The Massacooramaan waters.
The massacooramaan
Narrative :
El Alacrán: A los que pica el alacrán, el cuartazo dan.”
The scorpion: “Those who get stung by a scorpion end up on the floor.”
We had started leaving Teresita home. We thanked her for the words of wisdom and food she had given us for our journey, and went on our way. We had walked for about 2 and a half hours following the trail Teresita’s husband had drawn for us on his map. It was dark and a little cold, with trees and leaves everywhere. Every time I look to my side, I saw a never ending row of trees. The trail was made up of sand, and little rock pebbles, which could easily trip up an elephant if not careful. By the time the sun was more than halfway gone behind the distant mountain, Juanita,Velia, Delia, Pita and I were getting tired and decided it was going to be time to rest soon.
We were all tired and looked like we had dressed up as hopeless people for halloween; with our unbrushed hair, and dirty clothes, but we still continued walking for maybe around 30 more minutes before I made the decision to find someplace to settle for the night.
“We have to stop and find somewhere to rest girls, or else the bad spirits will find us”, I said. Everyone nodded in agreement, and Velia pulled out the map from her dirty sack, and passed it to me. Juanita and I started looking on the map for a safe space, while Delia, Velia, and Pita watched around, ready to alert us at any minute. As Juanita and I checked the map, Velia tugged on my shirt, whispering,
“Odilia, there's something coming from down the trail.”
I looked up from the map, shoved it in Juanita's hands, and pushed the rest of my sisters behind me. As the creature came closer, I noticed it looked like a man. When he finally was close enough, thanks to the little sunlight we still had, I could see he was a tall man. He looked like he had been hunting, with a stick in his hands and what looked like some kind of animal meat binded in strings wrapped around his arm.
Still, even though he looked normal, I didn't let any of my sisters pass in front of me to get a good look. When he came into perfect view, I could see he had a big scar under his right eye, grey neglected hair, and sandals with cut-outs for his toes. Also, he looked old enough to be my uncle, yet somehow still young. Then suddenly, Pita ran from the safety of my right leg, and went to go meet with the man. Before I could take action and pull her back, she was already at his feet. I didn't know what to do, I wasn't sure If I should go and get her while the others stood there. But then I saw the man laughing. It seemed as if they were having a conversation.
“I think we should let Pita talk to him, and start for him if he tries anything,” Juanita said. The others nodded in agreement, so I had no other choice but to oblige.
We all watched in silence as they spoke. As I tried to decipher their conversation, pretty soon the man looked up, waved at us with a big smile, and mouthed the words Good luck.
“Did he just..” Velia started, “mouthed the words good luck to us?” Delia finished. And with that, that man left the path, and went into the woods. After that Pita came skipping towards us like the man just gave her the new pony set she was begging Mama for her 11th birthday. I wanted to yell and scream at her, but I realized I would just be wasting light if I did.
“What did you guys talk about?” I asked instead.
“I told him we needed someplace safe to spend the night, and he recommended the beach that's only a couple feet from here,” Pita said, “He said it was safe and quiet, but to watch out for the Massa..Massaco..Mascromaniy?”. She ended, obviously forgetting the man's words.
“The Massacooramaan?” Juanita asked.
“Yes, that word,” Pita said excitedly.
Juanita then explained how she read in a book somewhere that the Massacooramaan is a creature who only preys on people in the water like swimmers, fishermen, and medium size animals. But how no one has ever lived to see it.
“There's also another fact about it, I can't seem to remember,” she said. Pretty soon we were stuck on what to do. Finally we decided to go and rest there for the night and just not go into the water. We deviated from the track Teresita’s husband had drawn and went east towards the river bank. By the time we got there, the moonlight was already there shining on us, like a big cape draped over the sky. We laid down our stuff and huddled together to conserve as much heat as possible. I noticed the twins and Pita started dozing off, when I started hearing splashes from the waters.
Pretty soon the splashes got bigger, then a big “HELP!” left the water and traveled to our ears at an inopportune moment. We all snapped awake and turned our heads toward the river. The sound sounded like it was coming from a person who was getting chastised. In the midst of the water, I saw a little figure moving around a lot. It looked like a blob with long hair shouting.
“HElp me, help me please.” I didn't know what to do. I wanted to ignore it, but my heart sank everytime that idea came to mind.
“What are we sitting around for?” Juanita spoke up, “Odilia take one of the twins and go rescue that thing, while I stay here and protect the others,” she finished.
It was dark and cold and hard to see anything with the little moonlight provided. I knew there would be no point arguing with Juanita on a topic like this, so I tugged on Delia's shirt, and we got up and started walking towards the water. As we entered the water, a tingling sensation rushed from my shoulders down to my toes. I think the same happened with Delia, cause I heard a eep sound leave her mouth. The water was cold, very cold, but I made sure she stayed close, not wanting her to drift too far away. The thought of the Massacooramaan came to the back of my head, but I pushed it away. The little thing in the waters needed help more than anything.
“Help me please, please help me,” I heard as we inched closer and closer to the thing, and I realized it was a little girl.
It was still very dark, and hard to get the features of the girl, but from the strands coming out the top of her head, I could tell she had long hair. I was shocked Delia wasn't saying anything this whole time, but I decided not to ruin the silent trip. When we finally approached the girl, it all happened so fast. It let out a loud screech,and I could hear Jaunita calling for me back at the banks. The next moment it grabbed Delia and pulled her down into the waters. She let out a loud scream.
“ODILIA HELP!” she said. I tried to react quickly and grab on to Delia, but my hands could only grab her hair. Her thin, smooth, wet hair slipped through my fingers like butter. She kicked and splashed trying to get out of the creature's grip, but it was no use. In what felt like a millisecond, Delia was under the water.