Dead Swimmer
“Ma, I won’t be coming back home tonight. I am going fishing with Thinesh and the gang.” Segar told his mother and went off with his fishing equipment.
Segar and his friends loved fishing. It had become a regular affair eversince the boys met. They would make it a point to go fishing once every fortnightly, using frogs and worms as their bait. When they returned the next day, they would normally return with a basket full of fishes.
“Segar, why are you so late?” Thinesh asked impatiently. “We thought you were not coming.”
He had already got his pole out and was relaxed against a beach chair, while waiting for the fish to bite.
“Sorry,” Segar said and sat down with them. “Mother wants me to help out with the housework.”
Soon Segar got his fishing rod out. Seated comfortably, he started chatting with the others.
“Eh, how’s the catch today? Did you catch anything yet?” Segar enquired, curious.
“Aiyah, nothing so far lar. Maybe you can catch something. The uncle gave me lousy worms today.” Thinesh groused.
Their conversation soon turned to school, and girls. Andrew, the school playboy, was telling him about his latest exploits, mostly exaggerated of course.
It was good conversation, and even though the boys not caught anything yet, they had fun. The time passed quickly for them.
“Do you see that?” Prakash pointed out.
“Huh?” Segar muttered.
“See what?” The rest asked.
“See, a woman struggling in the water,” he said and got up.
The rest of them saw it. Someone was splashing somewhere out there, hands outreached and trying to grab on to something. A lady was screaming for help. Before anyone could react, Segar had already jumped into the water.
Segar was a powerful swimmer, and he was swimming towards her as fast as he could. The lady was drowning. However, he was not able to reach her at all. She seemed to be drifting further and further away.
The waters looked choppy. A storm was brewing in the thick clouds above. Lightning lit the nightsky. Despite the Segar’s swimming skill, they had began to worry and began to call him back. The lady was pulled by the currents.
After a few minutes they saw Segar turning back. Swimming even faster, he made for the shore as fast as he could. The moment he got out of the water, he ran all the way to them.
“What happened?” They asked as he dropped to the ground in front of them, panting heavily and totally exhausted.
“Relax, man, he’s trying to catch his breath,” Prakash told the rest.
In between his breaths, he told them, “I don’t know… I can’t seem to reach her. When I seemed to be near, she disappeared and I felt someone pull me down.”
“Then what happened?”
“When I pulled the thing up…”
“What was it?’ Thinesh interrupted.
“Shut up, Thinesh,” Prakash reprimanded him.
“It… it… it was a half-rotten hand,” Segar said panting.
“Are you sure?”
“I am scared,” Segar admitted.
The guys looked at each other in horror. All were only too aware of the unnatural calm falling around them. They looked around them. The wind had stopped, and the waves looked serene.
Then it happened.
A cold giggling laughter came from behind them suddenly. There was no one there.
The laughter broke the quiet night. It was the voice of a young girl and it was spooky.
“What’ that?” Segar whispered, terrified.
Without any hesitation, all the boys ran off, leaving their things there. Segar, who was already breathless, ran with all his might. His house was the nearest and all were headed there.
Segar’s mother was very surprised to see the boys back in the middle of the night. Normally, they would not return until the next morning.
Seeing her, the boys told her what had happened. Since then, Segar never went night fishing ever again.
Fortunately,
that incident did nothing to dim the other’s enthusiasm for fishing. The
others went to another place to fish now. However, if they saw someone
struggling for help, they would not bother as they all knew that the spirits
were probably up to their tricks again.