Author’s note: “Bog Water” was the first short story I ever published. It originally appeared on Potato Soup Journal, which is now defunct. I revamped the story a couple years later and I am delighted to announce that it found a new home at NECKSNAP Magazine, in the inaugural Issue 0.
On a muggy spring afternoon, the clouds sense a secret is about to be discovered. They crowd low, peering over a verdant bog. The sound of a pickaxe falls in a rhythmic swish-thump. The axeman’s worry rises like perfume.
Another woman was taken yesterday. The clouds hadn’t been in attendance, but they know the axeman’s sister was there, and that she looked away for only a second. All that remained of her friend was the basket spilling red, glistening berries onto the ground.
The man, Olek, drives his pickaxe into thick peat. Every time he pulls it out, it makes a squelching, sucking sound, as though the bog doesn’t want to relinquish it.
The bog doesn’t often relinquish things.
This story was first published on PotatoSoupJournal.com on August 1, 2022.
It was republished in NECKSNAP Magazine in November 2024.