The Wanderers

The boy was squatting next to the creek, he had his hand in the water and was moving the water slowly.

His mother called him, she screamed his name, but he seemed to be hypnotized by the water.

She was running as fast as she could but the distance seemed to get bigger with every step.

When she finally was in front of him, across the creek; she screamed his name again, he moved his ears as an animal would, one to one side, the other in the other direction.

He slowly looked up, his eyes were two hollow circles, unnaturally round and with no eyelids, his ears still moving in different directions.

She screamed in horror and fell down on her knees, the boy´s father crossed the creek, grabbed him, lifted and shook him.

His head fell all the way back, it was still attached to his body but his neck was like rubber, and his head moved as a rattle tied to a string.

That was what Sofia remembered most about her childhood, her best friend dying.

But that was not what the members of the board of the university she was applying to, wanted to read in her essay.

Besides, she was always told that her mind played tricks on her, as a result of trauma.

He had drowned.

She imagined the rest and that was it, end of the story.

For her essay, she wrote a paper about the time she won a writing contest and went to Europe.

The story was family friendly, wholesome and full of details of her experience.

Yes, that´ll do.

When her acceptance letter arrived, she knew she had made the right decision with the essay.

Enclosed, was an invitation to a retreat, it was in a set of cabins in a small forest near the campus, it looked great!

The day came and there was a bonfire, food and music too, she grabbed a hot dog and sat on a log, she took a bite when one of the counselors came by.

-“Hi there!”-

She swallowed the half-chewed bite she had just taken and mumbled:

-“Hi…”-

She combed her long black hair in the back of her ear and her freckles got an auburn shade, which is what happened whenever she spoke to people; she was definitely not a people´s person.

-“Are you enjoying the retreat?”- he said and sat next to her.

-“Yeah, I guess…”-

He had olive skin and bright black eyes; he was wearing a cap backwards and a few black strands of dark hair fell on his forehead.

-“I would like to know more about your story, I think it´s pretty interesting, but there are some things I just don´t get… may I ask you some questions?”-

-“ Yeah, sure…”-

-“You know? The music is too loud, would you mind taking a walk?”- he said with a big warm smile.

-“Yeah, okay”- she wrapped her half chewed hot dog and put her on her jacket pocket.

They had walked a little and she could still hear the noise of people laughing and the music, there were strings with light bulbs everywhere and he seemed nice so she started to relax… until she realized he was not supposed to know about the essay.

-“So, tell me more about your story”- he said.

-“How do you know about that… did you read it?… How…?”-

-“No, not the story from your essay… the other one, the one you didn´t write”-

They were still walking, he smiled and looked at her.

She stopped walking, goosebumps ran all over her body, he was still looking at her, still smiling.

- “What? … I mean…”-

- “You know which one Sofia”- he took some steps towards her.

She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“I thought you´d be happy to see me”- a slightly sad tone on his voice.

She looked back and everybody was still there, the lights, people dancing and talking… but now she couldn´t hear a thing, not the voices, not the music, not even the crickets; nothing.

He took off the cap and ran his hand through his black hair.

- “I actually don´t remember anything after one of them bit me, you know?”- he said and scratch his neck.

She walked two steps back but then she couldn´t move anymore.

-“I could see everything from above…  like in a dream, but I couldn´t speak anymore… like you right now.”-

She could barely breath, she tried to scream but no sound came out of her mouth.

She recognized him now.

-“I got why my mom was screaming like that, the water elves ate my eyes first so it was a pretty bad sight I guess… I wanted to tell you and my parents that I didn´t feel any pain but they ate my tongue too so… well…”-

She started shaking and still couldn´t move but a tear ran through her cheek, he wiped it gently.

