Beware the Waters

The school bus had already arrived from the forest reserve, and all the students had left. Maria was heading back home on the dirt path through the pasture of her Family's ranch. She was tense and didn't stop for a moment to think about what had happened, especially the unusual cane green eyes she saw.

The night was cold, and she could see a fire pit in front of her house. Her mother and father were sitting on wooden chairs and warming themselves around it. She spoke to them out of respect, but she wasn't really interested to talk about anything with anyone.

"How was your visit to the forest?" asked her mother.

"Good," she replied, without even looking at her. She headed inside the house, as if she were in a hurry, and entered her room quickly. Maria felt relief in that moment because she used to only feel safe in the loneliness of her room. She lay down in her bed and picked up her doll.

"You can't imagine what happened to me today," Maria said to her doll, "I thought I was going to be murdered by a boy with a knife in the middle of the forest ! Creepy, isn't it?"

She would often speak with the doll because there weren't many people her age to befriend in the middle of a ranch. She told the doll about everything that had happened to her during the trip, covered under the blanket, until she fell asleep.

Hours later during the night, when everyone had already fallen asleep, she awakened hearing noises

*Drum!* .... *Druumm!* .... *Druuummm!*

It was getting louder, as if something was approaching. She opened her eyes and uncovered herself to check out the noise. Her heartbeats were getting faster while she looked around the room, searching for what had made the noise.

*Drum* *Drum* *Drum* *Drum*

Scared, she searched for the doll that was next to her. She slid her hands under the blanket but found nothing. She tried under the covers of the mattress, but wasn't there either. It was then that she realized that the noise was coming from below her bed.

*Druuuuuuummmmmm!*

She felt as if something hit her mattress from below. She got out the bed, terrified, and ran to the door. She leaned down and bent curiously to see what was underneath the bed. To her surprise, her doll was right there.

It was positioned as if someone had placed it sitting and looking in the door's direction, right where Maria was standing. Even though she was frightened, she liked that doll too much to leave it there, so she approached carefully, looking peripherally to retrieve it. It was all wet, as if a rain had fallen under her bed. "How did she get there?" "Where did all these water come from?" she thought while holding the doll in her hands. And when she turned back toward the door, it happened again. The boy was there, staring at her with the same cane green eyes that never seemed to blink.

She fell to the floor out of fright and screamed, hugging her doll tightly with her eyes closed. The noises awakened her parents, who quickly went to her bedroom to check what was happening.

"Maria? What is all of this" asked her father, who was shocked to see her on the floor nearly crying.

"That boy! He's stalking me! He is here somewhere!" replied Maria. Her father looked arround the room, searching for the boy she was talking about. He opened her closet, then looked up to the ceiling and noticed that the window was locked as usual.

"He surely isn't here in your room anymore," he said while leaving the room in a hurry. Adélia arrived in the room right after and looked around carefully.

"How could someone enter the house if everything was locked?" asked Adélia, staring at Maria doubtful of what she was saying.

"I don't know, but he was here! he took my doll!" answered Maria before getting up from the floor.

"What would a boy want with your doll? Don't be silly!"

Maria frowned at what her mother said, but before she could even think of a reply to convince her mother, her father came back to her room.

"There's no sign that someone broke in. The door and the windows are all locked, just as we left them. And the padlocks are good!" he said while looking at Maria, wondering at what might have happened.

"Weren't you having a nightmare?" he asked. At the same time, Adélia was staring at her as if demanding a good explanation.

"He was here! I'm telling you!"

Maria's plea was followed by a moment of silence as her parents looked at each other, wondering what to do.

"Anyway, I will tell Juquinha to watch our house from outside." Her father broke the silence, and both he and Adélia left her room.

Maria was once more alone in that bedroom. She sat in the bed and continued to look around, waiting for the boy come back.

While she was in her bedroom, her parents headed to theirs, and the sound of a lock could be heard.

"How could someone enter here José?" Adélia asked Maria's father in the privacy of their room. "No one could, everything was locked," José replied, as Adélia was scratching her chin, thinking of a way that could happen.

"Didn't he pick one of the locks?"

José smiled nearly laughing of what she said. "You mean he is a professional thief ? like in the movies?"

Adélia frowned, disliking the José's reaction. "It's a possibility! Shall we call the police to say that?"

José's face changed radically and became red with anger. "Don't be foolish! Do you want the neightbors to go around gossiping about us?"

Adélia tightened her lips to show agreement with what was said.

"Besides, all the padlocks are indoors. They can't be lockpicked by someone outside," finished José, dismissing Adélia's idea.

"You think our daugther was lying then," asked Adélia. Upon hearing this, José looked away and scratched his head, thinking.

"It's not like her, but I'm still not sure."

The next morning Adélia was already awake as usual, making breakfast, but this time without Maria, who was still sleeping. Because of what had happened, she didn't sleep well during the night, so she was compensating by sleeping during the morning. José went to the neightbor's ranch, which belonged to his friend Juquinha. Juquinha's wife invited him to enter and eat breakfast inside, and while they were all in the table he told the whole story to them.

