Rain poured in streams from the thunder clouds that hung over the island. Cope sat huddled in a driftwood shack which he and Philo had pieced together years ago. Crouching by a small fire, the seventeen year old did his best to keep warm. He pulled his tattered cloak and hood tighter around himself as a chill gust of sea air rushed by.

It was violent weather for the island, even though Cope could remember only a handful of days when it hadn’t rained, and even fewer when the sun had shone. The lack of light had caused his skin to be pallid. This, combined with his scraggly body, gave him an almost fish like appearance. As drops of water fell from the boy’s wet curly hair, the storm continued its din outside.

For the umpteenth time his thoughts drifted to Philo, the kind monk who had brought him to the Island and raised him; the monk who he would always consider his father:

“This cloak reminds me of my father,” he thought. “It was his before he died. It shelters and protects me as he once did. My father was a good man. He taught me so many things. Reading, writing, how to make fires. And, how to fish…..” Cope’s mind trailed back to the memory of Philo and himself fishing two years before.

It was one of the rare days when it was not raining – the sunshine was only barley concealed by the thin overcast in the sky. The lack of rain brought out the insects, and with them, fish. Swarms of small fish snapped at the insects on top of the water; larger fish ascended as well, following the smaller fish that served as their own food supply.

The situation made clear days a prime opportunity for spearfishing. The gray haired Philo stripped down to his undergarments and waded out along the shoal until he was waist deep. Cope did the same, but stayed closer to shore to keep from being carried out to sea by the teeming fish. The fish were easy to catch. As a result, both of them were filling their stringers quickly.

Out at the edge of the shoal, Philo knew his fate the moment he felt a smooth tentacle wrap itself around his shin.

“Offal! Get out of the water!” He cried.

Cope stood in a stupor as the elderly monk vanished in an instant. The bony body of a monstrous offal rose above the splashing water for only a second before the schools of fish and frothing water flowed over the recess.

Not thinking, Cope rushed deeper into the water where Philo had been. He had to know for himself that his mentor was really gone. He reached the edge of the shoal, where Philo had been; the water was up to the fifteen year old’s ribs. Spear in hand he searched futilely in the water. But, his feet and spear found only fish.

Cope realized his mentor was gone.

A stone throw away, another bony hump rose out of the water. Cope knew he had to get ashore. He turned and fought his way back towards shore as quickly as he could, though the mass of fish threatened to sweep him away.

He was half way there; he would be ashore in a matter of moments. It was then that he felt a disgusting rope of flesh wrap itself around his ankle.

The tentacle pulled hard against his back leg, forcing him down to one knee, and bitting into his skin as though it were covered in barbs. Sensing the creature pulling itself towards him through the water, Cope spun around and sat on the bottom of the sandy shoal. The offal’s back rose above the water as it lunged. But, before the shark like mouth had the chance to bite into his leg, Cope thrust the spear into its mouth. The spearhead pierced the offal’s skull and through the back of it’s crab like shell.

The half dead creature wrapped another of its bitting tentacles around his leg as he towed it with him up on to the shore. The beast died in a matter of minutes from bleeding, leaving Cope with only the slashing piercing scars of the encounter. Looking at the corpse laying on the beach he guessed that it was only one third the size of the one that had attacked Philo.

Coming back from his memories, Cope stared down into the fire. Philo’s old habit sheltered his scared leg, as a few tears mixed with the water that dripped from his wet hair.