New short story

Belize Beast

Ant was drunk. That last coconut shell hadn’t been filled with ‘just pineapple juice.’ His breath reeked of sugary rum and his fingers were stuck to the pink straw in his drink. He had knocked back his first tequila shot at four o’clock. That was probably a mistake he thought. He couldn’t see his watch face too clearly, but he was pretty sure it was about 10pm now. He belched loudly and thought he might be sick. He stumbled to the water’s edge.
‘Ant are you ok?’
‘Mate…I’m great. I’m fine…I probably need some water.’
‘Oh dear. And I thought I would be the one to throw up first,’ said Brian.
‘Ha….Bri?’
‘Yes mate?’ said Brian.
‘Are you happy?’
‘Oh Jesus, I’m not answering that. I’ll get you some water.’ Ant felt the sand shift under his feet as Bri thumped up the beach and back to the party. I can’t believe he got married…Before me. Ant didn’t want to be around all the guests. He needed some space. Janey’s printed dress with all the tropical fruit on had made him nauseous.

Ant was a 35 year old bachelor. He had always wanted to get married – his six girlfriends had found this unusual. He’d been engaged four times – married none.
‘Here you go mate.’ Bri offered his younger brother another hollowed out coconut shell. Ant took a sip.
‘Oh shit!’ He spat the mouthful out.
‘What? Not what you expected.’ Bri stumbled now. He laughed at his brother, all doused in Vodka.
‘Yeah great Bri, just what I needed.’
‘Cheer up, you big pussy and come back to the party. Loads of hot Mayan chicks are doing this sexy belly dance. Please can you take them off my hands, before my wife catches me grinding on one of them?’ He was such an obnoxious prat sometimes.
‘I’ll just be a minute. Think I might take a quick dip. Sober up.’
‘Don’t miss the whole party knob jockey.’
‘Won’t…Just gonna go for a swim.’ Ant dropped the coconut shell, spilling the remaining vodka on to his dark blue shirt which he’d bought from Belize City. He began to unbutton it.
‘Alright mate. Try not to drown yeah?’

Bri must have gone. He couldn’t sense any one around him. He sank down, bottom first into the sand. He unbuttoned the last fiddly disc and removed his shirt. He was tired now, so decided to look about. Belize was probably the most beautiful place he had ever been to. He didn’t travel much as he was scared of flying – he’d drunk six vodka and cokes on the plane, just to calm his nerves. He was thankful that he had fallen asleep after their consumption. He was sure it was illegal to be drunk on planes. Belize was incredibly green – preserved. The Mayan ruins which were dotted about here and there in San Pedro had a mystic quality. The forests were so dense, you saw something, but in a moment it would disappear. Creatures were like holograms – leaving only a flash of their appearance before melting into the green blur of the mangrove swamp.

At this precise moment Ant didn’t know which end was his head. Shirtless and stinking of alcohol, he crawled on all fours towards the calm black water. He imagined that the water would be pretty cold now, but he was numb to its temperature. He was in to his elbows, when he noticed a large black rock. He held his weight with the left arm, while he reached out to touch the rock with his right. It moved. Bloody hell, am I really that drunk. He tried again. This time he grazed it with his fingers before it evaded the rest of his hand with a quicker movement than before.
‘Bri! Bri! What is this shit?’ His knees were wet now, and he began to shiver with cold or fear – he could not tell. He was intrigued by this slippery black rock – He stood up and waded into the water deeper and deeper till his ribs touched the inky surface of the water. The moon’s silver light did its best to illuminate as Ant used his bleary eyes to catch a glimpse of this queer little creature. He could see it now, though not at all clearly, further away. It can’t have been the same black rock. It must be a bigger one. It was as tall as him now, with half a body’s length showing above the surface. Ant was more worried about what he couldn’t see.
Something tickled his left foot. Small fish he concluded. Before he could reach down to scratch his foot, he was on his back. A slippery rope tightened around his ankle and dragged him further into the sea. Ant struggled to keep his head above the surface. He thrashed his arms about to attract some attention as the creature pulled him away from the shore. He was too far out for anyone to see him. The creature stopped, but Ant could feel what he assumed was a tentacle coiling further up his leg. His thigh pulsed under the pressure of the slimy appendage. He thought it must have been a snake or a massive eel or something, but when the black rock creature reared its lumpy head, opened its mouth and revealed rows of tiny teeth he wasn’t so sure what it was…