Transient Waters

There’s always a point in time in everyone’s life, young or old, when we have doubts about the future. We try to convince ourselves that our strategical planning of the present will get us to a prominent destination in the future. It is our drive and determination that gets us somewhere in life. If you try hard, you are most likely to succeed. If you don’t care about the future, you let life’s ocean of waves wash you away into the dark chasm of a meaningless lifestyle. These are the two main options people in the world tend to take. You either try at something to achieve your goal in the hopes of a better future or you simply watch whatever is thrown at you drift down the river from where you stand.

But what if you were the river - if you had the ability to touch everyone’s lives? Perhaps give them some hope for living and to live even better. Or, take the role of the riverbed itself. You would be responsible for directing people’s dreams and hopes downhill to join the rest of the happy go-getters. The question to ask is, who or what is the riverbed? Who guides the river? Where do all these hopes and aspirations start from? A benevolent waterfall...or maybe a trickling spring? Where do YOU get your water from? Ask yourselves what drives you to live your life and achieve your goals? Family, perhaps...friends, pets, self achievement. Perhaps it’s our natural instinct of human survival that feeds us these longings and needs to accomplish something in life.

The day for someone to break the surface of that course of life we feel we cannot depart from has come.

Beneath the Waters

Just breathe. Keep breathing. Don’t stop!
Abby ran on, encouraged by the voice that had been with her all her life. She needed to hear that comforting, confident voice that always made her feel like she was safe from the pains around her. She kept on running. Her lungs and heart ached from the combined effort to pump the blood through her body while she over-strained her already exhausted body to create a considerable distance between the menace that now followed her.

It had never been as bad as this. She’d been in tough situations since her 11th year - the time she started living on the streets of Waknuk. Her dirty torn jeans and t-shirt clung to the perspiration excreting from her lanky body. Her hair, also, stuck to her damp neck in a mass of knots resulting from the lack of attaining a brush. Her feet ached from lack of cushioning on the bottom of her run-down sneakers. People in the back alley just stared at her while she ran through the crowd of junkies and homeless people who lived in the alley. Keep running, she told herself, just keep running.

Abby rounded a corner and stumbled on the picked-through garbage that was scattered about the street. She quickly regained her balance and kept on. She chanced another look behind her to see the two men in dark clothes spot her and run with renewed determination. A tear escaped Abby’s eye as she clenched her teeth in frustration. Had she been more careful, she wouldn’t have been spotted. She shouldn’t have gone to the only park in the city. It was too risky. But that was the only place of solitude there was in the city...and now that haven was gone. They would look for her there if she ever went back.

She passed more people. She was getting deeper into the hole of the city. Not many people lived here. It was too polluted even for the rats that lived in abundance throughout the city. She took another turn and nearly ran into a man whose breathe reeked of alchohol. He was not old, but Abby could see the age in his eyes. He was like so many others in the city. For him, drink was the only friend he had. He mumbled something about having his dance intruded upon and continued his drunken rancor.

Abby ran two more blocks and found herself at the docks. Long since retired old ships and oilers floated in the polluted water. She looked behind her to see if the men were still following her. She slowly made a circle, carefully scrutinizing every shadow and object that fluttered in the light breeze that blew through the docks. The sound of flapping shutters made the whole place sound as though it were wailing, only increasing her consternation.

She quickly ran towards the maze of docks that branched out between the countless ships and boats that floated in the harbor when she heard the sound of hard boots treading upon the wooden planks of the walkway. She crouched low and looked about. The footsteps continued, sounding nearer and nearer as she waited for a sign of the direction of the two men. Then the footsteps stopped. Abby struggled to stop her hoarse breathing which she was certain might would expose her position.

They are near and know where you hide. You must run, Abby. Quickly, run to the next intersection of the docks and take a left. Run till you get to the big warehouse. Now, Abby, run!

