Bait
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Jia-Ling Dutton, Grade 6, Geebung State School
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Short Story
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2020
Excellence Award in the 'The Inside Story 2020' competition
The fisherman peered cautiously through the dark, murky water, as it swirled around ferociously like a whirlpool. His old, rusty fishing rod began swaying madly like a flag dancing in an icy breeze. Little did he know what was coming for him ...
By the creek, the pungent odour of rotting fish filled the air and flies swarmed around the dead fish, which lay lifeless and unbought for god-knows-how long! A sad, lonely fisherman was gloomy and disappointed on his unproductive sales. So he did what he always did when he was upset. He fished.
Settled on an old, unstable, wooden pier sat the grouchy man, who always had a temper this bad. Bait bucket perched beside him and his sad-looking rod in his wrinkled hands, he began trawling. He grasped a slippery, silverfinned fish out of the bait bucket, hooked it over the rod and flung it out like a cowboy hurling a rope over a frolicking horse.
An hour went by in a flash and eventually all the bait had been eaten but no fish were caught, not even an itty bitty minnow! However, there was one last morsel of bait left. A rather large fish that had red streaks on its sides that the fisherman found chaotic to identify. "When all else fails, choose the bigger fish!" contemplated the fisherman. The "fish" got eaten. Or at least he thought it did.
At that moment was when the cloudy, brown lake water began to rumble, toss and turn mercilessly like a mini tsunami ready to sweep up on a city. It stopped for a few seconds and everything was quiet. The fisherman, who was now pale, wore a terrified face at this sudden interruption.
Something moved in the water. It was coming closer. It was the bait he just lost that came nearing closer and closer to the surface of the water. Its face was now clearly visible from the bank. A hungry piranha opened its mouth into a twisted grin revealing thousands upon thousands of razor sharp teeth. "Who are you calling bait?" it sneered, now lunging at the horrified man's legs which were conveniently dangling of the pier.