The River

Chapter 4

The next morning Logan went to see the mermaid. He wished Laura could come with him, but Amphitrite didn’t like to have company, he himself was not welcome there. Surely if they both would go down there it would not be pleasing for Amphitrite. He arrived at the door to the underground canal that led to the main part of the water reservoir. It was dusty, one could totally see that there has not been a single soul going in or out of there for a long time. People of the village loved her but they also were afraid of her, there was no reason to disturb such a magical creature. So almost nobody would go down there. Nobody knew how and when Amphitrite came there, this water reservoir was not connected to any other underground water sources. But somehow, years ago people saw her down there. At first, they would go talk to her, but after a while, she wouldn’t come out of the water in case there was somebody in there. So people decided to let her stay alone. People would go to her only in the case that they really felt the need of her help. Some people even would see her in their sleep and thought that she was calling them to herself. But not every time someone would go down to her, she would show herself.

Now after many years, Logan was going down there. Suddenly he realized it had been some time that he was just waiting there staring at the door. So he took a deep breath and walked through the door. The corridor was narrow and dark, there were just some windows on the ceiling, letting the sunlight through. As he walked through the corridor the humidity increased to the point where he could feel the water source was near.

He could hear the sound of water from the far end of the corridor, it sounded like something was in the water, he thought to himself, obviously, it is the sound of Amphitrite swimming in the water. He continued going down the narrow path, there were no more windows in the ceiling after some walking down the corridor, It was almost dark in the corridor. Logan thought it was better to have candles here, as he was walking forward it was getting darker. He couldn’t believe that moments ago he was standing under the direct sunlight in a dry deserted land, it was totally a different world down here, dark and humid.

After some twists in the corridor, now he was suddenly in the middle of a great hall with a high ceiling. It was like a big and high dome. There were five windows in the ceiling and the morning light was coming through them and lighting up the whole place. These were the same windows that were in the northern part of the village and Laura would take water out of them to fill the village’s water reservoir. He could see a rope and a can that was hanging from one of the side windows on the ceiling.

He looked at the ground and saw that not so far from him there was a line that the ground would change from solid soil to water. It was a weird scene for him, though he had seen the river, this was different. River did not have that much water and he could see the ground beneath the clear water of the river. But here it was different, the water was deep, nothing but water could be seen. Maybe there was no ground beneath it, maybe the water continued deep forever.

The water level and floor were exactly the same, he could walk straight to the water if he didn’t know that he was walking in the water reservoir.

Suddenly Logan realized that there was no more sound of the water. Maybe Amphitrite heard him coming and went under the surface. There was nothing he could do but to wait. If she wanted to talk to him, she would come to the surface. Logan waited for some time, it felt like a long time to him, though from the change of the shadows caused by the light from the ceiling windows, he could say that it was not that much longer since he was standing there. Yet there were no movements anywhere.

He tried to see under the water. The water was so clear, he could see right through it. Of course, it was deep and dark, so he could see just a little into it. There was nothing as long as his eyes could see. He thought to himself, maybe it was a bad idea to come here. He turned to go out with a lot of regrets.

As Logan turned around he heard a sound in the water. For a moment he just froze, then slowly turned back toward the water. Yes, there she was. He has never seen her with his own eyes, his father has seen Amphitrite many years ago. It was his favorite story and would tell it almost every day. Now that Logan could see the mermaid for himself, he could understand why it was such an exciting thing for his father.

Amphitrite was floating on the water not five meters from Logan. Half of her body was under the water, but due to clearwater, he could see her completely. The dim light under the dome made it hard to see the line of water and so she seemed floating in the air near him. It was adding to the magic that she already was bringing with her looks.

She had two legs like humans, but her feet were different from humans, there was no thumb on them, instead, she had flat thin feet, they were wider than a normal human foot and also a little transparent. Her skin was not so different from humans, but it was whiter and somehow brighter. Except for her feet, she looked like a normal female human.

But she was glowing with magic. It was not her beauty that enchanted Logan, she was not very beautiful in fact, there was something about her, as Hector said she was unworldly. Her hair was grayish with black and white stripes in them, and it was not as long as Logan expected it to be. Her eyes were green and glowing, and now that Logan looked at her eyes, suddenly realized that he was staring at her the whole time. She was just looking and smiling at him as if she was giving him time to enjoy her presence. He wished he could stay and look at her forever.

