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Malcolm was a lifelong trophy fishing guide on Lake Superior. He was a child when he lost his grandfather and then his father. This left him the sole owner of the guide service. He also had inherited the best fishing boat on Lake Superior. He is a hardheaded man with the same destiny his grandfather and father had before him. What will he do to seal his fate? Will he make the right decision, or will he destroy everything?

Mar 9, 2025  |   10 min read

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chuffman1969
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Meet Malcolm Rowland, a middle-aged well-built male with a very athletic body. Malcolm went fishing on Lake Superior the first time when he was three years old. He went with his father and his grandfather. The two men were some serious fishermen. They were the owners of a small fishing guide service on Lake Superior. The company was small; however, they owned the best fishing boat that operated these waters. They would fight a man with catastrophic results over their fishing secrets. When Malcolm was nine years old his grandfather was shot and killed on the lake while he was confronting another fisherman about fishing in one of his self-acclaimed fishing holes. The incident took quite a toll on Malcolm due to his grandfather being so close to him. His father had a lot of problems with the loss also. He rarely fished the lake after his father was killed.



Malcolm was told by his father that grandfather had been thrown into the lake, after the man killed him, and his body was never found. His father told him there was legend that said the lakes ice water mansions never give up their dead. The only thing Malcolm believed to be true was that his grandfather's body was never found. He knew the lake had it. One cold morning, when Malcolm was 12 years old, his mother was crying hysterically.

Malcolm could see that she was very upset about something. He grabbed her and tried to get her to sit down and calm down. She wouldn't sit down, so Malcolm asked in a loud forceful voice," Mom what is wrong?" She stopped at that moment and looked at Malcolm right in the eyes and said," Your father killed himself." Malcolm felt his entire body go numb. This was the worst thing that she could had said to him. Now what am I going to do, thought Malcolm.



In a small town over a thousand miles from Lake Superior a young boy was learning how to become a man from his father. His name was Billy Amos and at nine years old, he had become aware of some special strengths he possessed. It became clear to Billy at that age that he could just concentrate on moving objects, some so heavy that ten of himself could not do, that he could move them with his mind. He also began to be able to read someone's thoughts as clearly as if they were telling him their every thought. Sometimes this was a gift, but other times it felt like a curse.



As Billy grew older and became a teenager at thirteen years of age, he had begun to be able to control a lot of the powers he possessed. one night while lying in his bed he saw something dart past his bedroom door. He jumped up frantic and scared, for he knew nobody was anywhere around his room. Plus, whatever this he saw was, it shot by at great speed. It appeared to be a dark black shadow mass to Billy. He looked all around the entire house never finding what he had seen. See Billy did not ever talk to his mother or father about any of his obvious powers that he possessed. He did not know how anyone would react to him having the abilities he seemed to have.



Then one evening while again laying on his bed resting, he felt like he was not alone. Billy saw a black cloud hovering above his bed. As Billy stared at the dark shadow it began to take form. It was turning into a figure of a human right in front of him. Billy felt excitement in his gut, for he was in hopes he would get some clarity on why he is like he is. As the shadow took form it began to look beautiful and caused Billy to feel warm and safe. He was now sitting up with his face and arms practically touching the shadow figure. In a beautiful grandmother type voice, the shadow started to communicate with Billy. It told him that he is its own son. It told him that he was put in the place and body to be a pawn in the eyes of the outer world. A world unknown and unseen by every human. The sweet loving voice was so comforting, thought Billy. Suddenly an uneasy feeling of fear and pain with sadness came over him. The feelings were very strong and scared Billy badly. This caused him to snap out of his calm sleeping type position. When he pulled back away from the shadow, he saw that it was now a scary demon with large teeth and claws that appeared they would shred him in one swipe. Billy jumped up and attempted to run away. This frightened him to the core. As he was trying to run away his legs were moving swiftly, however he was not going anywhere. It was as if his feet were not touching the ground and just treading air. The shadow began to speak again, however this time the grandmother sweet voice was a scary demonic voice. The voice said," You are what you are, and you are the same as me." Then it said, " You are the son of Jafre, the strongest demon to ever exist." Then without another sound it just disappeared and was gone. Disappeared right in front of him.



