The River

Chapter 3

That day Logan was thinking about his weird dream the whole time. He walked the herd so far from the village that he suddenly found himself near Hector's village. Logan could see Hector and his herd nearby and so he decided to meet him. It has been a while since the last time they talked.

Hector was resting when Logan came to him. He told Hector about his dream but got no reaction for some minutes. They spent some time in silence that suddenly Hector said, “I don’t know if I’m crazy or not,” continued Hector turning his head and looking at Logan, “But I don’t think you are crazy,” Logan smiled “It really is nice to hear that,” said Logan, “Really,” continued Hector, “I know you for a long time, I knew your parents too, I don’t believe that suddenly you’ve gone crazy,” “So you believe that there is a river in the valley?” asked Logan, “No,” interrupted Hector with a rush, “I don’t believe that there is a river, I just said that I don’t see you like a crazy man.” Logan started to say something several times but didn’t say anything. After some time in silence, Hector started again, “I have seen the mermaid in your village once,” Logan looked at him in surprise, “It was years ago,” continued Hector, “Before the war began, I went to see her,” Hector hesitated but continued, “It was just after the time that I had lost my family, they got sick and died and I really wanted to die with them, I could not kill myself, that’s not in our ways, some of my friends made me go to her, and finally I went to her,” Logan was listening carefully, Hector continued after a deep breath, “She was, something otherworldly, I don’t know how to describe her, not everybody that goes to the reservoir will see her, but she was waiting for me. The moment I saw her, most of my pain went away, she created a warmth in my heart inside that cold underground hole. I know it sounds like I’m romanticizing it, and most probably I am, but she made me feel that way. And then we talked for a while.” Hector looked at Logan and saw his eagerness to hear the continuation of the story, so he continued, “She made me feel alive again and told me that everything happens for a reason, we don’t understand everything that happens around us, but it does not mean that they are stupid or unreal.” Hector started to smile and continued, “To this day, I don’t know why I stayed alive or why all my family died in a short period of time, but I believed her. The first day that you told me about the river, I believed you too and I still do. Maybe I’m just out of my mind, even more than you, or maybe,” Hector breathed deeply and continued while looking to the horizon, “Maybe I stayed alive to believe in you,” Logan looked at him in wonder, “I don’t really get what you mean, but I think I appreciate what you say,” said Logan, “I know it does not make much sense,” said Hector, and then showed a hand gesture as he will regret what he is going to say and continued “Ok, I should tell you this,” Hector looked at Logan and continued, “She told me that I will help someone do a great thing,” “Someone,” said Logan with a bitter smile, “I have seen many weird dreams before” said Hector, “And in some of them I have seen you putting a small cup up in the valley and then water started flowing out of it without interruption, and then you would say that you have found the source,” “Source?” asked Logan, “Yeah,” said Hector, “It did not make sense to me and since I always see different weird dreams, I did not tell you about it, but when you started to see the river at the same place that I saw you with your cup and unstoppable water streaming out of it, it made me thinking. Maybe there is something to it,” “Or maybe,” said Logan, “It means that we are both crazy,” “Yeah,” said Hector while laughing, “That's more like it.”

Logan went back home that night feeling a little better. Laura was not there and before she came back home he fell asleep.

That night Logan saw another dream. This time he had a small cup in his hand and was pouring water in the fields. Everywhere that he poured water, a green tree that looked like the ones in the ancient book, grew immediately. He continued pouring water faster and faster until the cup fell out of his hand to the ground and broke into pieces. Suddenly all the trees disappeared. He gathered the pieces of the cup together and it got repaired magically in his hands. There was water in the cup again, he started pouring the water, and trees started to grow one more time.

Logan woke up early in the morning. He didn’t know how to feel about his new dream. Surely the cup idea came from Hector’s dream. But what did it mean?

That day Logan went to the village’s central hall to look at some of the old books that were in good condition and could be touched. The books were all stored in a back room, there was also some odd and unusual stuff in the storage, beneath all of that stuff laid almost fifty books that some of them still were readable. Most of the books were so old that they would change into dust by a touch, some others had lost their writings in time and most of their pages were blank now. Logan spent most of the day with the books trying to find something about rivers in the books. He found the word “water” in some of the books. He was not sure but as he could tell there was nothing related between those words and a river. He could not read very well and the books were old enough to make it harder for him to read.

After hours of looking through hundreds of pages, he came up with nothing about rivers. Logan looked fast over all the books again, it was bothering him that there was nothing of the river in these books, then he thought to himself that it was not the books that were incomplete, it was their own neglect that created the illusion of the incomprehension of the books.

It’s been years since someone went back to the books, they have been forgotten for a long time. People even forgot how to write and read. When he finally gave up and couldn’t find anything, he felt a little blue, he felt regretful that what humans knew were more than what they know.

When he finished and went out, it was already dark. He has spent all day in the city hall and did not take his herd outside. He went straight to bed that night.

For several days nothing new happened and he did not see any dreams. Life was back to normal, almost. The river was still there and Logan would go to it every day.

After a week Logan saw a new dream. He saw that he was walking by the river’s side, but in a new strange place, he didn’t know where he was, the only familiar thing was the river beside him. He was walking in the opposite direction of the stream. There were some hills in front of him and the river was flowing out from between them. He walked toward them and after a turn inside the hills, there was a big field and on the horizon laid the strangest thing he had ever seen. The river was flowing in the field toward him from a wired place. It seemed like a big city with enormous buildings as tall as mountains. It was far away in the field and yet could be seen easily. There was something frightening about that city, so frightening that the moment Logan started to walk toward it he woke up in cold sweat.

That morning he found Laura in the home and told her about his dreams. “It is just a dream,” said Laura, “You gonna make yourself crazy, don’t think about it,” “But,” said Logan, “There is something abnormal about my dreams, I feel like they are all connected.” “Sure,” said Laura mockingly, “There is an undeniable connection between a cup and a big city,” Laura continued with emphasis after a pause, “That you saw from far away.”

They did not talk about the dream anymore that day. But it was not over for Logan. For the next few nights, he saw exactly the same dream every night and each time that he started walking toward the big village he would wake up.

For some days he tried to ignore his dream but it was not possible. One day Laura came to him and said, “I can see you are bothered with your dreams, and I really like to help you, but I don’t know what I can do,” “Thank you,” said Logan “You being concerned for me is enough,” “No,” said Laura “I believe that it’s not me who should do something about it, you should do something,” Logan looked at her with a confused face, Laura continued “I think you should go and see Amphitrite,” “What?” asked Logan with shock, “She wouldn’t see me.” “Yes,” said Laura, “She will see you, I’m sure. I have seen her many times, she is so kind and I’m sure she can help you,” “How?” asked Logan, “There is nothing she can do for me,” Laura looked at him in silence and then said after a deep breath, “I know that you are a little scared of her, that’s ok, she is alive and yet she has become a myth between us. Don't be afraid of her, she is a normal being like us, she will help you.” Logan tried to say something back but knew that Laura was right. He was thinking about going to see the mermaid himself for a while now. But he was afraid of her. “I will go see her tomorrow,” said Logan, “Tomorrow she will still be the same as today, she won’t be less scary, don’t postpone it every day,” said Laura and then continued with a smile, “But if you feel like it, let it be for tomorrow.”