I arrived at about twenty minutes past six, fearful that Jorge would be gone by then. As I walk into the burger joint I realized I had no idea of what he looks like. He sounded like an older man on the phone, but as I look around hoping to see a middle aged Hispanic male I realize there’s no one fitting that description. I was probably too late, fearful of missing my one chance to get some answers I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.
I heard a phone ringing near the soda fountain. There was a small booth right next to it and sitting by it there was a man with his back turned to where the entrance was. I approached the man and sat down in front of him. He was wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and he covered the back of his head with a towel. Anywhere else you would think he’s pulling one of the worse disguises ever made, but as the burger joint is close to a beach it seemed fairly normal.
He took off his mask and shades, this man looked at me with an emotionless glare. His glare was the type you’d expect from someone who’s been through war or struggled with cancer. I was almost certain that something inside of him died while working at the canals. He pushed his fries forward offering me some but I declined, I didn’t had much of an appetite after today.
“First of all” He started, skipping an introduction “Did they saw you looking at them?”
“Who saw me looking what?” I asked hesitantly. Jorge exhaled a sigh of relief.
“Rule number three, it’s probably the most important one, that one you can never come back from” He took a long sip of his soda, then he kept on talking while refilling it by the machine right behind him “I’m assuming that since you’re here and Roger isn’t, it means you found my notebook and already ran into one of those things.” I nodded in response, he didn’t even blink as I answered
“Rule number one” I mumbled. “Also rule number six and eight” I admitted shamefully. He took a good look at me for a second and his eyes widen.
“What canal did you worked today?” He asked straightforwardly.
“Number four…” I answered, then I briefly explained what had happened earlier with my wooden cross, the stain and the children.
“Unlucky bastard” He smirked. “I’m surprised you didn’t just ran away. Then again I’m assuming you’re here because you haven’t decided if you should ran away or not” He paused for a second and looked around trying to notice if anyone had been listening to us. “So, ask away. If you’re here you have questions, just go for it.”
“What are those children and why do you say they aren’t human?” I asked nervously.
“I don’t know what they are, they are capable of putting up a façade if they wanna lurk you out of the crane. If they get you they will hang on to you and mark you quite badly” He pulled up his right sleeve, there was a chunk or muscle missing on his shoulder, the skin look quite pale around that area. “You can’t fight them, but you can avoid them. I call them Canaleros, it means canal inhabitants in Spanish. They aren’t people, they don’t eat and they show up and vanish as they please. They can also change their physical appearance but only to look like other children” Jorge tapped his shoulder, then moved on with his story.
“That’s how they got me. I didn’t knew better at the time, but one of them changed its appearance to look like my daughter, she was five back then, another canalero grabbed the thing that looked like my daughter by the neck and it looked as if he was chocking and marking her” Jorge took a deep sigh and stopped for a second, the memory was clearly a painful one. “I grabbed a salt crystal, the window cleaner, the airsoft pistol. I didn’t knew if any of that was going to help but I rushed out thinking that at least if I died she’d have a chance to run away. One of them was waiting at the top of the crane and grabbed me by the shoulder as soon as I opened the door. I immediately dropped everything and rushed back inside. The bastard had pierced through my skin with his claws and the mark was deep. I had dropped the window cleaner when I opened the door, it wouldn’t do anything when the wound is this deep anyways” He stopped, clearly not wanting to elaborate any further.
“How did you survived?” I asked dumbfounded he was still alive.
“I had to drive the crane while marked and bleeding. Those things can’t go near the entrance. When I got there, I jumped out to open the gate and notice a slip of paper rolled by the lock. It only had two words ‘CUT IT’. Behind it, attached with tape, there was a silver knife. It was heavy, it looked like an ordinary pocket knife with a plastic handle but the blade was pure silver. I covered my wound and ran inside the bathroom of this very burger joint” He pointed at the bathroom door down the hall. “I took off my shirt and bite it while cutting off the flesh, making sure I didn’t touch any purple spots” He took a sip of his soda “After I was done I told the employees I was attacked by a crackhead and asked them to call me an ambulance”
“That explains a lot, but why were you so worried about rule number three earlier?” I asked while Jorge refilled his cup.