Finally, Amphitrite said “What are you doing here?” her voice was so soft, it sounded clear and quiet at the same time. “I see something that others don’t see,” Logan said but Amphitrite put her hand up as a sign to silence him and said, “I know, you see a river, it’s been a while, I thought you might come here sooner.” Logan was hypnotized by her, he tried to talk again and said, “But, how do you know about that?” “That’s not important,” said Amphitrite. Logan hesitated a moment and said “So, what do you think about it?” Amphitrite did not answer, she laid on her back and went under the water.

Logan came closer to the water, he was standing right on the edge of the water. Amphitrite went down till he could no longer see her. Logan waited for some time and then saw her coming up from deep. She came to surface again, this time she was closer to the edge, there was a distance less than an arm between them. It made Logan’s heart pound fast and hard.

Amphitrite started to talk again “You may be crazy, or you may not be, I don’t know yet. But you did not answer my question, why are you here? If you wanted to tell me that you saw a river, I already knew that, so what else are you waiting for?” “Dreams” said Logan, “I see dreams about places I have not seen before”.

Then Logan told her about his dreams as fast as he could. She seemed bored by his words, as if she already knew every word that he was saying, and it made Logan feel a little regret for coming here.

After Logan finished talking, Amphitrite smiled and looked at his eyes. It was like she was looking beyond his eyes. Logan continued, “The truth is I don’t know why am I here, I don’t know what to do, I need help, I'm here to see if you can help me. Tell me I’m crazy or not.” Amphitrite turned around and swam away from logan, then she stopped. Logan didn’t know what to do so he waited in silence.

Amphitrite turned around after a minute, swam toward Logan and took her hand out the water, it seemed that she wanted Logan to take her hand, so he did, her hand was much more firm than he expected, she pulled his hand down so he had to sit down on the floor. Then she grabbed him by the neck with her other hand and pulled herself out of the water, now they were eye level with each other.

She looked at him closely and finally said, “I think you are definitely crazy. Rivers are no longer on the earth. There may have been some of them, millions of years ago, but no more. There is not enough water to stream as a river.” they just looked at each other. There was a big disappointment in Logan’s eyes, Amphitrite said with a smile, “I’m sorry. I know that you thought you are special. You thought by coming here I would tell you a mythical secret or send you on a quest to solve a problem for the world. But the truth is you are just another normal man, like any other man. And that’s not a bad thing. I know that the whole time here you were thinking if it is possible to have s*x with me more than any other thing in the world.” Then she leaned forward and kissed Logan’s lips. It was a deep long kiss. After the kiss, he was feeling a little dizzy. It seemed that her lips had a magical potion on them.

Then she let go of him and went down to the water again. Then said “Don’t worry, the moment you walk out of here, you will feel better. You will remember that you don’t care what I think, you just came here because your little friend told you to, so what if I think you are crazy, I’m another one who doesn't believe in you, like any other person you know. You will remember that I’m just a magical creature, not a wise creature, and I should say that, it is true, I may be magical, but I’m not the wisest of people. I’m not omnipotent nor immortal. My race is doomed to end, I am one of the single few left of my race and will die here alone. I know that I don’t know, maybe that’s the only wise advice that I can give you. I think you are crazy, But I don’t know enough to be sure about what I told you.”

Then she went away and dived into the water. Logan saw her going down again and she was no longer visible to him. He sat there for a while and thought about Amphitrite. She might be right, maybe he was just another ordinary man. He wished to not be able to see the river anymore. Maybe he could just, don’t go to that valley anymore.

He was thinking to himself that Amphitrite came back again. She said “Hey Logan,” Logan looked at her in shock, “Don’t stay” Logan stood up to go out, but she gestured at him with her hand and showed Logan to stay and continued “I don’t mean just in here by the water,” then she gave him a smile and went under the water again.

Logan thought to himself what did she mean? How did she know my name in the first place? I didn’t tell her anything. How did she know I have a little friend? Maybe Laura has been here recently.

He then stood up and went out. It was near noon, it didn't feel like a long time, but he has been inside the reservoir for half a day.