Nivara Gorge

They say still waters runs deep, but there’s nothing still about these deep waters. The elders warned us not to come to these parts of the rainforest.

A class excursion two weeks ago to an indigenous exhibit at the local museum, featured a display on the legend of Nivara Gorge.

‘What’s Nivara mean?’ Sophia asked the guide, pointing to the name at the top of a large poster of the captivating waterhole.

‘Nivara means, quiet water’

The vivid blue, green aquatic body looked protected, cocooned by smooth, large boulders in varying shades of stone beige. Cascading vibrant vines and plants in diverse lustrous green tones screamed tropical.

‘Hey, isn’t Nivara in the middle of the Katatomby Rainforest?’ Josh said. ‘I hear it’s supposed to be haunted.’

An elder called Chayton, who was helping the guide with the exhibit lashed out, his nostrils flared and jaw tensed.

‘Be warned! ‘The waters of Nivara are tarnished! She calls the living from beneath the blue veil of the ravine’, he hissed.

‘Ooooo, I’m so scared’, Shawn laughed. ‘That’s the biggest load of shit I’ve heard.’ The whole class laughed with him. Hitting me on the shoulder he said,

‘What do you reckon Poppy? Should we go?’

I remember throwing a filthy look at him, ‘don’t be such a dick Shawn, I spat as I walked off.

The sound of a rescue chopper overhead slices through my memory of the museum. Chayton should have known teenagers never listen. If we had, three of my friends would not be missing. I suspect I will never see them again if I’m honest.

It took emergency services two whole days to reach me; the isolated terrain made it tricky carrying all their equipment. Luckily, I had told mum where I was going. She raised the alarm when I never went home.

‘Bye Mum’ I yelled, attempting to make a quick getaway by sliding across the shiny timber floor of our living room in my socks.

‘Wait come here, where are you going’. I spun around in a pirouette. Mum had her hands on her hips; she must have been cooking because she was wearing her favourite floral apron.

‘We’re going to Nivara Gorge’.

‘Who is we?”, she crossed her arms and frowned.

‘Sophia, Josh, Shawn and me.’ Her frown didn’t move.

‘You better be home in three hours young lady’, she wiped her hands on her apron.

‘I will’, I snapped snootily as I saw Shawn pull up in his futuristic red Mazda. I was so sick of how strict my mother was. Shawn had already picked up the others.

‘Hey everyone!’, I said excited as I jumped in the front passenger seat.

‘Hey’, Sophia said. Josh and Sophia were canoodling in the back, they had been dating for six months, and it was hot and heavy.

After an hour and a half of being locked in a moving vehicle, I couldn’t take another minute of listening to the two lovers make out. Hanging over the edge of my seat I glared at them. ‘Could you two high school sweethearts get a room.’ I wanted to throw up at their antics.

Josh poked his tongue out, ‘jealous much?’ he smirked and locked lips with Sophia. I gave him the stink eye out of spite.

‘Okay, relax, we’re here’, Shawn shouted as he pulled the car to the side of the road.

We piled out, in the wilderness. The humidity was a smack in the face. An aroma of earthiness combined with the freshness of the plants wafted, it smelt amazing.

I took a deep breath in ‘gosh I love the smell of the rainforest’.

‘I’ve always wanted to visit Nivara’, Sophia said. ‘It’s supposed to be the perfect spot for a selfie, will totally give my followers FOMO.’ I made sure I charged my phone.’

‘Grab the backpack from the trunk Josh, it’s got the water.’ Shawn popped open the trunk with his key as he stretched his arms into the air. His baseball shirt revealed his chiselled abs. I looked away as I felt my cheeks flush. I always kind off had a thing for him.

The stoney ridges boxing us in all had trickles of water seeping through them, vines clung for dear life to their surfaces. Frogs were singing happily and the tunes of the birds who called this place home could be heard communicating across vast treetop canopy.

‘Alrighty, ready’ Josh gave us two thumbs up.

‘Ready’, Shawn nodded.

‘Let’s go walkabout’, Josh said. ‘Come on this way’, like a commander he pointed us in the direction as he we set off.

The rainforest floor was damp and full of micro life. Fungi and moss had taken up residency in the most peculiar places. Leaves and decomposing animals were transitioning into a different phase of their lifecycle. They now had the vital responsibility of feeding nutrients back to the very forest that gave them life.

The humidity left a sheer layer of moisture on the foliage, which sent a cooling sensation down my spine every time I brushed against it.

‘I should have put on sunscreen’, Sophia said, as she wiped sweat from her brow. After two hours of walking her fair skin had deepened and was the colour of beetroot.

‘Is it bad?’ Sophia winced.

‘Nah you’re ok.’ I lied. ‘Are we nearly there,’ I choked, ‘the air was so thick in this part of the forest I could hardly breathe.’

