially viable, the residents don’t
go about promoting the place.
Word of the lake is spread by the people that have been
lucky enough to come here and land the desired quota of
fish without becoming one of the “incidents.”
The lake is unusually abundant with fish, and even if
you have never before cast a line into water, Lake Ahuizotl
is guaranteed to have them jumping onto your
hook within minutes. You can go home from here without
need for those ‘great fisherman tales’ or
‘it was this big’ exaggerations, because you
will be telling the truth.
So, word gets around and come summer, the woods around
the lake are riddled with coloured tents whilst the vast
expanse of water plays host to all kinds of floating devices,
from canoes to custom-built dinghies.
Some people come alone, others in groups; but every season,
just as the last camper is heading home with their prize
catch jealously guarded, the locals are out getting rid
of “the evidence.”
The evidence in question is usually the belongings of
a poor unfortunate, and solitary camper who has disappeared,
but -if the locals are really lucky- no one will
miss him. People go missing all the time in the uncharted
back of beyond.
Every
month the town folk have a meeting, sometimes to discuss
the inadequacies of the local business, or the rising
prices in the general store, or problems they are facing
with the town’s bored youth contingent; but usually
it’s the “incidents” at the lake that
are the prime topic discussion.
The younger inhabitants of the area think these ‘incidents’
should be openly acknowledged:
“If the people out there knew what else was happening
at the lake besides great fishing; it would bring in even
more tourists and make more jobs. It would put the lake
on the map - it would work, just look at the Blair Witch
Project.”
They
would enthuse. But no film will ever happen here.
If you have ever lived in any rural town before, you would
know that the older generation are totally against any
change. They are quite happy stuck in the same routine,
day in and day out, and they want it to stay that way.
They are also wary of strangers. Oh yes, they can tolerate
the fisherman because as a rule they are only in town
long enough to pick up a few supplies; but if the ‘truth’
about the lake got out, people would be swarming all over
the town. And with them would come the press, who would
undoubtedly disturb a whole number of closeted skeletons.
So, the young ones are vowed to silence and things carry
on as usual.
The only time real problems tend to arise is when the
victim is not alone at the lake, but thank goodness these
occasions have been few and far between.
Traditionally,
it tends to prey mostly on solitary fishermen. The townsfolk
say: “too much noise scares it away.” This
theory is borne out further by the fact that there may
not even be a victim if the lake has a particularly busy
season. However, at quieter times, especially when most
of the campers are on their way home; or when not many
people are about, that it will usually strike.
Some of the locals still use the lake, and these few and
far between folk are under the presumption that they are
part of a ‘special’ or ‘lucky’
club because - as far as any living town folk can remember
- not one single local has been taken.
Yet.
Of course “being local” doesn’t really
rule you out from being a victim- it’s your radio
booming out music that counts.
It’s when the victim has got friends and family
to notice their disappearance that things can get a little
sticky. This town is closely knit, and this close-guardedness
extends even to the few local law enforcement officers
and the coroner. So any “incident” can seemingly
remain secret forever.
Put
fishermen, water and beer together and you are bound to
have your fair share of accidents. It works every time.
As for the bodies - yes there are bodies - they
turn up eventually; usually about week or so after the
person has originally vanished. They are either washed
up on gritty shore of the beach or bobbing about in the
water. The latter are always bloated and green with “nibbles”
taken out of their decaying flesh by hungry or curious
fish.
Of
course, there is more - or should I say less?
Little “nibble-size pieces of flesh” from
the body are not the only parts missing.
“Cause
of death - drowning.”
It’s always the same, and 50% of the time it is
the truth, because the other half usually perish from
a heart attack caused by the fright (or the pain.)
Ever
seen a body pulled from the water? Well, I can tell you
it’s not a pretty sight, and that’s
not even half of it. Getting the body out of the water
and it remaining in one bit is always a task in itself.
You have to watch how you get them into the boat because,
well, you’re not going to get into that water are
you?
It usually takes a couple of locals to lean over the edge
of the outboard and heave the body inside. This can take
a couple of attempts because the flesh of the body is
often so rotten that an arm or a leg will fall off; and
you don’t even want to imagine the stench. You couldn’t
unless you have experienced it yourself. It’s one
of those smells that gets right up your nose and stays
there for days lingering on your flesh just like the stench
on pig farmers. No amount of scrubbing will send it away.
It goes in time, but you never forget it; and strangely
enough all of the victims suffer the same damage.
