My entry- Fished

FISHED









2:45 am.Route no 16. Alone.

Laura had none of this in mind as she drove her SUV towards New York. Her son was graduating and she was on her way there to watch him. Congratulate him. Bless him. Ha, the fruits of early marriage, a marriage which she had had with her high school boyfriend, Harris, was paying off now. She had just turned 40 this may, and already her son was graduating. And soon he will be getting married to a nice girl, and very soon giving her a nice grandson. Or maybe a nice grandaughter. She didn't mind either.


But none of these were on her mind neither. No. It wasn't. What was on her mind now was a lavatory. A toilet. A clean wash room. And she had to get to one fast.She had to urinate fast. It had been five years since she had become a diabetic. Since she started having these nocturnal polyurias.

If she didn't get to a toilet right away, she thought , her bladder would burst. Shit, she shouldn't have drunk so much of water during dinner. Not that she had lots of dinner. Just a plate of good old fish n chips. Fish because the doctors advised it was good for her heart. Best of all meats, they said. She didn't know. She would give up all non vegetarenian food if she could help it. But she couldn't help it.

She saw a small old sign to the left saying Fuel station, 1 mile away. Hmm...Fuel stations must have toilets. She made a turn to the left leaving the highways and veering the vehicle into a small old dirt road. She continued along this road in search of that fuel station.

Ten minutes of severe bladder control later she saw a small light in the distance. Just as she was about to pull over, she heard the sky roar and lightning flash. Drops of rain began to fall on her car, obscuring her vision. Turning on the windshield she bought the car to a halt near the fuel station which turned out to be nothing more than one small tank and an old worn down shed next to it. The light came from that shed. She got out of the car and hurried over to that shed and knocked on the door.

No answer.

She knocked again. No answer again. For a moment she thought about going around to the back of the shed and pissing in the darkness in the rain when the door opened and an old man peered at her.

'Hello sir.Sorry to be disturbing you at this hour. But can I please use your toilet? I was on the way to New York and this was the only rest place I could find for miles'

'Sure You can' the old man said with a smile.'And you can even share some of my dinner if your hungry. I know it’s a bit late but this is the time when I have my dinner and you sure can have some.'

'No thank you sir. I had my dinner.’ she said politely smelling the stale smell of rotten fish coming from behind him.'Could you please show me where the toilet is'

'Its around the back'. The old man shoveled in his pocket and brought out a key and handed it to her.’Here you go. Don't forget to lock the door behind you after you have used the toilet and give me back the key.'

She hurried around to the back of the old shed and found a door with an old lock attached to it. The rain was beginning to gain strength now and she was now almost completely drenched. This somehow increased her urgency and she quickly opened the door to find a small room, barely large enough to stand for her with a dishevelled lavatory. She got inside, away from the door and locked the door behind her. Thankfully there was a small light bulb burning inside the toilet.

And she sat down. She did not care how dirty the lavatory was. She did not care what disease the lids may harbour. She just wanted to freely let the fluids flow. And that was when she felt it. Something bit her. Bit the smooth contour of her bottom causing her to yelp up in pain. She got up and peered inside the lavatory to find two small fishes swimming around in the water.

'Oh crap ' she thought. What now. How in the world did these two get in here. And what are they doing in there? Aren't fishes supposed to be in fresh waters? Or far away in the deep sea?

She could feel thin sticky blood trickling down the back of her thighs. She felt her bottom to find a small cut, from the bite of the fishes. 'Shit! What are these fishes? Man eating pirahas or what?' she muttered to herself. She could see the fishes trying to jump out as if yearning for another piece of her.

It thundered outside reminding her of the downpour. ‘Ok, now this has got to go’ she said to herself and pulled down the flush in that small toilet. It created a whirring noise and then nothing happened. For sometime at least , nothing happened. And then the lavatory overflowed. The water filled up to its brim, along with its two swimming fishes and flowed out. But now there were not two fishes. There seemed to be four of them. No five .As Laura watched in horror, the water flowed out filling the toilet floor with the fishes coming out by the dozen. They were jumping up and down in the wet floor, which was getting filled with water now, and were snapping at her feet.

She screamed at the top of her voice crying for help. She tried to open the door which got jammed and refused to give away. She maneuvered herself in that small toilet and pushed with all her might against the door which still refused to open. The water was now upto her ankles and the fish had begun to freely swim about in that water. They crowded around her ankle and started biting away at her feet. Laura screamed again, this time in pain and agony. She kicked out at them vigorously trying to fight them away in vain. They seemed to be coming out of the lavatory without stop and the water continously raising, now reaching upto to her knees.

Laura felt claustrophobic in that small toilet, completely drenched knee deep in water, surrounded by a dozen flesh eating fishes. She felt exhaustion overcome her and closed her eyes wanting this all to go away.


She opened her eyes. She was completely drenched. In sweat. She reached across to find her husband’s place in the bed empty. He must have woken up to take a piss, she thought. She herself felt like taking one, but she thought it could wait. Not now., At least not for sometime. She heard her husband in the toilet finish urinating and thought about her nightmare as he Flushed.


Word Count- 1193