The River

Grey endless skies all around. A still water with only the faintest of movements seemingly as colorless as everything else only there wasnt anything else. Just a never-ending sky and river. The only other object to be seen as a man. He floated peacefully in the water yet to open his watery blue eyes to the new surroundings. The bags under his eyes made it seem as if this moment was one of the few he had ever had since a child. His long blond hair spread around him in the water. Despite the water's stillness, and there were small waves that lapped around him onto his shadow of stubble. Even so, the entire scene was peaceful as if he was a dead body waiting patiently to be found.

Yet the man still was destined to open his eyes as he was alive to some extent. Picking himself up he groaned his wet hair falling just past his shoulders, and dripping dry of all liquids as he did. His legs were slightly shaken from laying for what seemed like an eternity. His grey sweatpants should have been soaked, but the water had simply slipped right off as if it was just there to imitate water. Despite not wanting to the man began to move his legs walking through the water with ease. The sloshing sounds of the water echoed through the never-ending space.

The man had walked for what seemed like forever through the colorless river. Not only missing color there seemed to be no smell to the place as well other than the faint hint of poppies and earth that seemed to emanate from nowhere. At one point the man began to question where he was, Is this heaven? Hell? Purgatory? He thought to himself. If it had been in fact any of them he strangely enough hadnt found it very harrowing, and actually quite enjoyed it. The emptiness of it all made his anxieties flow away with the water. No worries of adult life. No need for being presentable, friendly, or to keep active with the forever changing world that he was living in.

The entire time he felt the river lulling him to bring him back down to lay in its own comforting waves of relief. He didnt want to go back to sleep though. To a word that cared to much about the next materialistic thing. The next upcoming celebrity that would tumble over the next. He wanted to stay awake now in the river experiencing more than he ever had before when he had been living in the empty shell of his fleshy skin. He simply couldnt stay up though. As much as he had wanted to. Closing his eyes he would mean he would be back to the world of the sleeping. Dreaming of the day he will perhaps be able to return.

Grunting he began to sit down with the sloshing of the water his brain fighting at his body to stop and keep walking through the river. His body just seemed not to listen to the words of his brain though. His entire body felt heavy like a log, but so much more. He couldnt even hold himself sitting up, and his arms gave out ending up with him flopping down into the water a loud splash as the water covered his face before he floated in it. With the water holding him as if he were a baby everything felt so inviting. So he let his eyes shut as he was drifted back to where he had been born.

Light filtered through his eyes. The bleach white room causing him to wince as he opened them. The smell of chemicals made his nose burn. Looking around the room he had noticed the beeping of the machine next to him, and then to his arms with tubes and needles injected into him. There were two plain chairs sitting in the corners parallel to each other with a small table between them with a small vase of dying poppies. Their red color de-saturated as the black inside looked like it was devouring the rest. The window showed that it was seemingly just about sunset when he woke up. Good to see his habits didnt die with him. The sky turned the color of fire as the sun set, yet slowly faded into the dark blue abyss.

He had been staring out the window at the shifting sky for what seemed to be hours before the nurse had come in.

Oh! Good to see your finally awake. Though she seemed very oddly cheerful. It made sense since she must have dealt with many people who had been in, to some extent, similar cases to the man. Checked her board that she had been carrying, Lawrence Oleander. Im your nurse Claudia. If you need anything Ill be staying near. Claudias voice was calm as she walked around the room checking each machine. Not talking Lawrence simply nodded his head, as his eyes blurred the nurse's image. The nurse wrote something down on the clipboard before continuing to talk, Temporary loss of speech or movement is expected after a case like yours. Can you move your fingers or an arm for me? Despite what she had said, Lawrence still had full control in the movements of his body, but he did feel slightly weak from the inactivity in his body as he moved his arm up. The feeling of the tubes on and in his skin would have felt strange, yet his body was too numb to feel anything like he was still only just half awake.

Day after day Lawrences time in the Hospital went in a pattern. Starting in the morning Dr. Cardinal would check in with Lawrence. Then an hour later Claudia would check in. After then every 2 hours she would come in. He found out how he had ended up in the hospital 2 days after waking up. Apparently, and he had been walking through the trail and had tripped hitting his head as he fell into the river. He had drowned and it was a miracle he had survived since it was about an hour after he had drowned when he was found. The only thing Lawrence had to remember was seeing a patch of poppies flowering as he fell.

Being let out two weeks later his parents had paid for most of his bills, though they still hadnt visited him in all the time he had been there. After being released he returned to his home. After unlocking all 6 of his locks he went entered surprised none of them were dead. Vincent must have watered them, Lawrence had thought out loud to himself closing and re-locking his door. He lived in a small studio apartment. The hall to his door and basically everywhere else was covered in plants. A small desk in front of the large open window was holding at least 5 pots with a fig tree growing next to them. His bed was placed in the corner next to the table to the right. To the left was his kitchen with even more plants, mostly edible, while to right there was a door leading to the plain, mostly minimalistic, plant-filled, bathroom.

He had gone back to working his night shifts as usual. Going back to his nocturnal ways that he had to break a bit while he was in the hospital. The same cycles of the day happening as before he had gone to the hospital. With the occasional hike or walk through the park, yet there was something about the river. He had become obsessed with it. He began going back time and time again; Making his own little concoctions to do so.

With every visit to the river, Lawrences body began to rot more and more from the inside starting with his soul. The visits had also become longer with as he looked for ways to stay longer. This was not consciously known by Lawrence, but he wouldnt care anyway. He just wanted to feel awake again the grey abyss.

Years began to pass as Lawrence had rot more and more at one point he barely looked human. His skin faded into his bones. His already fairly tall stature elongated unnaturally with monstrous claws that had once been his feet. Backwards antlers sprouting from his head that tangled unnaturally into their forms. A constant blue ooze spewed from his eyes no longer a human look. He became a lich-like creature barely even human. His ghostly form seemed just a shadow with bones. His home became as empty, cold, and dead as he himself had been made into by the forever enticing river.

The lush hidden woods, parks, and forests near him had become active with Lawrences stockings and kidnappings. Many people would go missing one at a time, only to be found dead with glassy eyes, and the expression as if theyve seen something horrible. A sing poppy grew from each of the victim's chests. The flower looking as if it were dying from the inside as they swayed in the wind. No one could identify who the killer was. When they had noticed A man nearby had gone missing they had suspected him, but ultimately decided it wasnt him, and that he had just been a victim himself. Which is in its own sad way the truth of this whole situation. His motivations for these seemed impossible to find out at first, but if you look closer you can see. He did this so maybe they may be able to see the river too.