Abby would run. She trusted that voice without question. It had always guided her during her lifetime. It was as though it watched her go through life and guided her around life’s rocks and whirlpools. Well, at least the big ones. But no matter what, the voice had kept her alive and away from the men that had always seemed to follow and hunt her since that horrible day...



Mother had gone crazy. She had said that Abby was getting too hard to control. That she had too much power. She had beaten Abby, saying that she was too powerful and couldn’t be allowed to live much longer cause she might escape. Escape what? Abby was hurt and confused. She had never received any love from her mother and had never known her father but tonight was different. Her mother pounded her with her fists with a new sense of celerity and then had left her loosely tied up to doorknob on the closet door. She let herself hang, limp and lifeless.

She didn’t want to live anymore. She wanted to die. All her life she had been treated like this. When she was little, she had thought it was normal. She had never known any other kind of treatment; a life without pain. But then one day, when her mother had left her after another beating, she crawled to the window of the old deserted apartment and looked outside to see two girls chasing each other between the old unkept houses.

Abby watched with fascination and heard something from those two girls that she had never heard before. Laughter. It sounded sweet to her ears and she experimented. It did not have the feeling behind it that those two girls had. But she continued to watch them run and laugh till they were out of sight. Abby just sat there, speculating on this new discovery. She wanted to be like those two little girls. She wanted to laugh for a reason. She felt herself torn between the gift of life and the sweet release of death.

One day you will join us. I am always watching you. Remember that.

Abby sat up. The voice had, from time to time, spoken to her. Never had he given her a presage as this one. She stood up, her body trembling with the effort of moving. Every movement caused great pain, but the pain gave her an initiative. She would leave this room where she had been beaten almost every day of her life. Her mind took over her body as she tore from the constraining ropes and walked to the door and opened it for the first time in her life. She looked up and down the dirty hallway. She could hear her mother talking hysterically downstairs. She walked to one end of the hallway passed closed doors. Were there others here? She dare not look for she did not want to know.

She reached the end of the hallway and discovered stairs that descended to the next floor. She went down two flights of stairs before her mother’s wailing stopped. She heard her mother running towards the bottom of the steps one flight below her.

‘Who’s there?? I’ll pummel whoever it is senseless. Who is it?!?!”

She kept on screaming as she ascended the steps. She turned the corner and Abby was face to face with her mother. Her mother just stared
at her. Then she started screaming. Abby just stood there, halfway down the steps where she had stopped and looked at her mother. Her mother was screaming with horror at seeing Abby standing there.

Her mother, it seemed, could take no more and started to run up the steps with wild abandon towards Abby, hands outstretched and ready to kill. Abby could see the murderous and terrified look in her mother’s eyes. Her mother was only a foot away from her face when Abby’s arm unpremeditatedly struck out and hit her mother square in the face, sending her reeling backwards. Abby watched as her mother screamed as she fell head over heals down the stairs. Audible cracks and pops could be heard as her body plunged down to the bottom of the steps. Her mother’s body lay lifeless and broken on the floor. Her neck and arms were bent at an unnatural angle and her eyes still had the look of horror of seeing Abby on the steps. Her mouth no longer emanated sound. Instead, blood flowed in abundance.

Abby walked down to the steps and stood there looking at her mother. Her mother was the only person she had come into physical contact with in her life. This person had deprived her of a childhood and taken away any future. This person had done nothing but beat and yell at her. Abby felt nothing as she spit upon the body and turned her back on the body, continuing down the stairs. She found a kitchen and grabbed a soda and a chunk of cheese from the fridge. She walked out of the scourged house that she had lived in and onto a street. She looked up and down, not seeing anyone around, and walked down the street feeling something she had never felt before. Freedom.



Abby came back to the present, shaking her head to clear away the recollections of that day. She suddenly remembered what the voice had told her and sprang to her feet without looking around to see where the two men were. She took a left and sprinted towards the old warehouse that the voice had told her to head towards. She heard footsteps and yelling from the two men as they spotted her running. She pushed herself to run faster.

