The Still and the Taken 

 

 
The loch has taken many a soul. 
Locals don’t speak of them, just nod toward the water when a 
name is mentioned, a warning rather than a memory. 
Tourists laugh, splash, and scatter litter along the banks. They never listen when the wind hisses through the whispering reeds. 
Last summer, a boy dared to dive from the rocks. 
He didn’t surface. 
Divers found nothing but his phone, still recording. Before the 
screen turned black, the water rippled… then opened. 
Old folk say the loch stirs when disrespected. 
Not angry. 
Hungry. 
And if you don’t honour it… 
the loch will awaken.

 

 

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