by Ficlets user theWallflower

“Fish on,” Larry casually called out.

Ralph shrugged and nodded, shifting his red plaid flannel. He hardly needed to raise his voice, it was just the surprise. They were the only people in view, and the flat glass stretched for miles. The only excited thing in the boat was his reel, with its hyperactive clicking and zipping of the nylon line as the line drew trigger-taut.

He pulled the rod up to 11 o’clock. No resistance, no fight. Larry must have just snagged a weed or rock, and cranked the line in. Probably another lost minnow as well.

The water was too dark for Larry to see it until it breached the surface. Pale like a jellyfish, heavy like a clump of seaweed. It was a human hand.

Larry’s jaw dropped. The fishhook was embedded in the palm, tugging the skin outward, curling the hand outward in a ‘come here’ gesture.

“You okay, there, Lar?”

“Y-yeah, just fine,” Larry responded. He realized the blackness of the water was obscuring his view.

The hand was still attached to something.

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Author guidance for This story

The Lake Derry series is the earliest ongoing collaborative story I was involved with on Ficlets. We wrote 28 short chapters of the small-town murder mystery, and it was never concluded. It's posted here for a new audience to read, with notes crediting the original authors who I am unable to find today, and anyone that wishes is invited to continue the story.

updated Jan 9 '09 by uselessness