The warehouse was only about 100 yards away. She continued running past the old boats and scattered nets lying about. She heard the stomping and shouting closer behind her. She was close enough to the warehouse to see an open door. She ran towards it and ran in, closing the door behind her. She slid the lock into place, unsure if it would hold, and continued running into the building. She looked around for a hiding place. Huge tarped objects were compacted into the building. She ran to one and lifted the cover, rolled underneath, and placed the cover back down.

She leaned against the object and ran her hands across it. She found a handle and opened it, revealing a room inside the object. She climbed in and shut the door behind her. It was completely dark and Abby ran her fingers across the walls of the room. She found a switch on the wall and turned it on. Lights slowly came on and brightened up the room, causing Abby to squint her eyes against the brightness. When her eyes grew accustomed to the light she looked around.

The room was about 5 feet by 7 feet big and around 6 feet high. Nothing was in this room expect for a barrel. She crawled over to the barrel and examined the lid. She carefully opened it, revealing clear water. Abby dipped her hand in it and brought it to her lips to sip. It was so clean! She had been forced to drink from wherever she could find collected dirty rain waiter in the streets for most of her life. This water tasted sweet too her. She had never tasted something so pure.

Abby continued to drink the water when she remembered the men. She placed the lid back on and crawled over to the door to listen. She could hear the men kicking at the warehouse door. The lock finally gave out from the wall and fell to the floor with a bang. The door was flung open and hit the wall. Abby could hear the cautious footsteps entering the building. She could imagine them looking about and almost felt as though they could see her through the tarp and the unusual room she was in. She held her breath as the footsteps came nearer.

Abby closed her eyes and tried to focus on something, anything but the men. Why was she always sought after? She had done nothing but struggle to live. What about her caused these people to continually hunt her. There was nothing special about her. Nothing unusual.

Were they after the voice? Was that what made her different from them? Abby had always felt different from the few other people she made contact with during the past six years from when she had run away. None of the others said anything about hearing a voice. They simply looked at her and assumed that she was mad. Abby just accepted that she had something that others lacked and had never met anyone else who had what she had. The voice had always been a part of her.

They know where you hide. Press the button above the door and stand back from the walls.

Abby did as she was told and pressed the button. She immediately stood back when she heard something connect in the door and felt an unknown energy enshroud the room’s outside walls. She heard one of the men scream as he grabbed the handle to the door. His screaming stopped almost as soon as it started. She heard the other man shout something to the noiseless man outside. Abby heard the body being dragged away from the door and the tarp covering the room being removed. Probably to wrap the man in, since she was certain he was dead. Somehow the energy she felt go on when she pressed that button must have killed the man when he touched the handle outside.

Abby heard the man say something, but was unable to make out any words. The man could be heard picking up the dead body and exiting the building. She waited nearly ten minutes to make sure he was gone and finally let herself breathe regularly. She crawled back to the barrel and drank some more water. After drinking as much as she could, she laid down beside it on the floor and rest her head on her arm. She could feel her body relax as the water seemed to reach every part of her body. She closed her eyes and felt herself falling into a deep sleep.

You are safe now. Sleep and I will show you what you must know.

Abby didn’t need any more encouragement and allowed her body to rest as she felt her mind and essence depart from her body and emerge out of the water...



Abby felt herself drift into a different place in time. She felt as though she were being pulled through a gap in the present time to a place above it. She grabbed onto the source that was pulling her through and allowed herself to slip through the gap. She inhaled something like air, but not quite, and found herself feeling as though she had been deprived of this new source for a long time without ever knowing it. She continued to absorb and inhale the new surrounding she felt around her and Abby felt a sense of power she had never had before. She felt herself encouraging this new sense to grow and flourish within her.

She felt a sense of peace and security overcome her and embraced it with open arms. She felt a sense of love and belonging in this new place and was almost loathe to have to discover its source. She would rather die a thousand times than have to depart from this new sensation that she felt she was part of. But, curiosity overcame her and she opened her eyes in awe at her surroundings.