“-My mom never recovered from that” – he sighted- “She got in a state of shock and never spoke again, she didn´t live long after that, and my dad hung himself the day after she died… I´m telling you this because since you and your parents moved away almost right away, you probably didn´t know.”-

She finally took a deep breath, like the one someone takes after almost drowning, she coughed and said in a low voice:

-“I´m sorry, I´m so sorry! I didn´t think that would happen when we went to the creek!”-

-“Oh, I´m not blaming you! I was older, I should have known better… well, I was nine but still, a little older than you”-

He smiled and shook his head as he put his cap back on.

-“Grandma told me not to ever listen to the water elves but I thought they were just stories! And then, everyone told me I imagined the whole thing! That you drowned in the river!”- Sofia cried.

-“It´s just… when the elves came, I tried to go back but they didn´t let me Sofia! They held me and started screaming”- he shut his eyes closed- “I covered my ears but I could still hear them”-

She remembered how he covered his ears while the water was up to his waist as he tried to cross the creek, he reached out one hand to her but she turned around and ran.

- “I went to get help!”-

- “You should have at least tried to reach my hand!”- he said as a pain gesture crossed his face.

She fell down crying and covered her face with her hands.

- “I saw how one of them crawled inside your ear and I panicked, there were so many of them!”-

He looked down at her for a while.

- “They let me out once a year you know?... I always waited there for someone to come and get me, but nobody ever came… I got stronger with time and then I could go anywhere I wanted… but just on this day when they have no power over me, the Day of the dead… I knew I´d find you someday, I looked for you everywhere.”-

She looked up, he held out his hand and she took it.

“-I´m sorry… if there is anything I can do to help you I will, anything”-

“-Actually, there is something, but this day is almost over and we have to hurry, you need to take me out of the water, people from the town didn´t let my parents take me with them and they threw what was left of me to the river, you need to take me out”-

- “… What?!... but… how?... I mean… back home?!”-

-“Yes”-

- “For them to let you take me, you have to stay with me, they will take your life too”-

Tears were still running down her face as she nodded.

She looked at him in disbelieve, how was she ever going accomplish that before the night was over?

He seemed to know what she was thinking as he put his hands in his pockets and said:

- “I told you I can go wherever I want”-

He held her hand and she felt dizzy so she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, the creek was right in front of her, the smell of fresh air and the long grass moving softly with the wind overcame all of her senses.

She looked at him and nodded, she walked to the creek and suddenly, a small hand came out of the water, she ran to take it and when she was in the water, she felt a sharp pain from her heel all the way up her neck, she tripped and fell, but stood up again.

Something was off though, everything was in slow motion; the water, the moving grass… and a black and orange butterfly that went straight through her.

She saw how the stream of the water carried a young woman with long dark hair and a brown jacket.

Her hair, her jacket.

She closed her eyes tightly and the stream shook her again, she opened her eyes and everything was at normal speed now, the grass, the tree leaves, the violent stream… then she saw the small hand getting out of the water again.

She ran towards it, took it and pulled the boy out of the water, she carried him out of the creek.

He was coughing but other than that, he looked exactly as she remembered him, he looked at her with big black eyes.

- “Thank you... I was there for so long…”- the boy said as he caught his breath.

She hugged him tightly; tears ran down her face.

- “I´m sorry this ever happened! I´m so sorry we all left you here!”-

He put his hands on her face.

- “I need you to take me somewhere, they won´t let me go, you have to take me”- he said with pleading voice and watery eyes.

- “Yes, I´ll take you anywhere”- Sofia said.

He stood up and took her hand, she stood up too and wiped her face.

-“We´ll be okay you´ll see, they can´t follow us where we are going”- he said smiling.

They walked all the way to the cemetery of the town and stood in front of a grave that read:

Luis Manuel Santos Medina

1999-2008

-“They ´ll make one for you too, but for now, you can stay with me tonight, a great place is waiting for us! And you know what?  We will be able to come back here every year on this day, we´ll have so much fun, you´ll see!”-

His eyes were now glowing; full of hope and happiness, she smiled and they both disappeared with the first ray of light.