This was not in any way what Billy had expected. Now he knew he would not ever be able to reveal his secrets. He also knew that he was a source of evil, even though he never felt evil. He never had evil thoughts and still believed that there must be some type of mistake. Billy went on with his life. He rarely used his powers at all. He was still scared of them and felt they were not good. Billy was now 16 years old and had not seen or heard from the demon since that day when he was thirteen years old. Billy had met a girl named Beth at school. He was very much in love with her he felt. She did not know about his secret, but he figured it was a matter of time before he would explain it to her. How would she react to him, knowing the truth? This thought caused him to feel reluctant to bring the subject up, even though he planned many times to do so. The words just never seemed to come out during their times together. Billy was so happy with Beth. She made him feel normal and complete. He couldn't imagine doing anything that would jeopardize their relationship. He would read her thoughts all the time, and knew she was genuine in her claims of loving him. Would she change her mind if she found out he was supposedly the son of Jafre, the most powerful of all the demons? He started to believe that he may never be able to reveal the truth to her. Well, he had kept it to himself this long.



Another year had gone by, and Billy was still head over hills in love with Beth. He was now 17 years old and had not revealed anything about his dark side to Beth or anyone, for that matter. One evening his father came home from work saying he had a critical issue that he needed to speak to Billy and his mother about. His father acted strangely, so Billy tried to read his thoughts. For some strange reason he was unable to get any real thoughts from him. It seemed confusing and full of doubt. Was his father upset about something? Later that same evening his father sat him and his mother down at the dining room table and said he was very sorry to tell them the news. He said he was being transferred out of state to Michigan. He said he was not given a choice. It was either take the transfer or lose his job. Billy knew his father had been working for that same company Billy's entire life. He knew they would not be able to survive without it. The news made Billy feel helpless and hurt. He knew this meant he was not going to be so close to Beth anymore. Would he and Beth be able to make it through the long-distance relationship that was coming? Only time would tell.



Meanwhile back in Michigan on Lake Superior Malcolm had taken great initiative growing the family business. He had made the fishing guide boat the best on the lake, by far. He was always booked solid with tours with his boat filled with eager fishing trip groups. For Malcolm's reputation was that he was the best of the best. Malcolm proved this to be true every day the boat left the dock. Then one Saturday the boat was supposed to have a party of ten men going out for the day to catch trophy lake trout, also known as Mackinaw. These fish were great to catch, weighing in at around thirty pounds each. This was where Malcolm had the reputation of the best from. Only the most skilled fisherman could find and catch these crafty fish.



On this particular day the group had showed up with only two of the ten men that were supposed to be coming. This made Malcolm angry and caused him to call off the trip out. When he tried to explain that the trip was cancelled to the two men who were there, the men began to get mouthy and stating the trip was not cancelled, ordering Malcolm to prepare to set sail. Malcolm told the men he was the owner and captain of the Timberwolf, which was his boats name, given by his father before he passed away. Malcolm thought he made his point when one of the men told him they were both lawyers and the entire business along with his boat would belong to them if he did not make the trip out as agreed under contract. Malcolm was frustrated and very angry that they had said this to him. But after a long stare delay, he said then get your gear on board and prepare for departure. The men loaded what could easily be known to be some of the most expensive gear a man could buy anywhere in the world. These guys were acting as if they were professionals, however Malcolm knew they were merely amateurs. So Malcolm gave his normal safety speech and guidelines. He promised the men a day of trophy Lake Trout and said Let's go.



As the Timberwolf set its course for the deepest part of Lake Superior, the entire group consisted of Malcolm, who was the captain, the two men, and a deck hand hired the prior day, who had never worked as a deck hand nor fishing guide in his lifetime. This eager young lad had approached Malcolm stating he needed work to get the money needed to marry his girl and bring her to Michigan. The young lad's name was Billy Amos. The same Billy Amos who had powers that were unknown by any other human. But Billy was so excited to leave out that day. He loved the smell of the water and fish. This just may be his calling, thought Billy. He had told his mother that he was going to go see about finding a part time job, saying nothing to his father. Where he was going was only known by him to see, and the others on the Timberwolf to know. Billy began helping the two men get there gear unboxed and ready to fish with, while the captain set course to the place, he knew they would catch the biggest Lake Trout. Billy seemed a natural at setting up the gear properly for the men, thought Malcolm.



