The River

Chapter 6

The next morning, like most of the days, Laura left the house before Logan woke up. Before leaving the home, she kissed his lips in sleep and left with tearful eyes. After a while, Logan woke up from his every night dream and started his journey.

He went toward the valley where the river was. It was not so far and he would be there soon. After reaching the river, he sat beside it and took a long look around. This might be the last time he would see this place, where he would come and sit every day for the last months.

It was a small valley, not too deep, he could jump over the walls with a little effort. There were lots of thistles and some cactuses around in the valley, though no insects were in the valley, they were mainly in the field up the valley inside the little holes they had in the ground. He would bring his herd to the field every day, sit on the side of the valley, and watch the river the whole day.

After a long last look, he stood up and started walking in the opposite direction of the river. Around noon he passed Hector’s village, suddenly he felt a wave of sadness in his heart. He was leaving everything behind. His friend, his home, and his beloved Laura. But he did not stop and continued his journey.

After he passed the village of Hector, he stopped for lunch. Logan had some smoked insects and meat with him, Laura had prepared it for his journey early in the morning. But he decided not to eat them and hunt some insects now that there were enough of them here. He didn’t know how his journey would turn and where he would go.

After lunch, he resumed the journey and walked for the whole day. The landscape did not change that much, except that the valley was no lower than the fields around it anymore. The river was flowing in a flat field, but there were mountains far ahead and hills here and there.

That evening Logan found a big rock before the dark and decided to spend the night there. It was his first night out under the sky in many years. The last time he spent a night outside was several years ago, when he was still a teenager and went on a trip to the mountains with his father. He fell asleep thinking about his parents. That night he did not see the usual dream, he did not remember his dream at all from last night. He thought it might be a good sign, now that he started the journey the dream is gone, it means he is doing the right thing.

During the day nothing special happened until the evening. Before the sunset, he reached a series of tall hills and stood in front of them. Hills were tall with steep slopes, they had a dark color and the river was flowing out from between them. It was not a pleasant scenery, the hills had made a labyrinth and going into them was not anybody's first choice. Logan spent the night in front of the hills. 

The next morning Logan stood up, washed his face in the water of the river, and walked inside the hills. He thought to himself that the river will guide him through this maze. As he walked in more, the hills were getting higher and higher, there was not enough sunlight coming inside the labyrinth, but it was enough for him to continue.

After lots of turns and ups and downs, he reached a place that seemed like a dead end. The water was streaming out of a small thin crack between the hills. He tried but could not get in there, his body was too big for that crack.

He thought maybe he could turn around this hill and reach the river from the other side, he went back a little and tried to remember his placement really hard. Now that he was getting away from the river, there was nothing but his sense of direction to guide him through.

Not long after, he found himself lost in the labyrinth. He couldn’t even see the sun to find a general direction. Sunset arrived and everywhere went dark. Logan had no choice but to spend the night where he was.

The next morning he woke up before dawn. He could see around a little now. Logan ate some of the food that he had in his bag and started searching for a way out or a sign of the river. On every corner, he would sit and listen carefully in the hope of the sound of the river. It took him a long time since he could find a place with shorter hills. He thought probably it is a way out of this labyrinth. And finally, he could find his way out.

He had no idea where he was. It was almost noon and he couldn’t tell his direction. So he started eating lunch until the sun gave him a direction.

He was traveling north all this time, now he was wondering if he wanted to go north to find the river again or go back and try the way within the hills again. After a long time thinking about it he decided not to go back inside the labyrinth and try to find a way around the hills.

He traveled for a day, but it seemed that the hills are like a chain and the only way is going through them. Thus he spent another day going back to find the river again. He had run out of the water and could not take it anymore. Fortunately, there were lots of insects in the field and he did not have to eat his small portion of smoked food. But he was thirsty.

When He finally reached the river by the hills, Logan just sat beside it and drank as much as he could. the more he would drink the more he felt thirsty, but eventually, his body got tired and didn’t feel the thirst anymore.

There he was again, in front of the hills, by the side of the river. He didn’t know what to do next. He knew what is at the end of the road now. And he had no idea how to get past his first obstacle. He wished Laura was here with him. The unsolvable dilemma of his journey was in front of him, he could not continue, and he didn’t want to go back.

After Logan spent a night there, finally he decided to go back. He needed help. He was thinking of going back to Amphitrite and taking her advice. Although he knew what she would probably say. Maybe even Hector could help him.

All he knew was that there was nothing he could do without somebody’s help. It made him ashamed of himself, but he could not think of any other way.

It took him almost three days to go back and reach his village. On the evening of his arrival, he wanted to go straight to the mermaid, but he couldn’t skip meeting Laura again.

He found Laura in her old room sitting and waiting for something to boil. She got excited about seeing him and they hugged each other for a long time.

“So, did you find it?” asked Laura, “What?” asked Logan in wonder “Found what?” “The source of the river,” asked Laura with a smile, “Oh,” said Logan with shame, “About that,” Logan started telling her everything that happened to him and his reason to come back.

“Maybe that was it,” said Laura, “Maybe you found the source, what else did you expect?” “No,” interrupted Logan, “That was no source, I’m sure, that was just a narrow way that I could not pass alone.” “Well, what are you going to do now?” asked Laura, “I don’t know,” said Logan, “That’s why I’m back, I need to get help, maybe from Amphitrite,” then he paused and looked at Laura, and the continued, “Did you talk to her before the last time I go to her?” “Why?” asked Laura in shock, “She,” said Logan and continued after a small pause, “She knew too many things about me, she knew my name without me telling her,” Laura looked at the ground, Logan asked again a little louder, “Did you talk to her about me?” after an uncomfortable silence Laura started talking with a low voice, “I talked to her several times about you,” she continued with her eyes full of tears, “I often go down there and talk to her about the man I love.”

Logan was shocked, for a while they did not say anything, and after Laura started to cry he got up and hugged her. Logan felt like an i***t, all this time Laura felt love for him and he was ignorant enough to not see it. Probably she had the same feelings about their relationship as Logan.

They talked for a while about their feelings and decided not to care about their species and their situation. Life has been hard enough for both of them and it would be better to not make it harder for themselves by thinking about unimportant things. Finally, they left Laura’s small home and went back to their home, and for the first time in their life, they spent the night together on the same bed.