Fears used: Potamophobia (Fear of rivers/running water)
Title: Aqua Mortis
Username: Shallarinath
Word Count: 1804
Author’s Note: You may not want to read this if you scare easily and/or have pre-existing water related fears.
Buzz
“Alright Hank, wheel in the next stiff!”
The light over the door changed green and the man waiting outside was allowed entry. Officer Hank Thomas came into the pale white room, expertly maneuvering a cart with an occupied body bag laden atop it. The young man who had granted the Officer entry, Dr. Roderick Dirving, moved over to his old friend and helped lift the body bag onto the examination table.
“Alright, one…two…three!” Roderick said as they hoisted the body off of the cart.
Between the two men they barely accomplished the task at hand, such was the weight of the newly deceased. Hank wheezed as they set the corpse down.
“Well, judging by the proportions of that body bag, I’d say that you’ve been eating to many donuts again Officer!” Roderick teased.
“Ah shut it Roddy! Besides, your little twig self is safe here at the morgue while I’m chasin’ after the bad guys, I need more than you do.” the rosy cheeked policeman said, his many chins wobbling with each syllable.
“Yes, moving on then! What have you brought me this time Hank?” the lanky Dr. said, all traces of humor washing from his face as he placed a hair net over his short obsidian locks.
Officer Thomas composed himself to give his report, tucking in the sides of his uniform and slightly loosening his black necktie.
“Joe Doe, approximated age forty-three, found near the river bay district, cause of death unknown.”
“That sure was helpful.” Dr. Roderick said sarcastically. “Well Gina come over and see what we’ve got, you might learn something!”
The young woman that had been standing silently in the corner the entire time stepped forward into the light. She was very pale, with short black hair and dark rings around her eyes that bespoke of many late night shifts. She would have been quite charming, but for the constantly sullen expression on her face. Dr. Dirving pulled a medical mask over his nose and mouth, its’ white coloring matching with his similarly colored scrubs. Gina did the same and watched with what could only be described as morbid curiosity while Roderick unzipped the body bag. The body inside was to some extent bloated, but many features remained intact. Roderick cast his scrutinizing gaze over the body, examining the Aryan features of the face, the eyes, the teeth then finally the fingers.
“Aha! Hank, I need you to go into the next room and do some cross referencing on the computer at my desk.” Roderick said, never looking up.
Hank, familiar with the routine, dutifully went into the room opposite that which he had entered. He left the door ajar so that he could hear the instructions being issued to him.
“Ready!” Hank shouted.
“Alrighty then! White, German, male. Height, six feet, seven and a half inches.” Roderick called.
“Fifty-two matches found!” Hank called back.
“Okay! Multiple filings, red eyes.” the Doctor said.
“Albino?”
“Yup!”
“Two matches found, what next?”
“He plays the violin!” Roderick responded.
The sound of paper printing could be heard in the next room. Suddenly Hank walked into the room with a profile printout in hand. He handed it of to Dr. Dirving, who proceeded to read it aloud.
“Jan Kroffin, recent immigrant to the U.S. and professional violinist, age forty one, also had an extreme case of…where did you find him?” Roderick asked.
“The river bay district, why do you ask?” said Hank.
“Well, it says here that he had an extreme case of Potamophobia, or fear of running water. So why would he be anywhere near the river?” the Dr. mused.
“Um, excuse me, uh, Dr. Dirving? Why didn’t you just take a blood sample? It would have made identifying the body much easier!” Gina said, speaking for the first time. Her voice was pleasant, not like the gruff tones of Hank or the mild indifference of Dr. Dirving. “And however did you know that he played the violin?”
“First off where is the fun in a blood sample? Me and Hank have to do something with all our time! Secondly you can tell he played the violin because the fingers on his left hand are calloused.” Roderick said matter-of-factly. “Now hand me that syringe, please.”
“Why?” Gina asked.
“Because I’m going to take a blood sample!” the Doctor responded.
Gina walked over to the tool drawers to do as she had been bidden. Though the two men in the room may have been wrong, they could have sworn that the heard the angry grinding of teeth echoing faintly through the white walled chamber. She returned shortly and shoved the syringe into Dr. Dirving’s hands, almost stabbing him in the process!
“A little irked about being the subject of one of my ironic little jokes?” Dr. Dirving inquired as he drew blood from the corpse. When the syringe was full he held it up to the pale ceiling lights. There was something off about the color and fluidity of the blood, but he would find out soon enough.
