[MF] Night of The Koi
The workers finished at about 4:30 PM. Richard smiled and shook their hands, thanking them for all their hard work, assuring them that it looked great and that he really appreciated it. They’d been filling in a koi pond in the backyard of his new house- A pond the previous owner had cherished and cared for dilligently, but since he and his partner Alex had bought the house, it had just fallen into grossness and disrepair. They’d made the decision to have the pond filled in, since there were no fish left in it anyway.
He wrote a check for $1,145.77 and handed each of the workers an extra 10 dollar bill just to thank them. They smiled and thanked him back and piled up in the old flatbed dodge they’d arrived in, and began to back out of the driveway, but just before they did, the driver rolled down the window and caught Richard’s attention. “Uhh, one last thing mista Peacock,” the driver called to him. “This uh...this dont usually happen, but, just in case...sometimes the koi...they dont like their pond bein’ filled in. Sometimes...they come back”. Richard began to chuckle, but the serious look in the driver's eyes told him this was no joke.
“Um...Come back?”
“Well...look, just between you and me...when a koi feels its been wronged, they can get downright nasty. Just sayin’.... It probably wont happen, but, just, ya know. Wanted to let ya know.”
With that the driver rolled up his window, waved, and backed out of the driveway. Richard stood in the yard and stared blankly, his gaze going back and forth between the newly-filled pond and the old truck’s taillights as it disappeared around the curve.
*********
“Oh this looks great sweetie” Alex said, walking around the area that had only hours ago been a small pond. “They did a really great job with this sod.”
“Yea, it looks really good. Hey Alex, let me ask you something” Richard said, poking the newly-solid ground with his toes. “What do you know about Koi?”
“Uh...Well...I think its just basically like a more interesting goldfish isn’t it?”
“Yea, I guess, but I mean like...Are they dangerous?”
Alex laughed, then saw the look on Richard’s face. “Umm...I doubt it, unless you’re like algae or something. May I ask why?”
“Uh...Nah, it’s stupid, dont worry about it.”
“Uh huh. Well go get dressed, lets go celebrate with dinner.”
“Applebees??” Richard batted his eyelashes. Alex hated Applebees.
Alex sighed. “Fine, Applebees.” Richard kissed him on the cheek and skipped away into the house to get changed.
************
Dinner was terrible, as it always is at Applebees. But Richard was as happy as a person at Applebees could possibly be. “And I’ll have an order of boneless wings to go, please” he said smiling at the waitress. “Oh, and can I have another glass of Mr. Pib please?”
The waitress, a 40 something fat woman with one arm who resembled nothing so much as a troll with a hangover, grunted and took his glass from him. She returned moments later with a brimming glass of Mr. Pib, slammed it down in front of Richard (this was his 8th refill) and stumped away, muttering.
Richard sipped his Mr. Pib as Alex prattled on about something funny that happened at the pharmacy that day. Apparently a patient suffering from chronic irritable bowel syndrome had accidentally gotten a prescription-strength constipation medicine and hilarity had ensued. Richard politely listened as he sucked down yet another wonderful syrupy glass of Mr. Pib, and was so focused on its sugary goodness that he scarcely noticed when Alex stopped talking and stared in horror at his glass.
“Sweetie, put that down”
Richard clutched his glass tighter, wrapping both hands around it. “Never, it’s my precious” he growled. But Alex’s horrified stare convinced him that maybe this time he should listen. He set the glass down carefully and said “Wait...what is it?”
Alex pointed and said “There’s...something in your glass”
“Oh God is it another finger? Pablo, you said this wouldn’t happen again-” Richard turned toward the bartender who was already starting to say something in his own defense when Alex cut him off.
“No- Something is moving in there”
Richard gasped and jumped up from the table. It was one of those stupid high tables where the chairs are like 4 feet off the ground- you know, the kind they use at Applebees because they want to see you fall to your death- but he managed to land safely and peered at the glass. To his horror, the ice was indeed swirling around on its own. They both watched with terrified fascination as something rose to the surface.
“JESUS CHRIST IS THAT A FISH??” Richard screamed like a girl.
And so it was. A small, splotchy orange and white fish poked its head out of the top of the glass, its cold, predatory eyes fixed on Richard. Its small fish-mouth made gasping motions, and it seemed almost as though it were mouthing words to Richard. But he was too filled with horror to watch any longer, and flung himself toward the nearest exit, running to his car and locking himself in.
*********
The drive home was a tense one. Alex drove in silence while Richard sat in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead, muttering things like “I can believe I drank fish filth...that’s bad even for Applebees”. Alex tried to cheer him up, saying the manager offered them a coupon for $5 off their next visit, but it didn’t do any good.
Then a thought struck Richard.
“Hey, Alex...what kind of fish was that?”
Alex gave him a confused look. “I didn’t ask. Why?”
“You dont think that was a koi, do you?”
“I guess it could’ve been, yea. The waitress said someone must’ve slipped it in when she wasn’t looking. I said ‘thats what she said’ and we all had a good laugh.”
“Alex, listen- The man that filled in the pond, he told me something. He said that sometimes, when you fill in a pond like that, the Koi, they, I dont know, they know about it somehow, and they like...they come back.”
Alex stared straight ahead, but Richard could see the look on his face went from one of amusement to one of concern. “Richard, look, I think you’re just tired and I know you’re upset, I dont blame you-”
“No, Alex, I’m telling you, the man said they ‘came back’. He said they could get nasty if they felt they’d been wronged-”
“Ok, ok. Look, lets just go lay down. We’ll watch some netflix and just try to forget about it ok?”
