Kevin, Lord of the hunt. Destroyer of gyms. Collector of beasts. Kevin, the most admired boy on the playgrounds—for almost a full week!—, had finally met his match, his Moby Dick, his nemesis, his ultimate prey. Kevin, with some logistic support from his parents, had managed to capture every creature available in his county except for the elusive icy water monster that, like the famous Nessie, was often seen lurking around bodies of water, but always evaded capture. But Kevin was known for his tenacious nature and unrelenting ambition to be the very best, so for three straight days he spent his afternoons walking around the lake, apparently impervious to the scorching heat, while his father devoted his attention to fishing regular, and often ridiculously tiny, fishes.
His efforts, however, seemed to be in vain. The void in his electronic encyclopedia seemed to taunt him while the monster, present in the area but outside of his range, occasionally appeared on his radar momentarily just to mock him. Nevertheless, during the dinner of the third day Kevin asked his parents to bring him back to the lake the next day. His usually overly complacent progenitors unexpectedly denied his simple request.
“Don’t you remember? We have to go to my boss’s wedding,” explained Kevin’s mother. “But we will be out only two days.”
“Maybe Leah can take you there,” suggested his father. Leah was a neighbour, four years older than Kevin, that occasionally took care of him when his parents were out. “It’s only half an hour away on bike.”
The next day Kevin tried to be at his best and treated his teen neighbour with unusual kindness before asking her for help with his quest. However, despite the young hunter’s cordiality, the traitorous adolescent completely rejected the idea. It’s true that it was a particularly hot day outside and inside Kevin’s house they were cool and comfy, but for Kevin each minute apart from his prey’s abode was a lost opportunity to satisfy his obsession. But he was patient, determined and wise beyond his years. He knew that his mark appeared more often in the twilight hours, so Kevin hatched a simple plan and patiently spent his afternoon preparing the necessary tools while otherwise behaving perfectly so as to not draw suspicion from his caretaker.
Short after consuming the ice cream treat his good conduct had earned him, Kevin announced his wish to go to bed early. Leah was surprised but happily granted his request, as it meant she had more time to enjoy Kevin’s enviable film and videogame collection. The hunter packed his tools and surreptitiously left the house using the back door while Leah loudly blasted aliens on Kevin’s 52 inch screen TV. He hopped on his bike, put on his helmet, turned on the headlight and made his way towards the lake.
The sun was starting to set when Kevin parked his bike and started to walk around the lake. There were only a few people on the shores, most of them packing up after family picnics and fishing expeditions. Nobody that Kevin knew personally, but he decided to avoid them anyway, so there were no witness of his unauthorised little escapade. Thus, he chose to take a secondary path around the lake, following a faded forest trail.
Thirty minutes later Kevin, oblivious to the dimming natural light and increasing creepiness of his surroundings, had managed to locate his mark in the app and, for the first time, had managed to close the distance to just two footprints away. His heartbeat accelerated and blood rushed to his head. “There it blows!”, he thought, following the invisible tracks of the beast using his electronic guidance system while instinctively avoiding roots, branches and other obstacles. Only one footprint! He hurried up, running out of the woods and up a slope without taking his eyes off the bright display.
Then, when a 3D image of his prey had just appeared over the map, the ground disappeared under Kevin’s feet. He had stepped over a steep cliff overlooking the lake, avoiding the dangerous fall thanks to his youthful reflexes, grasping the ledge with one of his hands. He was saved, but not safe. Kevin had to take a split-second, life-or-death decision: stubbornly keep holding on to his mobile phone or use both hands to climb his way up. He compromised, refusing to let go off the device but momentarily postponing the capture of his mark. After paying with sweat, pain and a bit of blood his ascent, Kevin lied down on the grass and looked at the screen. The beast was no longer there, but it was close. He crawled towards the edge and extended his arms over the lake until the long-sought-after monster appeared once more on the map. He tapped it, making it float over the waters and flicked a finger to hit it with the capturing the device. It shook once, twice, thrice. Stars appeared. It was his!
Kevin raised his arms as a gesture of victory. Then, in a terrible instant, his phone slipped from his dirty sweaty hands. Time slowed down as he tried and failed to recover the device several times, hitting it ineffectively with his hands and watching it inevitably plummet towards the dark waters. Suddenly, a terrible tower-like figure broke the surface of the lake, shooting up towards Kevin with a huge open maw and effortlessly swallowing the falling phone on his way up. The terrible mouth, filled with several rows of spiky fangs, closed shut perilously close to the hunter’s face before disappearing once more under the murky waters. Kevin fled, retracing his path with uncanny celerity and precision. He returned home trembling, crying and swearing to never again pursue any hunt, lest he be the one who ends up becoming the prey.
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