Roderick walked hastily over to the microscope on the other side of the room. He was busily preparing a slid when Hank put forth a question to the room’s general occupants.
“So, what do you think of all this Shadow Knight business?”
“How can he be real? A man that can control shadows? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” said Gina, still a little angry.
“I can assure you it won’t be the last.” said Roderick. “He’s real all right, I should know, I’ve seen what he’s capable of!”
“What do you mean?” Hank asked.
Dr. Dirving looked up from the microscope, whose magnification he had been adjusting. He slid the slide with the blood sample into the microscope, then stood up and looked directly at his two companions. His face was as cold as stone.
“I mean that the Shadow Knight is a killer.” Roderick said impassively. “I’m not sure that he is a murderer, but he has killed about five people in the last month alone. The only connection is that they were all once criminals. It seems that they hadn’t learned anything in jail and were back to their old tricks. That’s when the Shadow Knight stepped in and decided to teach them a lesson of his own, a permanent one.”
The room fell silent and Dr. Dirving went back to adjusting the microscope. Finding a favorable setting he peered into the microscope, then fell back, mouth agape!
“What is it?” Gina inquired, suddenly concerned.
“The blood cells! They- they’re burst, as if someone had put them in distilled water!” Dr. Dirving stammered out.
Both Gina and Hank looked cautiously into the microscope, and sure enough every blood cell had been burst open. Roderick quickly gathered his wits about him and peered once more into the microscope, looking for remnants of whatever may have caused this strange event. He found nothing, and just as he was about to look away when a quiver of movement caught his eye. He looked closer, but whatever it was appeared to be gone. An uncomfortable silence ensued. Finally Hank broke the silence.
“Well, all this tension is making me thirsty.” He said, walking towards the water fountain outside the door. “ I’ll be back in a- JESUS CHRIST!”
Hank’s path was impeded by a tall figure cloaked in a mantle of writhing shadows. A red eyed gaze blazed out from under the figure’s hood, seeming to penetrate into the deepest corners of the room.
“I would not do that if I were you.” the Shadow Knight hissed. His voice was very strange, it was like a whisper and a shout at the same time.
“There is something in the water, it will try to kill you if it can. What have we here?” he murmured, drifting soundlessly past the awed occupants of the room over to the corpse. “They got him pretty good aye?”
Suddenly the corpse gasped and started to violently convulse! The Shadow Knight took a wary step back from the supposedly dead body. He turned to the other people in the room, red eyes wide with shock.
“Run! Away from here or your life is forfeit, go now!” he screamed at the speechless onlookers.
It took a moment for the advice to strike home, but when it did all three of them were scrambling madly for the door. Roderick was last to leave, glancing back before slipping out into the warm, open night, what he saw would stick with him forever. The corpse had stood up! The creature in front of the Shadow Knight no longer had the visage of a human being, spiky protrusions jutted from its’ spine and its’ features had melted away to reveal some sort of clear liquid body! It kept the same basic shape, two arms, two legs, a head, but they were all made of water!
Dr. Dirving was barely out of the morgue when the Shadow Knight thrown through brick and mortar, into the streets beyond. The water monster strode out of the hole in the wall in search of its’ quarry. It had grown a maw full of what looked to be vicious blood red teeth.
The Shadow Knight staggered to his feet, a thin rivulet of blood streaming from underneath his dark hood. Steadying himself he poised to strike.
From the shadows of a nearby alleyway Roderick watched the battle unfold between these two creatures that defied the laws of science.
The Shadow Knight hurled a ball of swirling shadows right into the creature’s face before it could react. It exploded in a shower of water, and all seem done. The Shadow Knight turned his back and started walk away. Yet the creature began to reform itself from puddles into which it had collapsed! Even worse, water began to stream out of pipes and drains from all around, adding to the monster. It grew, and grew, and grew until it was at least four stories high! It swung one mighty arm-like appendage into the air, aiming to strike the Shadow Knight dead.
“Look out!” Roderick cried.
The Shadow Knight heeded the Doctor’s warning, sidestepping at the last minute. The Knight looked up at the creature with murderous eyes, one of them was not going to see the dawn.
Dr. Dirving turned and ran for his life. He would never forget the rumbling of the ground as man and beast fought across the city. He would never forget the dying screams of those who got in their path. He would never look at a glass of water the same way again.
