The River

The ice melts away as the drops fall into the purest of puddles, lodged atop a mountain, hidden behind the ice. It starts small, one drop at a time. Crystalline drops of water meeting with their peers, congregating, regrouping, and slowly changing. When the sun goes down, the water freezes again. And when the sun is out, the water thaws, and moves inches towards the bottom of the mountain. Slowly, every day patiently moving. And every night, being stilled by the coldness of the night. Inch by inch, day by day, the water moves to a bigger puddle, this one cannot be completely frozen at night, the crystalline roof imprisoning the free water until morning. But then, one day, when the roof is broken, the water is unbound, and cannot be stopped again. And so it rushes, no longer moving an inch at a time. Feet, yards, no distance is too long for this day; the water is freed from puddles and can finally reach a pure lake. The lake is a new sort of prison. Free to move and yet trapped within, the water waits, one day it will go over the edge, and flow towards the nearest valley.

Years have passed since the millennial ice thawed and the newborn drop fell for the first time. The water has been in the lake for a while now. From the depths to the surface, it has now been allowed to move out of the lake, and over the waterfalls. For so long, it has been hidden from the view of everyone, but now it would be free. And it rushed towards the first plateau. A city was found there, and the water met the first bridges. But the city was not large and the water went through in a matter of minutes. And it started another descent, towards another plateau. And as all did, the water grabbed pieces of the mountain, moving down with it. Slowly digging, so that its brothers would have an easier time following the same road. The water that became a river now flowed to the next plateau, and then the next waterfall. Something was different now, the river felt warmer. And for the first time, at the next lake, it felt the touch of children swimming. The river was finally inhabited by more than tiny fish; it was visited by humans, and animals.

And now the river discovered the first large city. And the river was turned back into water by the large pump. Flowing through pipes, filters, and them more pipes, the water found itself in a machine, it became boiling. It then was freed, met another human body, and then found a new set of pipes. Flowing through dark and gloomy tunnels filled with a horrible stench of rejection, the water was filtered, treated, and changed again before it became a river anew. It was changed, and felt different. Tainted by the use of these horrible humans the river was permanently changed. Gone was the crystalline purity, now the grey feeling would accompany the river. The next city came, and so again the river was filtered, changed, used, soiled and rejected.

The river needed to get away from all this. It was no longer a playground; it was a tool, a chemical component to human filth. From pure ice to brown ooze, the water flowed through algae infested lakes, and smelly rivers. It met with other rivers, also mistreated, also tortured. And they united, into a bigger river. One that was used by horrible metal boats that destroyed whatever remnants of purity it had. The proud river had been dirtied, sullied, and trampled. Beaten, it slowly flowed outward, expecting another pump, another filter, another kind of dirt. Instead what came was a song. The song of a sad giant that heard the pleas of the water that became a river and that now changed into an ocean. And with the peaceful lullaby of the ocean giants, the water rested. It travelled around the world, saw that water everywhere had the same life, until it was picked up by the sun, raised into the heavens and placed back atop a mountain. At peace again, it would rest for ages, until it melted again. Maybe by then it would be a playground all the way, and not mutilated by the people it tried to please.


[Ok this one was a bit harder to come up with, no big comments or questions about it, I'm also starting to think no one reads this anymore, but I don't mind. Hope you all liked it.]