“HEY! Watch. This is how you kill a fish.” Hoisting a rock up, he smashed it onto the head of the racing-green pike, life leaving quickly through the glass-like eye, but I swear I saw it, the thinnest wisps.
Blood and scales dotted the picnic bench chosen as the place of sacrifice.
“One more to make sure…” and Dad raised his arm again, mashing the pike into the very grain of the wood, the head now flattened, innards oozing out from the gills and mouth.
He looked at me smiling, that job done smile, that gold-won podium grin. Then back down at the ten pounder. He smashed and smashed at the head in a frenzy until scales covered his face like glitter and the head was crushed, severed from body. Only then did he stop, wheezing hard, the stink of fresh fish filling the air.
I’m not sure what it was. But there was a clue in that experience that Dad was a psychopath. At least that’s what the prison psychiatrists labelled him. Seemed a little much to add that on top of multiple homicides. Not sure how many more he needed to qualify as a serial killer. I reckoned maybe five, but who’s to say really?
Even now fishing has a way of calming me down, providing a place to think, one line at a time, as sunshine bounces off the surface of Mt. Posit Lake leaving it like a dazzling yellow skin.
Occasionally I catch a bass or pike. I never bring them on board, never eat them. I prefer to watch as they swim themselves to death unable to free that hook. So helpless; if they could they’d beg for a rock, unless their jaw ripped away in the struggle, leaving no winner and a feeling of dissatisfaction.
And all it is, is a mere distraction. On all my visits, I’d surveyed the whole lake bed. My fishing gear tells me the deepest point is 433 feet.
Ever watched those documentaries high on the channel listing? It really is true what they say about killers going back to the scene of the crime. My Dad did it, and I followed in his footsteps. Behavioural? Genetic? I didn’t care either way.
Somewhere, underneath, beyond the slapping water on the aluminium hull, is a collection. If I have the lake to myself, to us, I’ll flip through the Polaroids, every face alive, some even smiling, and I wonder, when my mind gets mathematical, if the odds of catching a fish without a baited hook, are higher or lower than killing any random person I meet.
One day a thought occurred to me: I started catching and eating the fish. I never used rocks. One chop with the machete was cleaner, more efficient. And if they say anything about generations, it’s about being innovative, improving on old techniques, pushing the envelope: whatever that meant.
I got to figuring, that the fish ate at the collection. So if I ate the fish, I could get some of their soul in me. It’s a theory of mine, and ever since I saw that pikes soul escape as a child I knew they went somewhere, that bodies are more than flesh and blood – lots, of blood. With more souls in me, I get more powerful, live longer, feel more energised. I can spend more time with the wife and kids.
LionAroundWriting 
Huh, did not see that last line coming. Interesting…nice work.
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Always good to have that effect, thank you ☺
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Fine story. You know how to make each word count.
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Many thanks Jane, cheers for the follow too.
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It’s always a pleasure to read a good story.
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Wow, chilling 😮
The slow down for the fish bashing was particularly gruesome but it works.
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Thanks for reading Minelli.
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The descent from normality to insanity and beyond is a work of art. The conversational and matter of fact tone make it all the more macabre. Generational indeed!
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Thank you Kim, I’m glad I was able to hold that effect. And yeah, luckily psychopathy doesnt work like that, at least not entirely.
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Lovely little tale
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Thank you, cheers for stopping by.
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“And as the shimmery scales flaked off my father’s face, relinquishing, despairingly, one by one, some of them drifted away on the piercing wind, but most of them landed on the image in my sketchpad, enhancing the color, adding texture, and I now had a portrait to which I could later point and say, there, it happened then…”
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Sick demented mind. Yeah, you’re a writer.
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Haha, the highest of compliments, many thanks 😀
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LOL
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Certainly a notable introduction to the piece.
I still think the fish should have been a flathead though!
haha!
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Lol. There’s any number of species I coulda gone for, my apologies…😄
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I hear lionfish taste really good 😛
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Theres lions on land and lions in the water, when will the madness end? Lol
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And you can find them all just. ..lion around? ! Haha
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That was really well penned and it would be hard to pick a favourite but this near the top. Unusual, flowing story and full of gory delusions…right to the end.
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Thanks for your thoughts on it, always appreciated.
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Most welcome.
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*shudders*
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I must have read this story a few times now, and each time I expect the suspense to lighten up, but nope. The plot was packed nice and tight, which worked so well because every sentence brought a punch. The paragraph about watching the fish swim themselves to death is definitely my favorite because it says so much about the narrator without, well, saying that much. Gah! This is fantastic!
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monkey search & search cranny of simple brain for word for describe little story & find macabre. in next cranny monkey find question what ask why monkey & other reader enjoy tale of macabreness.
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Lol. Its really a strange phenomenon isnt it. Death shouldnt be entertaining, but perhaps it fulfills some sort of archaic need or release. Death is also the greatest drama alongside birth, and where there is drama there are humans.
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Quite a gory and disturbing story! Perfect for a rainy afternoon…
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Rain and disturbia, goes well somehow 😃
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brilliant!
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Thank you Liz!
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Absolutely brilliant. each word progresses the narrative. This is short story writing at its best, Lion. Nice job.
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Thank you Chris, your feedback is much appreciated.
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Brilliant – I absolutely loved this. The paragraph that begins “Occasionally I catch a bass or pike…” along with the last line of the story…utterly chilling. One of the best of yours I’ve read so far – great job.
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Wow, thank you Nik, my sincere appreciation ☺
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Oh my god, Fionn! Amazingly dark and disturbing. You told such a story with those few words. Wife and kids. Shudder.
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Much appreciated VIT, I’m glad I got that effect with the last line.
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I will never look at fishing the same way again…;-)
What a family-oriented chap!
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Dont worry not all fishermen are like that lol
Whatever it takes to appear normal…
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Alright, I won’t stereotype…
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😀
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Did my comments to your post about semantics land in the spam ‘abyss’? 🙂
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oops!
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Whoa! Well done. I love that you picked one visual memory of the narrator’s father to give the reader a heads up ( no pun intended). What an amazing job getting a tightly packed plot and description and finishing with a little humanity , and I mean little, feathered over this dark tale… more time for the family… uh huh
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Lol at the pun.
Thanks for your feedback. Sometimes I can fit a bunch of info into a story and make it work, othertimes not so much, I’m glad this one reeled readers in (pun intended).
Thanks Susan. ☺
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So dark. So haunting. So twisted Bloody love it!
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I love your feedback ☺ Cheers Lisa.
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That was a great little tale! Thanks for sharing!
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You’re welcome, thanks for dropping by ☺
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Of course! 😊
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