THE RIVER

Within the Forest

We have all wandered into the forest before. Just sometimes we wouldn't go as deep as we did the first time. However, Lola always went into the forest deep enough to find the river. To a normal person, that was all it was. But to Lola, it was the most magical thing ever created by nature. The river was shallow, but wide between the banks. The water was the clearest, most beautiful liquid you will ever lay your eyes on. But that's just how it was shown to Lola. To everyone else, it was an ugly little stream with deep, murky, twig filled water. This was because the water spirits only grew fond of Lola. She was so beautiful and innocent with the ring of flowers in her hair and her little white dress without a single speck of dirt from walking in the forest. She was a pristine little girl who wandered about, humming her own little tune, so naturally, the spirits couldn't resist showing her their beauty so that they would see her every day. On several occasions, Lola would stay at the river for an an entire day, from dusk to dawn. The spirits wanted to have conversations with her, but they were not allowed to engage in human activity, so they just sat and watched her grow up little by little. One fateful day,a male spirit by the name of Takashi couldn't take it anymore, and he tried all day to make contact with Lola. However, every time he tried to touch her or talk to her, the rules made it seem like he was just a lose twig blown by the wind, or a bubble in the mud. It continued this way for weeks, until he finally snapped. He possessed a large fish and spoke to the girl. She listened to his stories and laughed with him, until he just disappeared after a month. He was gone. She wandered the forest every day after that for many more years, until her death. Takashi was never found, because he was taken into the underworld for breaking the rules, and Lola died searching for him. She had gone insane and tried to talk to every animal she came across, just to make sure it wasn't him. She wasted fifty eight years of her life, all because she fell in love with a fish. On her last day of life, she decided that he must have gone to the bottom of the ocean, and that she would go too.