‘It’s the humidity, it must be really high here.’ Shawn said in between puffs of breath.

‘Catch’. Josh threw us each a bottle of water. ‘Not much further, should just be down the other side of this incline’, he said.

Sophia and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. I flicked a leech I had spotted off her arm.

‘Ew’, she said disgusted.

We were both drenched in sweat. The boys were as well. More muscular than us, they had powered ahead. My shoes were covered in forest floor, and my socks were soaking wet.

Just as I was about to suggest we turn around, Shawn disappeared over the crest.

‘Oh my gosh, I don’t believe it!’, he shouted ‘We found it, we bloody found it!’

They came into sight, and I saw Josh and Shawn give each other a high five.

‘Wooooah’, Sophia was in awe.

Looking around I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing.

‘Wow, it’s even more beautiful than I imagined.’

Nivara magnanimous in real life, the poster at the museum was captivating, but it didn’t do it justice. The water was glowing like a precious turquoise gemstone. Wanting to get a closer look, we continued down the incline. Shawn, Josh and Sophia took off at full speed. My calves had started cramping up, so I was slower. Fitness it not my strong point. Suddenly something had caught my attention.

‘Shh!’ I placed a finger to my lips. ‘Do you hear that?’

Ethereal sounds danced across the crystal-clear surface, electrical currents of light ran through the silver reflection as each octave sang higher. Hypnotic, the subtle tones grew louder and longer. It was calling us, coaxing us closer to the water’s edge. Remembering the stark warning Chayton had given us I yelled.

‘Quick cover your ears!’ I took my palms and pressed them as hard as I could against my ears to filter the mesmerising charm.

‘Guys, stop, cover your ears!’

‘Shawn!’

‘Sophia!’

‘Josh!’

‘Guys, why aren’t you listening to me?!’

I watched in disbelief as my friends reached the rocks.

‘STOOPP!!!!’ I was screaming so hard the back of my throat was burning.

What happened next, was not of this world.

A bewitching power summoned mist that swirled and thickened. Josh, Shawn and Sophia slowly climbed, fully clothed, into the pool. They seemed to be under some bizzarro spell. The haze closed in around them.

‘Hello?’, ‘Guys? Are you there?’ I couldn’t see them anymore.

Celestial laughter broke out, the ethereal tones faded, and the fog lifted. My friends had vanished. Poof into thin air. Not a splash not a sound. Frantic I looked left, I looked right. Then up and down. They were nowhere to be found. Where the fuck did they go I thought. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have never believed it.

‘Can anyone hear me?’ My voice echoed throughout the untamed world, once it settled all I could hear were the natural sounds of the rainforest. Carrying on as if nothing had happened.

I was at a loss as to what I should do, all I could do was sit, wait and hope this was a prank and they’d pop out of the water any minute.

Sine the emergency services found me, they’ve been asking me lots of questions. One even had the audacity to imply I killed my three friends. Can you fucking believe that. I didn’t even respond to his question; I just kept looking at Nivara.

‘Remember me.’ A familiar voice said. I looked up shielding my eyes from the glare.

It was Chayton.

‘Yeah, from the museum.’ I replied.

‘I told you not to come here.’ He scolded.

‘I know’, I said sheepishly. I could feel my face was all puffy from crying.

Chayton didn’t bother asking me how I was, instead he said, ‘Nivara spared you.’

‘Would have been better if Nivara took me too.’ I felt guilty that I had escaped unscathed.

‘You know why?’, he asked.

‘I didn’t get as close to the edge as the others”, I whispered. Chayton crouched down and shook his head.

‘No.’ he said

My expression tightened, ‘No?’

‘Nivara was a teenage girl, just like you. She drowned here many moons ago’.

I stared at Chayton and raised my eyebrows.

‘She never left, vowing to protect these sacred waters for eternity.’ ‘However legend says she spares those with the sacred mark.’

‘The sacred mark?’ I was not in a mood to be playing fucked up mind games. This guy sounds like he’s on crack, and yet they are questioning me I thought.

‘Yes, those that carry the tears of the sun are spared.’ ‘There was another case, very similar about forty years ago.’ Chayton said.

‘Okay’ I could hear my condescending tone was stronger than I had meant it to be.

He grabbed my arm and twisted. ‘Hey, don’t touch me.’ I snapped.

Chayton ignored me and pointed to the very small tattoo I had on my wrist of a bee.

‘Nivara was the protector of bees in her tribe. They are known in our culture as the tears of the sun; they are sacred.’ He explained.

I yanked my wrist from his grasp and stared at the tattoo. Who would have thought getting a random tattoo of a bee one night when I was drunk, in a bid to defy my mother, would save me from a troubled spirit.