The River

She had grown to fear the river. At times, it flowed peaceful like the lush green valley surrounding it. At other times it raged, victim to the rains that pounded the tobacco fields during the hot summer days...often rising so high that people were swept away.

She remembered the day her daddy came home early from work. She could tell he had been crying, even though she had never actually seen him cry. He told her his buddy Mike had drowned in the river the night before...trying to save his little boy. Both of them were swept away.

Ever since that day, she thought about getting swept away whenever she saw the river. She knew the river held many secrets, and she wondered how many lifeless forms were on the river bottom...staring up into the murky realm.

The river did not play favorites, claiming whoever got in the way...women, children, rich, poor. Even the animals weren't safe. She had once seen a huge rat paddling for life as the river had hurled him downstream, bashing him against rocks until he finally succombed to nature's fury.

Yes, the river had secrets. Secrets of lovers enjoying a moonlight swim. Secrets of fish bigger than the biggest fish tale around. Secrets of life and death. Secrets of a little girl skipping rocks with her dad. Secrets....

The river was murky, filled with a darkness that no amount of moonlight, sunlight or starlight could overpower.

She and the river shared a secret...one that begged to be told, but one that was best forgotten. If only she could forget. But forgetting is hard when you are constantly faced with that which you are trying to erase from your mind.

The river called to her like a demon in the darkness, urging her to drag her secrets from the murky water. But every time she tried, the reflection of a sad little girl stared back at her with haunting eyes that pierced straight through to her soul.

She tried to reach out and take the little girl's hand, but fear engulfed her. Deep down she knew that in taking the little girl's hand, her secret would slowly be revealed. She was afraid that in the revealing she would finally be swept away in a current from which she could never be rescued.

It was so much easier to pretend there were no secrets.