because I hate it when Aaron's disappointed with me

"Blood Bayou"

The bayou was thick with fog that night; an impassible, opaque, blanketing fog that warned all trespassers to turn back immediately. Stillness surrounded the area as far as the eye could see. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. Nothing lived. Save for the singing cicadas, the whining mosquitoes, and myself. The splish of my paddle sounded like gunfire against the dark waters. Each row echoed a thousand times over, as if the cypress trees were marking my every move; calling and answering to each other with each pass of my paddle. Yet, I continued on.

He said to keep going until I felt unwelcomed and uncomfortable. When I felt scared, I should paddle fifty more paces. And when I wanted to turn back, I should paddle ten. There I would find her, he said.

A low, guttural moan wavered on the wind. I stopped to listen for the source. With a shaky hand, I continued on. Forty-seven paces later, the moaning grew louder. It was a chilling wail that could only come from someone in a great deal of pain or distress. I swallowed hard, knowing I still had ten paces to go.

The cries grew louder, resonating through the bayou. It sounded as if it were coming from all directions. I craned my neck to see only darkness. I crossed myself as I glided deeper into the Devil’s playground, praying that God hadn’t abandoned me. I hoped the All Mighty would forgive me for the sins I would commit this night.

She was everything the whispers rumored: beautiful, enchanting, and haunting. She stared at me with deep, hollow eyes that bore into my soul. Her gaze fixed on mine and I found myself quickly entranced by her. I dared not move nor speak.

“You are very brave to come here alone,” she said. Her voice was surprisingly sweet for someone of her reputation. She almost sang the words through a gentle smile. But I tried not to allow myself to be swayed by her sly grin. She stood there, frozen, waiting on my reply. My eyes traveled down her slender figure, noticing her breasts; how they didn’t rise and fall to any rhythm, yet stayed there perched just beneath her neck. She wasn’t breathing.

After a moment of steadying my voice, I called back to her. “I seek Madame LaFleur. I am told--,”

“I know why you are here, James.”

Something deep within my spirit stirred at the sound of my name dripping from her lips.

“What must I do?”

She threw her head back and laughed with a vibrancy that shook the bayou. She extended her arm, beckoning me to her with a wave of her finger. “Come with me, dear James. After this night, all will be changed.”

.:~o*’Kaylyn’*o~:.