When the morning sun rose it found the city in ruins, fires blazed across the river bay district. Neither the watery monster nor the Shadow Knight was anywhere to be seen…
Title: Aqua Mortis
Username: Shallarinath
Word Count: 1804
Author’s Note: You may not want to read this if you scare easily and/or have pre-existing water related fears.
Buzz
“Alright Hank, wheel in the next stiff!”
The light over the door changed green and the man waiting outside was allowed entry. Officer Hank Thomas came into the pale white room, expertly maneuvering a cart with an occupied body bag laden atop it. The young man who had granted the Officer entry, Dr. Roderick Dirving, moved over to his old friend and helped lift the body bag onto the examination table.
“Alright, one…two…three!” Roderick said as they hoisted the body off of the cart.
Between the two men they barely accomplished the task at hand, such was the weight of the newly deceased. Hank wheezed as they set the corpse down.
“Well, judging by the proportions of that body bag, I’d say that you’ve been eating to many donuts again Officer!” Roderick teased.
“Ah shut it Roddy! Besides, your little twig self is safe here at the morgue while I’m chasin’ after the bad guys, I need more than you do.” the rosy cheeked policeman said, his many chins wobbling with each syllable.
“Yes, moving on then! What have you brought me this time Hank?” the lanky Dr. said, all traces of humor washing from his face as he placed a hair net over his short obsidian locks.
Officer Thomas composed himself to give his report, tucking in the sides of his uniform and slightly loosening his black necktie.
“Joe Doe, approximated age forty-three, found near the river bay district, cause of death unknown.”
“That sure was helpful.” Dr. Roderick said sarcastically. “Well Gina come over and see what we’ve got, you might learn something!”
The young woman that had been standing silently in the corner the entire time stepped forward into the light. She was very pale, with short black hair and dark rings around her eyes that bespoke of many late night shifts. She would have been quite charming, but for the constantly sullen expression on her face. Dr. Dirving pulled a medical mask over his nose and mouth, its’ white coloring matching with his similarly colored scrubs. Gina did the same and watched with what could only be described as morbid curiosity while Roderick unzipped the body bag. The body inside was to some extent bloated, but many features remained intact. Roderick cast his scrutinizing gaze over the body, examining the Aryan features of the face, the eyes, the teeth then finally the fingers.
“Aha! Hank, I need you to go into the next room and do some cross referencing on the computer at my desk.” Roderick said, never looking up.
Hank, familiar with the routine, dutifully went into the room opposite that which he had entered. He left the door ajar so that he could hear the instructions being issued to him.
“Ready!” Hank shouted.
“Alrighty then! White, German, male. Height, six feet, seven and a half inches.” Roderick called.
“Fifty-two matches found!” Hank called back.
“Okay! Multiple filings, red eyes.” the Doctor said.
“Albino?”
“Yup!”
“Two matches found, what next?”
“He plays the violin!” Roderick responded.
The sound of paper printing could be heard in the next room. Suddenly Hank walked into the room with a profile printout in hand. He handed it of to Dr. Dirving, who proceeded to read it aloud.
“Jan Kroffin, recent immigrant to the U.S. and professional violinist, age forty one, also had an extreme case of…where did you find him?” Roderick asked.
“The river bay district, why do you ask?” said Hank.
“Well, it says here that he had an extreme case of Potamophobia, or fear of running water. So why would he be anywhere near the river?” the Dr. mused.
“Um, excuse me, uh, Dr. Dirving? Why didn’t you just take a blood sample? It would have made identifying the body much easier!” Gina said, speaking for the first time. Her voice was pleasant, not like the gruff tones of Hank or the mild indifference of Dr. Dirving. “And however did you know that he played the violin?”
“First off where is the fun in a blood sample? Me and Hank have to do something with all our time! Secondly you can tell he played the violin because the fingers on his left hand are calloused.” Roderick said matter-of-factly. “Now hand me that syringe, please.”
“Why?” Gina asked.
“Because I’m going to take a blood sample!” the Doctor responded.
Gina walked over to the tool drawers to do as she had been bidden. Though the two men in the room may have been wrong, they could have sworn that the heard the angry grinding of teeth echoing faintly through the white walled chamber. She returned shortly and shoved the syringe into Dr. Dirving’s hands, almost stabbing him in the process!
“A little irked about being the subject of one of my ironic little jokes?” Dr. Dirving inquired as he drew blood from the corpse. When the syringe was full he held it up to the pale ceiling lights. There was something off about the color and fluidity of the blood, but he would find out soon enough.
