The Monster in the Cold (Clara, PM to join)

Winter would soon come to Scotland, and all who lived their knew how cold it would be. The temperature would drop so great that the rain would often turn to snow and yet would hit as hard as an ice storm. With that in mind many of the natives of Loch Ness were trying to enjoy the last bits of nice weather they could have before the coming winter.

The obvious among these were the children all playing along the shores of the loch, often playing at how one was the infamous monster that roamed in the water. This game, however, was a little more frightening to the children as recently there had been sightings of what many believed was the creature; much more now than in recent years. But being children they paid no mind to this and instead wanted to have as much fun as possible.

The group playing that day were around five, including one of the girls in the group bringing her family sheep dog along. She and her friends played as much as they could, running about and skipping stones and hide-and-seek and so on.

None of them realized they were being watched by something not too far away.

During the playing the sheep dog caught the scent of something off. It was nothing he had smelled before and yet right away the dog could tell it was dangerous. With a bark the loyal but curious pet ran off to find the source, the children seeing this and running after him so he wouldn't run away.

There came a point where the dog went behind a large stone, the children not seeing where it went. They stopped when the heard him barking and fighting with something; something that hissed before the sound of a snapped neck and a whimpering cry of death followed. Hearing that they all feared what they knew must've happened.

Only one step closer did any of them take before something reptilian-like zipped from behind the stone and splashed it's way back into the river. They all ran screaming to tell their parents what had happened.


Five days since then and everyone now feared that the legend of the Loch Ness Monster may have come true.

Upon seeing her near the water, without her seeing him, a fat bearded man came walking over towards Clara and called out "I'd be careful about getting too close if I were you, girl."

With that he came walking over to her to address what she was doing, though he already had a few ideas in mind. He was dresses warmly for the cold day, despite the clear sky and the sun beating down over the Loch. He even had a hat covering his balding head while the beard may as well have been the thing to keep his face warm, given how thick it was.

When he finally reached her the man asked "So what brings a young thing like you down to the Loch? You another one of them monster hunting types?"

Hearing her name and all the man nodded before saying "Ah, another newsie then? Though you lot thought the whole thing was just a tourist stunt." When she asked her questions he answered with "Name's Hamish MacClannough." After that he said "Not sure what you did or didn't hear, but thing is this sort of thing hasn't happened around here for a while. Always people saying the see the monster, but never where it killed something. Anytime we hear about another sighting we figure it's someone just trying to get attention. Never seen someone kill a dog just to get it."

"Aye, was right back there." he confirmed before pointing out the spot. After she asked him in such a polite way she huffed a smile before saying "Right this way, lass. And Hamish will be fine enough. Only the wife calls me 'Ham'."

He lead her around the rock to show her the spot itself. Really there wasn't much out of the ordinary in the area itself. The dog's body had already been cleared and there wasn't any sign of anything else. No footprint in the rocks or sand, which would've dissolved by now, and no residue.

"You should've seen it when they pulled it out." Hamish said while Clara had her look. "Poor thing's head was twisted clear around, like a bloody top. I tell you, if it was a man then he was one strong bloke."

While he spoke there was one other little bit of evidence he, and others, had failed to see before. The nearby bush had a shortage of leaves on it, as if something had been eating from it. There were berries growing along where there hadn't been any eating but so sign of any of those hat were.

Hearing her question he huffed a little and asked "What, like eating plants only thing?" When she confirmed this for him he shrugged a little before saying "I really don't know that one, miss. For all I know the bloody thing can fly. I always hear people say it's a dinosaur. Those things eat plants and all, right?" He scratched his head a little before noting "Though it's funny you say that. "Cause the other day Mrs. Kelly had someone go and eat half her garden. Looks like a whole ton of rabbits came through it all of a sudden."

"The carrots. Tomatoes. Everything. Looked like a slaughter for vegetables." Hamish said before hearing Clara talk to herself a little. When she mentioned the dinosaurs again he said "Well if it's not any dinosaur then it's some kind of monster. Has to be. Nothing just does this sort of thing for no reason." Then when she mentioned souffles he looked at her oddly before she shot the idea down and then just said "Aye....I guess it would." He just took a step back after that and let her continue thinking to herself before saying "If it's any help, miss, you'd probably want to find a place to stay for the night. Half the time people don't see this thing until then. Guess it likes no one watching it."

"There's an inn, just up the road for about a mile." Hamish explained. "Should be easy to get to from here. Tell Willy, the owner, why you're here and that I' the one who sent you. Should knock off a few quid for any of my friends." He chuckled a bit at that before saying "Good luck to you, Ms. Oswald. And be careful. Hate to find your head twisted off next."

With that Hamish walked off and left Clara to do as she wished. He went back towards his house which wasn't too far away but up far enough away from the Loch itself to not fear anything.

As Clara would soon walk off she didn't realize she was being watched by something in the water. Something that quickly swam back underneath and disappeared before being seen by anyone else.

Willy, the owner, nodded when Clara gave all her credentials and mentioned Hamish. He nodded, telling her he knew the policy when it came to Hamish's friends. However before he answered her question he rambled on fro a bit about how he and Hamish were friends growing up and through a series of friendly mishaps, that was why the policy of the inn was. Thankfully for Clara she didn't need to answer any silly password questions since she was here about the monster killing.

Finally he did answer with "Oh yeah. A shop right down the block. Ms. Kingsly's." He'd even pointed down the left from where he stood to indicated it was just down the street.

As she browsed through the shop, Clara didn't realize someone walking up to her. It was an older woman, the owner in fact, who came up to her with a very suspicious look in her eye at the young girl.

"You're not from around here." she said to get Clara's attention. "You came here to find that beast, didn't you? The monster?" After she confirmed this the old woman said "You don't know what you're doing. That thing....I saw it. It's.....it's inhuman. Like nothing....nothing I've ever seen or heard about."

The woman looked oddly at Clara, seeing how she wasn't afraid of her threats, before saying "I'm Kingsly. Julia Kingsly." It then cam to questions about the monster, to which she said "It was swimming in the lake. I saw it. The moonlight shined over the water and I could see it, clear as day! It had these horrible claws. And...and those eyes! They were....they saw me. They were bringing red like the devil's. I thought it was going to come for me next." She stated to shiver with fear over what she remembered, seeing the creature, before saying "Please, dear, don't look for it. It might kill you like that poor dog."

She shook her head at Clara's question before saying "It looked like a lizard. But then it could've been a bleeding fish for all I know." She was holding back more shivering before saying "That's all I can say, dear. I'm sorry."

With that Ms. Kingsly walked off back to the counter, only hoping that Clara would be safe. In fact she hoped everyone would be safe now that this monster was running about in the Loch. Everytime she could she'd glance out the window and look towards the water, making sure those red eyes weren't poking out to look at her again.

Seeing her come down the first thing Will said was "Well don't you look lovely, Ms. Clara?" After giving the compliment he heard her ask about eating before smiling and reaching under the desk he was at and pulling out a menu for her. "I can have the boys whip you up something nice. What you in the mood for? By the way, today's special is a nice serving of haggis with corn bread."

Will lead her to the other room in the inn where she could dine for the night. There were a lot of tables but not so many customers to fill it, only a few couples and one or two patrons at the bar inside it as well.

After seating her Will said "I'll get your meal and tea." He was about to walk off when she asked him about the monster, to which he huffed a reply "I couldn't really say, miss. Growing up around here, you hear plenty about the monster. I think that whole business with the dog was just some accident that's got the more superstitious bit."

Afterwards he went off to fetch her meal for her, returning only half an hour later. He had the tray with the food and the tea ready as well.