The last few days had been quite busy for me. I bought a silver cross chain at a pawn shop, remembering Jorge’s knife story, I jumped to the conclusion that those things dislike silver. I had taken a few droplets of the window cleaner and a salt crystal with me by the end of a shift. My older brother has a PhD in chemistry which came out quite handy for me at this moment. I took him the samples and practically begged him to tell me what’s in them. He ended up checking the Ph levels and reassured me it was just rubbing alcohol and vinegar, nothing else. The salt crystal was just that, a salt crystal. He came to the conclusion it had been a Himalayan salt lamp smashed into smaller rocks by the looks of it.
Just like Jorge had said, Canals 5 to 8 were almost normal, there were no Canaleros (the name stuck with me), no cultists. I even saw some random guy fishing there like it was nothing, he waved at me but I ignored him out of fear of breaking rule #3. In all this time I had been reflecting on whether I should run away like Jorge did or stay out of fear for my own safety and the safety of whoever replaces me if that were to happen. I still had mixed feelings about him, could it be that whoever gave us the window cleaner and crystals left me that note after my encounter with Jorge? If so that person is my biggest ally and Jorge had somehow pissed off the one who saved his life. But what and why? I wondered.
I pulled up at canal #9, this was one of the “special” ones. The crane was already there waiting for me. Based on the maps this canal was a bit different from the others. This one went right behind people’s backyards so there wasn’t a lot of space to maneuver. The gate had three locks to get in but the keys I had only worked for one of them. I ended up just jumping the fence. It didn’t sat well with me to leave the gate closed, what if I needed to run? I’d have to bring some bolt cutters next time I’m due for this canal.
As usual, I sprayed all windows thoroughly just like the rules specified. Turned on the crane and started my day, being extra wary of my surroundings. I hadn’t noticed it before since I only worked on a special canal once, on my first day of work, but after doing four of the normal ones I realized something. They were staring at me, the wildlife of the canal: Iguanas, fish, birds and turtles. On the last four canals they’d avoid me as soon as they were within an earshot of the crane. Which is pretty normal all things consider, but over here they walk along the crane, staring, waiting. It was extremely unnerving so I tried to focus only at the task at hand, in an attempt to avoid meeting their eyes.
Whilst working on the task at hand, I noticed something hit one of the windows. It made a sound like a pebble after impacting glass. I looked at all sides until I saw a middle aged couple with wide creepy smiles standing at a short distance from the crane. They were quite unnerving, their smiles made me unease at once after I saw them. For some reason I was sure I’ve seen them before, their faces were quite familiar and yet it was the first time I’ve seen them in my life. The old man made a gesture pointing at the door. Not trusting them fully, I halfway opened the hatch and turned off the crane since I couldn’t hear them over the noisy engine. The old man was the first one to speak.
“My apologies for tossing that pebble, my good sir. I was trying to catch your attention earlier but I’m afraid your equipment it’s quite loud. How are you in this fine day!” Said the old man overenthusiastically. I could see most of his teeth over that widen smile, it creeped me out badly.
“Fine I guess… Can I help you with something?” I responded coldly, being polite but trying to avoid extending this encounter with them.
“Oh most certainly. First of all I would like to ask how did you get inside. This happens to be private property. That’s why the neighborhood watch put up those locks. One could say you are trespassing, but I understand you’re only doing your job” The old man spoke respectfully, but something in his tone came out as passive aggressive, almost threatening.
“This isn’t private property” I pointed out at the fences right behind them. “Your fence is the property limit. This canal is sitting on public land, that’s why I’m here. If you have a problem you can take it to the city” Thankfully, Roger had explained to me how none of the canals sat on private property although some of them weren’t far off
“But my good sir” said the old man. “You must understand it’s frustrating to have a stranger showing up unannounced in your back yard. That goes for my neighbors too, I’m here representing the neighborhood watch. All we ask of you is that you let us know the day before you show up. I’ll give you the number of the HOA president and you just have to send her a message in advance, she will send someone to open the gate for you and keep watch while you do your job, isn’t that a reasonable demand?” He had raised his tone slightly, he was no longer asking politely but demanding of me to submit. What a lousy old man.
“Was it you who put up those locks? You know that’s illegal, right?” I replied raising a brow.
“Listen punk” This time it was his wife who lost her temper “We’re done with formalities. This is our home, our territory. We’re willing to compromise and let you in our backyards only because the HOA president said so. But you’re gonna have to report to her or we’re gonna have a problem” The first impression I had of this lady being a sweet yet creepy old lady had been entirely misguided. This people are trying to keep me under watch for some reason. It only triggered more red flags with each passing sentence. I still couldn’t figure out where had I seen them before.
