The River

         It was a calming place, The River. Far away from all of the troubles of the world. Far away from a world full of sickness, hate, and war. Dipping my feet into the cool water, I feel calm. The River has no judgement. The River doesn’t care if you are different from the rest. The River just swooshes by. An everlasting journey. Soon I here the old rickety clock tower toll seven. Time to go back to that world. I sigh.

Everyone in my world is the same. Same personality, same appearance, same everything. Everyday I do the same thing as everyone else. I wake up, I get ready for another long boring day. Then I go to school. School is a dark place. A place where they stuff your brain with useless knowledge and untrue facts. They tell you that being normal is good and being unique is bad. After that, I go to The River. It is the only part of the day when I feel happy.

        My father and I live in the middle of a large apartment. Father is an important man. He’s governor twenty-seven. President sixty-nine decided it would be a lot easier if all names were just numbers and so, passed the law in 2479. I’m number fourteen. It’s been this way since I was two years old. I had a name once. If I could just remember….

I’ve been going to The River for a while now. For as long as I can remember actually. It has been my only friend. The River has always brought me comfort and hospitality. It listens to me when I have something to say. It hides me from the evil world.

        Today was different. It was hard to find The River, though I know the way by heart. Everything had changed. The trees surrounding The River were all cut down. Barely their stumps remained. Gas filled the air, coming from large machines and robots building even more apartments. As I ran scared I suddenly stopped at the deep gap filled with black sludge where The River used to be. Because I stopped so suddenly, I fell in.

The sludge’s icy grip wrapped me up and pulled me deeper. I struggled for air but the sludge held on to tight. Without warning, I heard the tinkling voice that belonged to The River. Olivia, Olivia! My heart skipped a beat. There it was. That was my name. I had no more fight left in me. I stopped struggling. Far off something caught my eye. Amid all this darkness a small speck of light remained. I could barely see it, but it was still there. A glimmer of hope. Maybe one day someone will fix this. Maybe one day someone will take this angry world, and make it happy again. Maybe. One day.