This short story is part of the 50 Micro Short Stories call for submissions.
Прочетете разказа на български.
Vladislav Atanasov
The Swimming Pool
micro science fiction
It ended up being odd. Close to an hour now, that strange person relentlessly swam underwater along the length of the swimming pool. 50 meters that way, 50 meters back. Not once did he come to the surface for a breath of air. Most likely a man, his heavy outlines and navy trunks stood out against the bright terracotta at the bottom of the pool. 50 that way, 50 back. The gathering onlookers had never seen such a thing. An hour underwater without taking a single breath! It’d be impossible, unless he used a scuba tank, but he clearly didn’t. It was an outdoor pool, well-cared-for and spotless. The swimmer’s outlines were sharply defined. He kept his hands close to his body, his legs working hard, a weird torpedo that would deactivate itself any minute now. The swimmer showed no signs of fatigue though.
It was midsummer. The visitors, here for their yearly dose of sun tanning, had ceased applying sunscreen and scolding their children, forming a crowd by the water instead. Those who had just gotten out of it, absent-mindedly rubbed themselves with large towels, transfixed by the event.
“Daddy, that man is scary,” a little kid said and hid behind his father. The kid’s father scratched his bare chest, his face kind of startled. The other swimming pool goers seemed worried too. Most of them commented out loud that the swimmer was rapidly growing quite a bit larger. Not only that, but his body had started turning blue, to a point at which you couldn’t tell it apart from his swimming trunks.
People hastily stepped away from the edge of the pool now, their loud discussions dying in stunned silence. The only sound came from the breeze rustling through the leaves of the nearby trees and the squeaking of flip-flops. The large, navy-blue body under the waterline continued to shuttle up and down the swimming pool, growing bigger and bigger by the second. Then a sparrow darted across the pool’s surface, catching everyone’s eyes.
The large body launched itself out of the water, its gaping mouth engulfing the unfortunate bird. No one could believe what had just happened – it was a whale, a real-life whale.
The whale’s body flopped back down, drowning the onlookers under a mountainous amount of water.
When the water drew away, there was no one left by the pool. Truly no one. The people had vanished down a magician’s hat. Only the whale continued his pacing up and down the swimming pool. Growing bigger. Soon to fill it up completely.
Translated from the Bulgarian
by Petar Toushkov
Vladislav Atanasov (Владислав Атанасов) is a poet and a writer from Rousse, Bulgaria, b. 28 September 1970. He has a master’s degree from the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, where he majored in Bulgarian Language and Literature, and Library Science and Bibliography. Working as a curator at The Rousse Regional Historical Museum.
The Swimming Pool by Vladislav Atanasov will appear in 50 Bulgarian Fantastical Micro Stories. Help The Gathering of Troubadours Magazine to achieve this by supporting us on Patreon. Thank you for loving fantastika as much as we do!