“Like I said, feel free to reach out to the city. I’m not in anyone’s backyard nor I’m driving close to the property line. I didn’t mean to upset you by doing my job but if there’s nothing else you have to say, I’m gonna get back to it”
I closed the hatch and turned the crane back on. I could hear some indistinguishable yapping over the engine noise which I just ignored. I had already wasted a lot of time with this Karen and her husband.
Suddenly, I caught a glance of something. The woman pulled out a plastic water bottle from her purse. Nothing out of the ordinary until she removed the bottlecap and tossed the bottle straight at the window. Her husband grabbed her by the arm while she kept on yelling. He managed to walk her back to their backyard while staring at me with a scornful look in his eyes.
The windows were fine, luckily it had been just a plastic bottle so she just splashed some water over the crane. It’s not like she had made any damages to the crane. I just shook my head annoyed and moved on with the task at hand. Since the encounter, I couldn’t help but feeling that even though I recognized their faces they didn’t looked one bit like we had meet in person before. They most likely would’ve taken a different approach if we were acquainted in some way.
I was shaken out of my train of thought along with the crane, which suddenly shook and tilted slightly to one side. I looked around trying to find if something was off, and indeed there was. Staring at me dead in the eye, holding on to the roof of the crane by the hand, there was again one of those little shits, a Canalero. The thing looked at me enraged, his eyes had darkened completely with not a trace of white in them, like a shark’s. The thing started hitting the windows, only then I noticed he wasn’t alone. two of his friends were jumping over the hydraulic arm trying to cut it off the crane. There were also ravens, dozens of ravens circling over the crane, flying straight into the windows.
“What on earth??” I gasped for air, such a frenzy attack, all out of nowhere. This canal was livelier than #4 that was for sure. And yet the old couple walked right by as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Come to think of it. I hadn’t even seen a canalero so far today until after… after the old woman stained the crane with that water bottle.
I reached for the notebook, skimming through the facial sketches. They there were, both the old woman and her husband. How could I had been so stupid? they were cultists. I should’ve known from the moment they admitted to illegally raise locks at the gate. Now I couldn’t get away from these fiends without getting out of the crane and jump the fence, but they would get me before my feet could even touch the grass.
I turned off the hydraulic arm’s blades and moved it up and down trying to get those little shits off, but they were holding up tightly. I extended the arm and shove it down the canal water with them holding on to it. I had no idea if the canal water would have any effect on them, but at the very last second before they went underwater their expressions changed. They looked mortified for a second and tried to climb up the arm, but it was too late. I let them sink for about ten seconds before pulling the arm back up. They’re still over the arm but no longer moving. I shook the hydraulic arm a bit trying to get them off the same way one shakes his shoes after stepping on a turd. They felt down immobile, down the canal’s water.
The third Canalero next to the window had seen me get rid of its friends and turned even more violent than before. It hit it’s head against the window time after time until it bleed. His blood was a shade of dark green almost black. The thing screech in agony as it kept hitting it’s head in rage. Now I knew that Canaleros could be killed but I couldn’t think of a way to push this one into the water. Up ahead there was a tree with low branches, perhaps I could push it off the crane. I drove up to it full speed and just as planned, the Canalero got stuck with the branches and felt off the crane. With barely any time to pull my next move, I grabbed the window cleaner. So far that spray had worked miracles, and I was in dire need of one right about now.
Rapidly, I opened the hatch and just as the Canalero was climbing back up I sprayed the wretched thing in the face several times until he felt off the crane. The thing covered its face right after falling, smoke rising up from behind his hands. The next screech was loud enough for it to wake up the entire neighborhood. The thing ran away for a few seconds covering its face before banishing into thin air.
The ravens had also calmed down, they flew away in a pack right after I chased off the last Canalero. Did they showed up on their own accord or do those things control the animals somehow? If so, I’d have to be extra careful around them from now on.
I looked at all sides expecting another nasty surprise to jump at me at any second. Then I noticed the smell, it was a strong plant-based scent like a tea made out of grass perhaps. It was coming from the recently opened hatch where the old lady had tossed her water bottle, or what I thought was a water bottle. Jorge’s words came back to me clearly, those wenches use the canal water and herbs to harm others. So this is what he meant, the canal water was strong enough to kill Canaleros. It seemed as if the cultists have been boiling it with the weeds that grow by the canal, brewing a mix that made the canal creatures frenzy.
I turned the crane around, thinking about calling Roger to report in sick and go home for the day. Staring at the houses while driving back. It gave me the creeps to realize that in every single house I passed by, there was someone behind a window staring daggers at me.