She was sitting on sand that glistened like a thousand diamonds from the bright golden sky above her. She ran her fingers through the sand. It was warm to the touch and it felt like silk as she let it run through her fingers to fall to the ground. Just a few feet from her toes, a calm and gentle tide caressed the shore, tempting it to join it into the stream that flowed down and around a bend down river. The stream was wide but calm. The water so pure that you could see the polished rocks at the bottom.

Abby looked behind her to discover vast
plants and trees. Colorful flowers brought color into the green foliage. The vegetation was so thick that it obscured Abby’s view from looking deeper into the forest. Above the tree line she could see tremendous mountains, capped with snowy tops. The sky above her was golden and shone upon the land as though tanning it. Abby concluded that no words could properly describe the feelings and beauty of this place. She closed her eyes once more and lay upon the warm shore. She soon fell asleep.



Wake up Abby. I must show you something.

Abby slowly lifted her lids and looked around, making sure that this was not a dream. She confirmed that when she felt the sand under her head and body and felt the sense of peace and warmth around her. She smiled to herself. No pain.

She slowly stood up, once more appreciating her surroundings and replied to the voice that had woken her. She spoke out loud.

“I am awake. Tell me, where am I?”

You are in neither a world, nor time. You exist as yourself. You have been pulled out of the River and onto the shore.

“Are you saying that time does not exist here?”

Yes.

“I believe you. Nowhere else could there be such ageless beauty. Tell me, can I stay here?”

For a while. You must go back and complete a task..

Abby felt her heart stop. How could someone who has been here leave such a place as this? All her life she’d wanted to be somewhere where she felt no pain and have no worries. And here she was. She couldn’t leave!

Don’t panic. There are others who have the same wish as you. There are others that need to be pulled out of the River. You must go back and tell them about it. It is a simple task, one you are quite capable of accomplishing. You must go back to your present time, press the button above the door 5 times, and wait for the others to come. This will send out a call to them. They can come if they wish. It is your job to wait and receive them. You are the strongest and must make sure they have access to that room. It is your responsibility to get them here. When you get back, you can stay for eternity. Remember this.

Abby struggled to reply to the voice but she was cut off as soon as she opened her mouth to reply. Everything went black. She felt herself being pulled back down into the depths of the life she had departed from and felt herself drowning after being allowed all the air from where she was departing from. Abby wept.



Abby felt herself awaken. All the pains and aches were back. For a moment she wondered if all she had experienced was nothing but and dream and nearly began to panic until she heard that reassuring voice.

Remember.

Abby bolted upright and ran for the door. She quickly pressed the button 5 times. She could feel energy waves being sent out as a pebble makes ripples in the water. She was that pebble. While she waited she sipped more water and then sat beside the door to wait.

Nearly an hour went by when she was startled by an insistent knocking on the door. She opened the door without question, knowing that not just any stranger would come knocking at the door. As the door was swung open, three people stared at her. Each person was gaunt and looked a sorry sight. She stood aside to let them in. No one said a word. Each knew that they should be there, even if they did not completely understand why.

The three spotted the water nearly simultaneously and dipped their dirty hands into the water. None of them cared about the uncleanliness of their hands and the animal sounds they created as they thirstily quaffed water. After they were done they sat down and one by one drifted off into sleep. Abby took her eyes off the three and waited for more to come.

One by one, people she had seen in the streets over the past years, came straggling into the warehouse and pulled by the call. They entered without question, drank the water, and fell asleep. Abby finally understood what she had to do. It was up to her to deliver these people out of the river from which they were all drowning. She had found the way to the surface and she must guide the rest. She looked upon them as a loving mother should look upon her child and loved them all because they depended on her. They needed her to survive and she lifted her chin at the immense responsibility she had for these people. Not much longer and they could breathe as she had done.

Abby waited almost another hour. Something inside her told her not to wait any longer. That danger lurked somewhere close and she was running out of time. In this place she had to worry about time. She was filled with eager anticipation at about what was to come. She waited 5 more minutes. It was critical that she should shut that door or all would be lost. She knew she had to, but she waited.