The men were demanding and verbally abusive to Billy, but this didn't discourage him. His mind was on Beth and getting her to Michigan as his bride. At this time is when Malcolm noticed the men were drinking straight tequila from the bottle. They were downing it with no care of what could happen if they were to get drunk. Malcolm had grown into a very large man with leathered skin tanned dark brown. His hands were large and could most likely inflict some severe pain on someone if he grabbed them. Malcolm approached the men and said alcohol is not allowed on the Timberwolf, pointing at a sign stating exactly that. The men laughed and mocked him like it was a joke. The bottle was now empty, and Malcolm thought he didn't want any more problems, so he said no more drinking and walked away. Billy was reading the men's thoughts and could see they were up to no good. They had plans of causing havoc on this day. This concerned Billy, but he thought Malcolm could handle them and kept working.



Very quickly these two so called lawyers were getting on Malcolm's nerves. This is a 28-hour fishing trip, and we were into our second hour. What does this trip have in store for me, thought Malcolm? Suddenly Billy came onto the bridge and asked permission to speak. Malcolm granted him permission. He was shocked when Billy explained to him that the two guys were secretly drinking another bottle of tequila. Billy was attempting to let Malcolm know he was more than capable of overpowering those two guys if needed. Before Billy could get the words out of his mouth, Malcolm grabbed his pistol from the drawer by the wheel and darted off towards the two men.



As he got close to the guys, he started saying they were going to be thrown off his boat for drinking after being told it wasn't allowed. The men were extremely drunk at this point. Billy was feeling like Malcolm was thinking unclearly and worried about him handling the men properly. Billy was too far from them to hear what was being said, however it appeared the men were standing up to Malcolm, like they were going to fight. Billy saw the gun go up and ran towards them. As he was running towards them, he heard the loud bang and saw one of the men drop to the ground like a bag of potatoes. Then he witnessed Malcolm turn and shoot the other man right in the face. Billy stopped and began walking towards them. He was thinking that the men were a problem. He did think it was not handled correctly, but who was he to say anything. As he walked up to Malcolm and stood staring at what he had done, Malcolm turned and shot Billy in the face killing him dead. Malcolm was not wanting to do that, but he thought he was going to turn him in and could not take that risk. He threw all three bodies into the lake at depths over a thousand feet with water temperatures under ten degrees. He cleaned the blood from the deck and now was the only man on the boat.



The sun had now set, and darkness was all the eyes could see. Suddenly Malcolm heard footsteps on the deck and became very scared. How could this be? He ran back up to the bridge and shut the doors, locking himself inside. He felt he was just imagining things. As the night went on, he was really questioning his own ears. He kept hearing things that made him think he was not alone. He opened the bridge door wide open telling himself it was not possible for anyone to be around. He walked out and stood beside the railing looking at the water passing beneath him. Suddenly he flipped around and was in complete shock for standing behind him was his grandfather. Malcolm screamed a chilling scream of horror. His grandfather said calm down Malcolm and listen to me. He said, Malcolm you have done the worst thing you could have ever done. Malcolm said it was in self-defense to which he heard another familiar voice coming from the shadows. It was his father's voice. He yelled out, " You are not real, you are dead." He then heard a combination of his grandfather and father's voices chanting ghostly comments at him some were able to be understood and some were not. Then he looked towards the back of the boat and what the hell is that he thought. He wiped his eye's as if he were trying to focus his vision. It appeared the two fishermen were standing in a huddle type position whispering to each other. Malcolm could hear their voices whispering about killing him. He was convinced the boat was haunted.



Malcolm ran over to one of the lifeboats and began to lower it into the abandon ship position. He was shaking in fear that was uncontrollable. He had never been so scared in his life. He set explosives on a timer and jumped into the lifeboat rowing away from the boat. He saw his grandfather and his father standing on the deck staring at him. Then he saw the two fishermen also standing staring at him. Suddenly the darkness was lit up bright with light from an explosion that shook the entire area. The ship blew into sections, sinking right there in front of Malcolm. He was rowing as hard as he could and then he stopped and stared. He began to laugh for he knew he had won. Then he began the long journey rowing back home. What he didn't see was that sitting right behind him as he rowed, sat Billy staring at him. Malcolm was never seen again.

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Gidget Wagner

Mar 10, 2025

That was great Chris!  Keep it up!  I wrote a short story back in high school and got to go to state and get it published.  I also got a poem published in the national book of poems.  I love to write...clears the mind!

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