APPROVED Night Fishing

Night drown the swamp in darkness. Bugs chirped and buzzed in a harmonious chorus, bringing life to the otherwise still wetlands. A single figure waded through the waters of the otherwise still landscape. He was small and malnourished looking, and seemed to continuously glance over his shoulder as though expecting something bad to happen at any moment.

This swamp was his home and he knew it like the back of his claws, but that didn't stop the fear from clawing its way into his very core. It was relatively easy to tell when someone was in his lands, the bugs would often stop and give him a warning on when to run but that didn't work when the adversary was below the murky surface. Usually at night he was a shut in, staying near his large mangrove tree, entangling himself in its roots for protection from predators, though even being a small sucho he was larger than most other species on the island. However, tonight his stomach yelled and ached with hunger forcing him into deeper waters of his home in search of a snack, though in his mind he feared he would become a snack to someone else.

As he drew closer to the deeper areas of the swamp he noticed his movements in the water began to light up. Bioluminescent plankton, of course. The deeper areas were close to the nearby ocean so though it wasn't uncommon for the plankton to make its way up stream it was the last thing he needed. Each step he took sent out a flash, almost like a beacon to others on where the timid sucho was. Fear grasped his heart and he continued on, though in his mind he began to second guess coming out this late for food. The problem was missing a meal was hard for Chacc, the sucho was already skin and bones and so missing out on some food was detrimental to him and his well being.

Suddenly from the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a quick flash. His head spun to face the flash only to see some of the plankton slowly fading back to darkness. Was it a fish that had made the water glow? Another sudden flash occurred, this time in the other direction of the first. His head spun toward it to see a dark shape slipping below the surface.

'What was that?' Chacc's mind raced, the dark creature seemed enormous, unless maybe it was his fear playing tricks on him?

Suddenly Chacc felt something rub against his leg and unable to contain his already boiling fear he let out a high pitched screech, similar to that of a hatchling. Lifting his leg out of the water he was sure he had lost the entire thing, though as it broke the surface he saw a small piece of sea weed wrapped around his leg.

Chacc giggled lightly realizing his fear steamed from none other than, you guessed it, a piece of sea weed. He lowered his leg back into the water, though he was so caught up within his mind he hadn't noticed the large dark figure directly behind him. Deciding it wasn't worth the crippling fear Chacc turned to go back to his tree only to run straight into the creature.

Gasping Chacc slowly raised his gaze to meet that of what could only be described as a sea monster. It's wet skin glistened in the moon light and the glowing plankton running from it's skin gave it an eerie glow, almost as though the creatures green markings were glowing.

The air within Chacc's lungs seemed to violently leave them, seemingly leaving him unable to breath as the fear within paralyzed his entire body. For a moment neither creature moved, Chacc frozen and rooted in the deep water around his neck, and the large aristonectes just sitting there, menacingly.

Almost as though his body woke up Chacc turned tail and ran as fast as his legs could carry him in the deep water, his tail thrashing about giving him even more speed. He just had to get to shallower water, right? Than he would be safe. Right??? As his chest left the water, the his legs, and finally his feet Chacc twisted around to see where the creature was that he was so desperately running from, but what he looked back he saw nothing. Huffing and short of breath his eyes darted back and forth along the dark water surface looking for anything that may reveal the dark serpents location, but nothing could be seen, just the faint glowing trail he had left when he ran.

Was it all just in his head? Or was something really after him? Maybe he would never know for sure but what he did know was he was no longer going to go night fishing ever again.