A short story by rachelmeow

If you missed DAY TWO, you can read it here.

As I was carrying my bait to my boat, I saw some kind of thing stuck on the side of my boat. Grabbing a wooden plank, I started chipping away at it.

‘Ugh!’

It was as big as a cat with suckers and a red eye at the bottom. Looking closer there were sharp teeth like knives covering the eye.

The passing fishers whispered to each other.

Ignoring the prying looks, I set sail.

YANK!

‘Oh what the…’ I said gagging.

It was disgusting.

It looked like a eel but it had heads on both sides and the heads were eyes. Blood covered my hook. With shaking hands, I threw it away to the bucket. Gross. I wiped off my face with a towel, the deafening roar of the waves echoing through my ears. Come on, can’t go back empty handed, I thought to myself. Eventually I caught a tiger shark, which revived my spirits.

‘Ah, it’s getting dark.’ I mumbled. ‘Time to go home, I guess.’

As I arrived, the sun was setting – making a warm orange tone in the sky. I dumped the eel thing and tiger shark next to the fishmonger. He nodded, passing 5 gold coins while eyeing the weird eel.

‘Oh yah, also what’s this?’ I asked pointing at the eye-eel..

‘Ah, that’s a stye eel, it’s rumoured to give any man who eats it the real truth.’

‘Okay…’ I said, staring at him with doubt.

‘But I warn you, nothing good happens to men who eat that.’

Find out if Bert is becoming more insane in Deep Regrets Day Four (coming next).

Preamble

rachelmeow is the pen name for Rachel Au, our resident OTK Imp. Ever since we brought her along to Essen Spiel in 2015 – when she was just a 6 mth old baby – she has picked up the board gaming bug. These days, you can spot her at most of our meetups; usually joining a game, sometimes teaching or facilitating, sometimes just chilling. She plays all sorts of games, tho thematic coop is her fave.

During one of the Casual Fridays, instead of jumping into a session, Rachel decided to sit back, followed the game play from the sidelines, and turn what she observed into a short story. And that’s how this short story piece came about. I thought this is a refreshing change of pace as it offers a narrative departure from the usual game reviews, sessreps, and board game news. Hope you enjoy the read!