Into This River I Drown

“Who needs my help? What am I supposed to do?”

Silence.

“Michael?” I whisper in the dark.

A hand on my shoulder. “Yes, little one?”

“What’s going to happen to me?” I sound so small. I feel so small.

He sighs, and when he speaks next, his mout

h is near my ear. “You are being given a great gift,” he whispers. “One most people will never receive. You must cherish it, and do your duty as a son. It’s time for you to stand, Benji. It’s time for you to stand and be true.”

Everything flashes white.

the river crossing

I feel the sun on my face, warm and beautiful.

I hear the sounds of the birds in the trees, bright and sharp.

A breeze ruffles my hair, like a caress, carrying with it the perfume of summer. A river flows somewhere in the distance.

I open my eyes.

I stand on a two-lane road, the asphalt cracked, the double yellow line down the

center faded and chipped. A bee buzzes past my face. I follow it as it floats up and down until it lands on a green sign on the side of the road. The sign reads: 77

“No,” I mutter. “Not here. Not again.”

No one answers me.

I turn around to tell Michael to take me from this place, but I’m alone. “Michael!”

No response. All I hear are the sounds of a normal, sunny day in the middle of

nowhere.

This angers me.

“Why am I here?”

I spin.

“What do you want from me?”

“Take me home!”

“Why do I have to choose!”

“Michael!”

My voice echoes over the valley. I stop, throat dry and heart sore. My chest rises

and falls rapidly. I don’t understand why he’d take me to this place. I don’t understand why I have to come here. This place is sadness. This place is loneliness. This place is my grief.

I look down to the river.