The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Malek was pulling his boat up onto the land when he sensed her behind him.  He dropped his black duffel bag near his feet, blocking it from her view.  He wiped his hands on his dark pants.  He looked around, ignoring her.  It was quiet, and it was early.  No one was supposed to be around.

“She never had a chance.  I’m sure.”  Her words were ice water in his veins, but her tongue was strange.  He couldn’t place the accent.  “So many man do so many bad things, and we all pay for it in the end.”

Malek’s hands folded into fists.  If he struck fast, maybe he could render her unconscious.  He could lift her body into the boat and carry her out across the water.  He glanced at the black duffel bag.  He should have brought his knife, and he was tired.  He was out on the water for a long time.

“Mind your damn business, or…”

Malek’s mouth fell open.  A Black woman sat behind him on a large rock.  Soft gray painted against the black curls.  She shined in the sun, but her skin was dark.  Her clothing looked old like she stepped out of the eighteenth century.  Maybe, that was why her speech was so strange.

Before Malek could say anything, the woman said, “I used to walk by these waters.  At least, when I was allowed.  See we escaped our master.  Lived on the run.  Until we could live no more.”

He must be tired.  There was no way such a woman could exist.  She did have a sharp right hook.  He must be feeling it, and he grabbed the black duffel bag.

“I’m not done talking to you, boy.”  She stood behind him, surprising him, and he fell down into the dirt.  “See my son and his child thought they were safe, but my son saw something, something that scared him.  He came home late, not the same.  He grabbed his child and led him to these waters.  Only he walked away.”

Malek attempted to say something, but she spoke again.  “I knew what he had done.  I screamed and screamed at him, and he struck me down.  He kept striking me down, maybe thinking that he was saving me, he was saving his son from whatever was coming.  All he did was destroy himself.  Now, I walk along these waters, and I wait.”

“What are you waiting for?”  Malek did not like how close she was.  He backed away.  His hand touched the water.

“I wait for men like you.  Men that do evil things and don’t think twice.”

“You’re just a ghost.”  Malek laughed.  “You can’t hurt me.”

“Maybe, I can’t.”  She smiled, chilling Malek to the bone.  “He can.”

Malek looked over his shoulder.  A teen-aged boy rose from the water.  His clothes were ripped apart.  His face was bloody.  One eye was gone, but the other fixed on him.  He looked like he not only escaped from the past but from the depths of hell.  He moved fast, so fast that Malek had no time to react.  Strong, dark arms wrapped around him, pinning him against the boy, and he screamed just like she did.  But it was no use.  Malek was pulled into the water, and he was carried down, down below.