Maurice walked backwards again and repeated this strange ritual until something made the water's surface swell and then break. For a moment it looked like a muck covered skull in the moonlight but the little paddling limbs revealed it to be a turtle.

"Aw man, not you! I didn't want you!" Maurice dropped his pole and began the delicate dance of trying to get the turtle to let go of the hook. It was a little snapper and it wasn't having none of their bullshit. Luckily it wasn't actually hooked at all. "And y--don't you dare! Yeah, me and my little cousin' was out here years ago. We dragged up a skull. Figure it was the head of that prostitute that was drowned out here way before I even moved to town. This pond's haunted by the way."