[Short Story] Manta of the Lake
By: Antonio Fernandez
Tags: Children, Fiction, Abuse, Short Story, Fantasy

Rain is pitter-pattering on the room’s window, catching a little girl’s attention. She walks over and looks out the window at the somber sky. She closes her eyes to take in the white noise from outside which fills her with a sense of being cozy and at ease.

The sky flashes a few times, seconds later a boom gets her to open her eyes.

She gets closer to the glass and follows the droplets that slide down the window with her finger. When she notices the glass get foggy, she draws a smiley face on it before rubbing the fog off with her hand.

She turns and searches her desk for something but only sees her crayons and some drawings, one of which vaguely resembles an angry woman holding a crying child. She touches some yellow spots on her skin while staring at the drawing.

Something creaks outside of her room, but the girl doesn’t notice.

She goes over to a mess on the floor and looks through a few books and toys that are there, then moving on to check under her bed where she only finds dust bunnies and a belt.

When she pulls her head out from under the bed, she senses a presence behind her. She remains motionless for a few moments before ever so slowly standing up and climbing onto the bed without turning around.

A hand suddenly grabs her hair and forces her to turn around and see who did it — a woman with wide, sunken eyes. “Sophie… how many times have I told you to clean up your fucking room!”

Sophie grabs her bed sheets and struggles to cover herself. “Mom, please don’t hurt me! Sto — ”

Her mother backhands the little girl across the face while maintaining a grip on her hair. “Don’t tell me what to do! I’m your mother, so I tell you what to do, and I told you to clean your disgusting room!”

The tears streaming down Sophie’s face chill the hot, reddening area on her stinging cheek as she squirms and screams.

After letting go, Sophie’s mother grips and digs her nails into Sophie’s arm. “Don’t make me have to tell you again.” She tosses the little girl’s arm to the side causing her to lose her balance and tumble off the bed onto the wooden floor. “Got it?!” She storms out of the room and slams the door behind her.

Sophie continues to scream, flailing and flailing and slamming her arms and legs into anything within her reach.

“Sophie! Cut that shit out!” says her mother from downstairs. “Don’t make me go up there again!”

“No! Leave me alone, you bitch!” Sophie springs up and runs out of her room.

“What did you just say?!”

The little girl races down the steps, running past her mother and out of the house. “I hate you!”

Her mother tries to keep up with her but stops at the door. “Where do you think you’re going?!”

“Leave me alone!” Sophie sprints into some nearby woods down long trail without looking back.

She keeps going for minutes on end and trips along the way, scraping her knee, but ignores it and keeps going until she finally reaches a giant lake. She bends down out of breath and completely drenched. She then sneezes, embraces herself, and trembles.

However, she is soon mesmerized by the raindrops hitting the lake’s surface, and the rain’s roar creeps into and numbs her ears, filling her with the same sense of being at ease she felt earlier.

The sky flashes, and thunder is heard soon after.

“Don’t be mad,” she says, looking at the sky.

A few more minutes pass until the sky flashes again, but this time thunder is heard almost immediately after.

She doesn’t say anything this time.

A bolt of lightning strikes the lake, causing a massive amount of water to splash, some of which strikes Sophie who is disoriented and knocks her down. She frantically gets back up and extends her arms out while searching for something to hold on to, but she trips and falls into the lake which is violently undulating and swallows her.

The little girl flounders about underwater, holding her breath. Her vision gradually returns, but the afterimage of the lightning remains. She hears her heart rapidly beating. She is looking around and senses a presence. Something is moving in her peripherals, so she turns her head to look at it.

A large manta ray is approaching her.

At first, her body tenses up, but it swims slowly and gently flaps its wings. She sways her little arms back and forth to mimic it. The tension leaves her body as she does so. She doesn’t keep it up for long though, and soon her eyes close.

A smile is present on her face.

The manta ray continues to approach her. When it gets close, it swims under her, gets her on its back, and carries her toward the surface.

Upon surfacing, water splashes everywhere.

“Is that so? What happened after that?” says a woman in white who begins to lather Sophie’s head with shampoo.

Sophie makes small splashes in the tub with her hands. “I kissed it and said bye!”

“Have you visited him since then?”

“Not yet. Want to come with me next time?”

The woman chuckles. “Of course. That sounds like a lot of fun.” She takes the shower head and rinses the shampoo off. “Alright, let’s get you dried and dressed up before we go see Mr. Williams.”

After doing so, the two walk down a long hall and enter one of the rooms which is full of color between the wallpaper, carpeting, table, and toys.

Sophie runs up to the table and sits down. “Hi, Mr. Williams!”

“Hello, Sophie. How are you doing today, dear?”

“Good, thanks!”

“I’m glad to hear that. Do you know why we’re here today?”

She shakes her head, swinging her legs up and down and picking at a scab on her knee.

“We’re here to talk about these.” He adjusts his round glasses as he pulls out a couple of sheets of paper. One is a drawing of what vaguely resembles an angry woman holding a crying child — the other a manta ray.

=======================================