There was one more. Abby could hear from a distance, someone running and breathing painfully. Shouts and hollers could be heard behind the person. She heard the person running across the docks and heard him near the building when all of a sudden she heard the person fall and cry out for help. Abby was torn. She had a responsibility to these people in the room but to leave this person behind was to condemn him to hell.

She took one more look at the people sleeping and rushed out of the room. She ran to the doorway of the warehouse and quickly assessed the situation. Only 20 yards from the building was a man on the ground, dragging his body towards the building. A smear of blood could be seen from his trail where he had fallen. The skin on his legs were all but gone as he insanely clawed his way to the building, all to aware of the people close descending upon him. He looked up at Abby with pleading eyes. The two locked eye contact and Abby recognized him as the man dancing in the alley. He recognized her, too and for a fraction of a second he smiled at her.

Abby quickly ran to the man. She struggled to get his arm over her shoulders to support him. He was heavy for such a haggard looking man. Blood was streaming down his legs and his energy was all but spent but he looked towards the building and it seemed as though he had been given a kind of reassurance. Abby briefly wondered if he had a voice, too.

Abby quickly swept that away from her mind and focused on the task at hand. She looked behind her to see dozens of men descending upon them. All with outstretched hands and a look of murder in their eyes. Abby continued to support the man and together they stumbled towards the building, nearly falling a couple times when the man’s legs nearly gave out. They were in the building now and she could hear the men close behind her. She reached behind her with her foot and kicked the door in the face of the man right behind them. She heard the crack of the man’s nose and he fell back, momentarily preventing those behind him to clear him to enter the building.

Those few moments of confusion was all Abby needed. She came to the room, threw the man in with the rest of the sleeping people and jumped in. She closed the door on a man’s hand just as he was about to grab her. The door shut tight and the man’s hand was cut off and lay on the floor of the room. The muscles in the hand were still reflexing and Abby shrieked as the hands still mindlessly grabbed for her. She kicked the moving hand against the wall and it became still.

Outside she could hear all the men struggling to open the door. She quickly remembered what she had done the first time and pushed the button above the door. The cursing and yelling outside increased as those close to the outside walls either died of direct contact with the wall, or screamed in pain at being so near it.

Abby turned her attention to the man she had thrown in with haste and found that he lay quiet. She thought for a moment that he might be dead, but quickly noticed the slow rising of his chest and ran to his side. He looked at her and smiled as he choked on blood that came from his bleeding lungs. Abby reached out her hand and put her hand to his cheek. She couldn’t let him die! She looked around, wondering what to do.

Give him some water.

Of course! Abby neatly picked her way between the people on the floor and cupped some water in her hands. She was careful to keep a majority of the water in her hands as she returned to the man. His mouth was already open as he was gasping for air. She looked him in the eye and motioned the water in her hands. He understood and she poured the water in his mouth. Amazingly enough he did not choke on the water. Almost as soon as he swallowed the water his face began to relax. A slow smile crept upon his face as he drifted off to sleep like the others.

Abby sat back, exhausted at all that she had had to do. She had accomplished everything that was required of her. She waited expectantly to hear further instructions from the voice but then realized what she must do. She slowly walked to the barrel of water and looked down into the bottom of the barrel. She looked harder and found that she was staring into the place where she had been just a few hours before. A shining face stared back at her from the bottom of the barrel and she could discern the golden sky beyond the face. She longed to get to that other place and smiled down at the voice, for she was sure that that was who it was smiling back at her.

She cupped some water out of the barrel and toasted the face in the water. She rose the water up in her hands and threw back her head. She joyously laughed. And she laughed with good reason. Tears streamed down her face as she rejoiced. Her laughter soothed her soul and made her parting out of the world even more momentous. She placed her lips to her hands and swallowed the clear, smooth water. She felt the water seep into ever part of her body and smiled once more as she broke the surface of the river and inhaled. The taste of clear air was the start of Abby’s new beginning.