Loch Ness – Tina Stewart Brakebill

I didn’t plan a Part II but when the muse strikes …. You can find the original Cassie & Nessie here.

And now the story continues …

Not for the first time, Liam stared at Cassie and wondered if being in a coma was like dreaming.

Months had passed since they found her floating face-down in the Loch. And still no indication that she was ever going to surface again. Sad? Yes. But, really, probably for the best.

She had spent the past twenty years researching. Believing. And then the story broke.

spf-11-04-18-ce-ayr-5 — *Photo Credit: C.E. Ayr*

She had been so angry.

Screaming at him. Accusing him of betraying her for money. Screeching really. It had NOT been attractive. Ugly really.

Earsplitting shrieking. “Nellie’s not a commodity. She’s not for sale!” So obsessed with that damn fish. So worried that the publicity would endanger Nessie.

And now. This.

sunset-wreck-1

It would break her heart.

Plus he couldn’t be sure she hadn’t seen him at the Loch that day.

She looked so lovely now. It really would be best if she never surfaced.

underwater photography of woman — Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Thanks to Crimson’s Creative Challenge for providing the photo by Crispina Kemp. I’m not sure what the photo actually depicts but to me it was poor Nessie’s bones. (And it comes in at a tight 147 words.)

And thanks for additional push to One Daily Prompt (believe)

And of course a big thanks to the original inspiration, a Friday Fictioners challenge from last month and the photo by C.E. Ayr.

Cassie’s brain was spinning as she gazed at the Loch. Liam! An asshole and a coward. Starts this and then takes a powder. That headline also pissed her off. “Woman”! We’re NOT interchangeable. But it was those damn marks around ‘proves’ that really did it. She was not some kind of random wacko going on and about Big Foot or some other nonsense! She was bona fide PhD and an expert on deep water life forms. Her thoughts circled back to Liam. He was such an idiot. The paper was still in its draft stages. Not ready for publication. What possessed him to sell the story to that rag! Twitter was having a field day. She’d never be taken seriously now. Years of work. The data. All for nothing. She’d be another footnote in the line of nutcases obsessed with “Nessie.” All anyone would remember was that stupid photo. She knew it wasn’t real but it had inspired her life’s work. Now it was all over. Fitting she was at the place it all started. The Loch. As she stared, its surface stirred. And her brain spun.

Liam stared at Cassie and wondered. Was being in a coma like dreaming?

Visit the greats sites that inspired this piece of Flash Fiction:

Fandango’s FOWC (coma) and Scotts Daily Prompt (powder) and Sunday’s Photo Fictioner’s 200 word photo challenge

Cover Photo Credit: C.E. Ayr

Tag: Loch Ness

Cassie & Nessie (Part II)

Cassie & Nessie