"So, you're telling me a boy invaded your house? That's unusual around here," said Juquinha, surprised by the story.

"I know, there's no one who has a boy around," José replied, "But my daughter told me this, and she was crying in the ground. I cannot ignore this story, no matter how incredible it may be."

Juquinha was listening attentively while eating a slice of bread, as if he knew exactly how he would solve the problem. "Sure thing, I will bring a surprise for this little invader if he comes to your house tonight."

José thanked his friend for the help and shook his hand. At the same time this was happening, Maria awakened, went to the kitchen, and started to silentyly eat what was on the table silently.

Her mother ignored her presence for a while, until she could no longer hold back what she wanted to say. "You are going to explain to me that story again!"

Maria closed her eyes and raised her head, appearing to be bothered by what Adélia said.

"Who was that boy?" Adélia insisted, prompting Maria to answer.

"He was Indian, wearing tribal clothes and face paint, and he had strange eyes."

Adélia didn't show surprised at what Maria was saying, appearing not to believe a word.

"An Indian?" Her mother asked, while giving an expression of disdain.

"Yes..." Maria replied.

Adélia was staring at her, trying to find a sign in her face to tell that she was lying, but she couldn't find one. Maria looked serious in everything she was saying.

"How an Indian boy just appeared nearby and decided to break into our house is beyond me, without even making noise or stealing something!"

Adélia said, and Maria replied, annoyed, "Mom, I'm not lying! He was stalking me since the trip in the forest. He followed me back home."

It was then that her father arrived in the house. He didn't hear anything they were saying, he just passed through, and both Maria and her mother became silent in his presence. He headed to his bedroom to get a nap, as he usually would do during that time of the day. Maria seized the opportunity to go to her bedroom as well, to avoid further talks with her mother, who was not trusting her.

The morning passed quickly, and the family did what they always did until dusk came. While Maria was in her bedroom chatting on the phone with some of her friends, to her surprise she got a message from an unknown number.

"Hello! How are you?" the text said. She checked the number and tried to remember whose it was. She thought through all of her classmates until she remembered Cauã and Carlos. It must be one of them, she thought.

"Who are you?" she answered, to be sure. "You just forgot about me?" came the text. "Cauã, is that you ?" she replied. "I have something important to tell you" said the next text, and her heart beats became faster. "Go on..." she replied, curious to know. "I can't tell you here," said the text, "We have to meet personally." Maria's hands began to sweat, and she could barely type her reply: "Tell me what this is about first."

After writing it, she waited for more texts, but none came. "Hey, are you there?" she typed, waiting for a answer, but nothing came.

Frustrated, Maria dropped her phone and closed her eyes in an attempt to take a nap. it didn't take too long to sleep while listening to the sound of the rain splashing on the roof outside. She loved that sound, and suddenly she felt a good sensation that reminded her of childhood, which was something that she missed a lot. She felt the hands of her mother stroking her head, and she enjoyed the moment as she used to do when she was younger, until she slid her hand up to her hair to touch her mother's hand, but it was different than what she remembered -- it was sharp and hard as a steel knife. She opened her eyes, and what she saw shocked her: a beast with a red mane like a lion, fangs like those of a shark, and green eyes like a snake. What was stroking her head was the the beast paw, and the thing that she touched was its claws.

The beast salivated as if it were hungry and stared at Maria as if she was its prey. She breathed in as much air as she could to release a scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. The beast laughed as it ripped off her covers to reach her. Everything became dark, and she felt an excruciating pain, and when it grew worse, she opened her eyes and realized that the whole thing was a nightmare. She was down on the floor, and the only thing she could see was the ground. She had fallen from the bed, which explained the pain that she was feeling. It was already night, and the rain that before had been soft and pleasant had become stronger and loud. Frightened, she got up, still wrapped in her covers, and went to the light switch. When she turned on the light, the boy was sitting on her bed, looking at her.

"Were you dreaming about me?" he asked.

"Leave me alone please!" she shouted at him. He got up from the bed and began approaching her. She fell to the ground again in fear, and when he had almost reached her, her father José opened the door abruptly.

"Maria!" he exclaimed, as she ran to hug him tightly, crying and terrified. The boy had disappeared again, as he always did before someone came.

"What happened now?" José asked, and while she was wiping her tears she said with a shaky voice, "It was him again dad! That boy! He came again!"

Her father gently pushed her away, and his face showed disappointment in her.

"Maria, there's three rotweillers and Juquinha armed to the teeth outside, and I myself am here inside, vigilant of everything."

She looked at him, worried at what he might be thinking.

"It's impossible someone could enter without us noticing!"

She felt her stomach drop after hearing her father's words.

"But he was here! Please trust me!" she cried desperately. Her father, looking down at her, yelled angrily, "This boy can only be a demon from hell!"