“Ok” Richard said with a sigh.
*************************************
They’d been home for about an hour when Richard decided to go take a nice relaxing bath. Yes, this is just the thing he said to himself. A glass of wine, a good book, a nice hot bath, that’ll do the trick. He started the bathwater, lit some candles, poured a glass of merlot and grabbed his most recent book, a study in the nature of wormholes by some scientist that had gotten caught in one of those underage prostitution stings a few years ago.
Richard disrobed (he was wearing a robe) and slipped into the nice warm bath, soaking away his fears and worries. Alex knocked at the bathroom door and said “Sweetie, I’m gonna go up to McDonalds real quick.” Alex routinely capped off dinner at Applebees with a far more satisfying big mac about an hour later. “You want anything?”
“No, thanks. Just gonna enjoy my bath. Thanks. Be careful.”
“YOU be careful. I hope there’s no koi in that bathtub.” Alex laughed from behind the door.
Richard didn’t respond, but cast his eyes furtively at the tub. How stupid. Of course there’s no koi in the tub.
“And just in case there are,” he added, “I’m on to your tricks.”
****
Richard awoke with a start. The water had turned cold. He realized he must have fallen asleep in the tub. His candles had burned out and the room was very dark. He pulled himself out of the tub, noting that no light was coming in through the crack under the door. He felt around for the towel rack and, finding one, wrapped himself up. The chill March air made him shiver as he felt around for the lightswitch, and he finally found it, along with the bathroom heater. Turning both on, he stepped in front of the mirror to comb his hair, then, shrieking (again, just like a girl) took a step back. Written across the mirror in lipstick were the words “I KNOW WHAT YOU DID”.
Richard stormed through the bedroom and into Alex’s computer room.
“Dude, that is so not funny”
Alex jumped up from his chair. Some superhero in a cat-man costume was doing battle with what appeared to be a giant gummi bear on the screen. “What?”
“You could’ve woke me up, that water is freezing”
“Sweetie, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you’d fallen asleep. I could hear the water splashing around in there and decided to not bother you.”
“Oh whatever, I saw the lipstick, I know what you did. You didn’t hear any water splashing, I’ve been asleep in the tub for-what time is it? God it must’ve been two hours.”
“Richard, calm down. I dont know what lipstick you’re talking about. I did hear splashing in the tub, I didn’t know what you were doing in there, so I just left you alone. What lipstick?”
Richard led Alex back into the bathroom and pointed to the mirror. There was nothing there.
“Wait, hold on, I know I saw- hold on, how’d you-” Richard stammered angrily. “Where the hell did you even get lipstick Alex?” he demanded loudly.
Alex stared in bewilderment. “I have no idea what you’re talking about right now” was the only thing he could offer. Richard fumed.
“God dammit” Richard grumbled and began to storm out of the bathroom, but kicked something on his way- It was a tube of lipstick. He bent down to pick it up and said “See? Lipstick. Now why the hell-” and he stopped mid-sentence. He held the tube up closer and looked at the name. It was apparently a brand called “Topshop” and the name of this particular shade was ‘Feeling Coy’.
************************
Richard barely paused to get dressed before he was out in his backyard, Alex close at his heels.
“Richard, honey, look,” Alex tried to restrain him gently, but Richard pulled away, his eyes fixed on the store room.
“Richard, what are you doing?”
“They want their damn pond, I’m gonna give em their pond.”
Richard cleared the yard and flung open the door to the store room. He reached inside and quickly yanked out an old rusty shovel that had been left here by the previous owner.
“What are you going to do with that?”
“I told you, I’m giving them their damn pond”
“Richard this is insane, come inside”
In response, Richard buried the shovel up to the hilt in the sod that marked where the Koi pond had once been. As he did, they both heard the sound of the water hose turning on.
“Wait, who-” Alex paused.
Richard glared at him. “You know who.”
Alex looked at him with disbelief. “Richard, I’m leaving. Something weird is going on here, we should go.”
“You go. I’m going to end this.”
Alex shook his head and backed away. Before he got out of the driveway, he stole one last look at Richard, silhouetted against the moonlight, already ankle deep in a small hole.
******
Alex found him lying on his back in the mud at the edge of the new pond the next morning, an open book lying across his chest. . Alex had spent the night with friends and came back at dawn to find him there. The yard was completely flooded, and the hole Richard had dug was completely filled with muddy water, his feet dangling in.
“Richard, wake up. Are you okay?” Alex shook him. Richard lifted his head for a moment, then collapsed back down. With a trembling hand, he clawed the book on his chest and handed it to Alex. It was a book Richard had purchased just a couple weeks ago from Books-A-Million-- a book of poems he got because he thought it would make him “look smart” to have it casually laid open on the coffee table when guests came over.
Alex took the book, and saw it was opened to an old Andrew Marvell poem, “To His Coy Mistress.” Below, crudely scrawled in what appeared to be more red lipstick, was the word “REMEMBER.” Alex gasped at a sudden splash behind him.
“Fuuuuuuck this,” he said, throwing down the book into the muddy hole, and with a surge of fury snatched up the shovel from the ground beside Richard. “I’m going to show those mother fuckers what being coy is all about.”
Six hours later, the coroner was stumped. How could both men possibly have drowned in a backyard hole less than a foot deep? Yet that is what their autopsies revealed. He looked at their faces, and compared the bodies to their license photos. Why were they both wearing lipstick? Must be fags.
…
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
The End.
submitted by /u/Skelter1999
[link] [comments]
via Blogger https://ift.tt/2Pud2pX
0 notes