This “thing” that lives in the lake is the
stuff nightmares are made of; and all those stories you
have heard around the campfire that sound similar to this
are actually all based on this very place
Word about it does get around, though it’s usually
from a “friend of a friend” or set in a different
part of the country. But it does make you think, especially
when you are lying back in your boat surrounded by that
dark mirror of water, and when things are so quiet that
you can hear each breath you take, resounding in your
head at the volume of a hurricane.
It’s times like this when you think about the ‘myths’
based on this lake and you wish that you were somewhere
else -or at least there was some other noise - something
to let you know that you aren’t the only remaining
person on this god-forsaken earth.
You look down into those waters and see the distortion
of your face reflected back at you and without wanting
to, you are wondering what is actually lurking down there.
Then you look back at the shore and thinking ‘could
I swim that if I had too?’
No living local has seen the thing in the lake,
but you just ask any of the elders of the community and
they will tell you of someone that they know who has….
Of course the description has been changed and added to
over the years, as in all cases like this, it becomes
a game of ‘Chinese Whispers’ the description
altering from one person to the next.
The locals pronounce its name as: “Ah-wheez-za-tol”,
and hence the name of the lake.
It was christened two hundred years back, when people
first settled in the region and the first fisherman was
nearly taken by it.
This unfortunate angler had been standing on the beach
when he saw a movement in the water, and at first he thought
it was a man swimming just below the surface. But the
speed was incredible and -being an educated man in the
matters of all things aquatic- he knew no human was capable
of such speeds.
The thing had kept its movement in a perfect straight
line, its body streamlined, barely skimming the surface.
Entranced and a little frightened, the man stepped back
just in time, for this fast-moving body then spun a full
180 degrees; and an oversized arm, resembling that of
a human, lurched from the shallows to snatch him.
The fisherman had half-expected the thing to chase him,
but it did not. Instead it sped off back towards the centre
of the lake and disappeared into the murky depths.
Normally, people would have thought that anyone coming
home with such a story might have had either one too many
sips of whiskey, or an afternoon spent too long in the
sun. But this fisherman was a respected man, and so his
story was taken as truthful as the gospel of our lord.
The fisherman declared it to be an “Ahuizotl”
and so the lake was named.
The Ahuizotl is a creature from the legends of Central
America. In appearance it is half human and half monkey,
with a hand coming out of the end of its tail. Being a
water creature, it uses its tail hand to snatch those
walking too close to the water's edge.
Or fishermen.
However, the real truth is that nobody has seen it so
well as to really know what it is. Anyone that has reputedly
had contact with it has only seen glimpses and even when
questioned thoroughly cannot then be sure of exactly what
they saw.
But the name has stuck, and unless you are knowledgeable
of such obscure myths and legends, the chances are that
you would not know what an Ahuizotl was, even if you ended
up being it’s next victim.
But it’s not just the description that has put the
mythological name to it- it’s also the state that
the victim’s bodies are left in. Sure enough, the
“nibbles” taken from the putrid flesh are
from the fish; but how else do you explain the rest of
the damage?
Once that body is back on the slab at the morgue it’s
always the same: The greenish coloured body with prominent
red veins spidering their way across the decomposing flesh,
empty eye sockets, licked clean. Mangled toes and fingers
where the nails have been bitten off leaving bloodied
stumps with the bone exposed. Swollen blackened tongues
in mouths- with no teeth- just gaping, ragged gums exposed
between lips twisted in the screams of agony.
The actual details of these injuries are a little harder
to explain, but a quick stitch in the mouth keeps the
lips shut, and most people will accept that the lack of
eyes and gnawed digits are caused by the larger, hungrier
fish. Or so the coroners say…
Sometimes if you walk along the edge of the beach you
will find dentures, rumoured to be the rejected titbits
of victims. If you are lucky, you might even find the
smallest treasure in the form of a gold tooth.
Ah, but I can see that you’ve finally rumbled me.
Of course, it’s all merely a ruse; an urban legend
designed to keep you away. And of course you’re
right; after all why should we keep this place so secret?
And I agree with you up to a point, the waters should
be open to all of you to come and fish…not just
for those who are “in the know”. Go on, do
yourself a favour, come on down to Lake Ahuizotl, if you
can find it...It's not on all the maps..
Bring
your family. I can guarantee that you’ll have an
experience unlike any other, and certainly one you won’t
forget in a hurry…especially in your dreams.