Roderick walked hastily over to the microscope on the other side of the room. He was busily preparing a slid when Hank put forth a question to the room’s general occupants.
“So, what do you think of all this Shadow Knight business?”
“How can he be real? A man that can control shadows? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” said Gina, still a little angry.
“I can assure you it won’t be the last.” said Roderick. “He’s real all right, I should know, I’ve seen what he’s capable of!”
“What do you mean?” Hank asked.
Dr. Dirving looked up from the microscope, whose magnification he had been adjusting. He slid the slide with the blood sample into the microscope, then stood up and looked directly at his two companions. His face was as cold as stone.
“I mean that the Shadow Knight is a killer.” Roderick said impassively. “I’m not sure that he is a murderer, but he has killed about five people in the last month alone. The only connection is that they were all once criminals. It seems that they hadn’t learned anything in jail and were back to their old tricks. That’s when the Shadow Knight stepped in and decided to teach them a lesson of his own, a permanent one.”
The room fell silent and Dr. Dirving went back to adjusting the microscope. Finding a favorable setting he peered into the microscope, then fell back, mouth agape!
“What is it?” Gina inquired, suddenly concerned.
“The blood cells! They- they’re burst, as if someone had put them in distilled water!” Dr. Dirving stammered out.
Both Gina and Hank looked cautiously into the microscope, and sure enough every blood cell had been burst open. Roderick quickly gathered his wits about him and peered once more into the microscope, looking for remnants of whatever may have caused this strange event. He found nothing, and just as he was about to look away when a quiver of movement caught his eye. He looked closer, but whatever it was appeared to be gone. An uncomfortable silence ensued. Finally Hank broke the silence.
“Well, all this tension is making me thirsty.” He said, walking towards the water fountain outside the door. “ I’ll be back in a- JESUS CHRIST!”
Hank’s path was impeded by a tall figure cloaked in a mantle of writhing shadows. A red eyed gaze blazed out from under the figure’s hood, seeming to penetrate into the deepest corners of the room.
“I would not do that if I were you.” the Shadow Knight hissed. His voice was very strange, it was like a whisper and a shout at the same time.
“There is something in the water, it will try to kill you if it can. What have we here?” he murmured, drifting soundlessly past the awed occupants of the room over to the corpse. “They got him pretty good aye?”
Suddenly the corpse gasped and started to violently convulse! The Shadow Knight took a wary step back from the supposedly dead body. He turned to the other people in the room, red eyes wide with shock.
“Run! Away from here or your life is forfeit, go now!” he screamed at the speechless onlookers.
It took a moment for the advice to strike home, but when it did all three of them were scrambling madly for the door. Roderick was last to leave, glancing back before slipping out into the warm, open night, what he saw would stick with him forever. The corpse had stood up! The creature in front of the Shadow Knight no longer had the visage of a human being, spiky protrusions jutted from its’ spine and its’ features had melted away to reveal some sort of clear liquid body! It kept the same basic shape, two arms, two legs, a head, but they were all made of water!
Dr. Dirving was barely out of the morgue when the Shadow Knight thrown through brick and mortar, into the streets beyond. The water monster strode out of the hole in the wall in search of its’ quarry. It had grown a maw full of what looked to be vicious blood red teeth.
The Shadow Knight staggered to his feet, a thin rivulet of blood streaming from underneath his dark hood. Steadying himself he poised to strike.
From the shadows of a nearby alleyway Roderick watched the battle unfold between these two creatures that defied the laws of science.
The Shadow Knight hurled a ball of swirling shadows right into the creature’s face before it could react. It exploded in a shower of water, and all seem done. The Shadow Knight turned his back and started walk away. Yet the creature began to reform itself from puddles into which it had collapsed! Even worse, water began to stream out of pipes and drains from all around, adding to the monster. It grew, and grew, and grew until it was at least four stories high! It swung one mighty arm-like appendage into the air, aiming to strike the Shadow Knight dead.
“Look out!” Roderick cried.
The Shadow Knight heeded the Doctor’s warning, sidestepping at the last minute. The Knight looked up at the creature with murderous eyes, one of them was not going to see the dawn.
Dr. Dirving turned and ran for his life. He would never forget the rumbling of the ground as man and beast fought across the city. He would never forget the dying screams of those who got in their path. He would never look at a glass of water the same way again.
When the morning sun rose it found the city in ruins, fires blazed across the river bay district. Neither the watery monster nor the Shadow Knight was anywhere to be seen…