“Those things playing dead aren’t the same as the canaleros. Those things are trapped in the canals while the canaleros are the inhabitants of the canals. After you’ve worked here for a while you too will start deepening your connection to the canal. Then you’ll be able to see them but pretend you don’t. Once you’re connected to the canal they will be able to touch you, they prey and feed of fools like us and there’s no fighting them. Canaleros have physical bodies so they can’t just jump into the crane, the window cleaner harms them but it won’t kill them. But those things playing dead are like spirits. If they notice you can see them they’ll jump at you and enter your body, they will eat you from the inside until you’re gone, not physically gone but your soul won’t exist anymore”
“What about rule seven? who are those people?” I asked while pointing at the notebook. Jorge took the notebook from my hands and skipped a few pages until he reached the detailed facial sketches.
“I worked as a police sketch artist back home in Cuba. It came handy when I started this job” He pointed at the portrait of a Caucasian woman, she looked between thirty to forty years old, blonde hair, thin lips “This is Claire, she’s the leader of the sectists. These are wicked people, brujos… they gather water and the herbs that grow by the canal. They use them to curse people and take things from others, nasty kin” He pointed at Claire once more. “There’s someone else who keeps the canal clean, the person who stocks us with window cleaner, the knife and salt crystals. Though I’ve never seen that person and it’s best if you don’t try to look for them” Jorge smirked “The airsoft pistol was my idea. Although the sectists can be killed, they’re humans after all, they don’t fear death. You can injure them, put traps for them if you’d like, they won’t call the cops but they are the vengeful type”
“One last question, besides of Claire and her gang, why did you draw these half beast creatures?” By this point I was sure Jorge wasn’t the furry type. I really wished he was, since it would mean those drawings inhabit his mind and not the canal.
“They’re the same as the Canaleros. I don’t know much about them, they’re a rare sight during the day. If you’re unlucky enough to stay the night you might see more of them. I can’t tell if you’ll make it through the night though, so far no one did” Jorge stared at his watch, playing an act as if he was running out of time. “Well, it was nice to meet you… uhmm”
“Dave” I extended my hand. He took it.
“It was nice to meet you Dave, if you run into trouble you already have my number”
“I never said I’d stay. If anything I’m gonna call Roger right after you leave and tell him I quit” Jorge frowned, he seemed to be bothered by my answer.
“Like I said before, this is an important job and someone must do it. Then again, you’ve already been marked” Jorge pointed at my chest, exactly where I had been marked.
“So what? The wound is gone, you’re also marked and you look fine”
“You and me, we already share a bond with the canals. If no one tends to the canals, they will only get stronger. You and I will grow weaker by the day until it completely consumes us. Even if we’re not physically there, we’re connected to it” Jorge said with a sorrowful look in his eyes.
He didn’t said anything else, he just stood up, took his trash and dumped it on a bin on his way out. By the looks of it, his wound had scarred a long time ago. Jorge was experienced dealing with the canal and seemed not to be afraid of it, something probably chased him off. but what? I gave it a 50/50 chance that he was bluffing. Either he didn’t wanted the things in the canals to roam unchecked or we’d actually be in danger by walking away.
Based on what Jorge said, the next four canals, from number 5 to 8, aren’t too much of a risk. He had been straightforward with everything we’ve talked so far. I had no reason to think he would lie on something that would clearly put my life at risk. I thought about it and perhaps it would be best if I did the next four canals before taking a decision. God knows I need the money and it would give me time to think about things more clearly.
As I approached my car, I noticed a slip of paper under the wipers. “Oh crap” I said to myself, thinking I got a ticket, my registration was expired after all. I grabbed the note, after looking at it I wished it had been a ticket. “DO NOT TRUST JORGE.”