The River Was So Alive

"We have to check our old house. It's been a while since we last visited," I told my sister.

Soon we were walking over a bridge surrounded by beautiful green sceneries. Tall trees, their leaves covered the sky above. The air around almost felt so damp and the smell of wet soil and grass lingered in the air.

_{Image Source: Pixabay}

"Look!" My sister pointed down the bridge. The river was so clear and there were lots of fish swimming with the current. Lots and lots!

"The river is so alive," I replied, not able to hide my amusement.

There were big carp, eels, catfish, bass, and more! Whoah! They started to leap out of the water. I could see a giant carp crawling up a big tree stump by the river bank. I can almost swear the carp had legs.

Four round legs on that giant carp that assisted it to the land. Now I could see its gills open, struggling to breathe. I looked at the other side, more fish made it to the banks. They're fat and were wriggling their slimy bodies in this rather strange and uncomfortable environment. Like, they were not supposed to be on land, are they? How were they to survive this?

"Something strange is going on," I thought.

I looked around. I could not see my sister nearby.

_{Photo by Rene Asmussen on Pexels}

"Ah, she must have gone ahead to the house," I shook my head.

I turned my attention to the fish again. They were still there, definitely struggling. Then I noticed something strange. There were little things coming out of their gills. They looked like small eggs.

"Wait, are they laying eggs?" I thought, too confused to move. I was sure fish lay their eggs in the water and that their eggs do not come out of their gills! This was extraordinary. Nobody was going to believe this.

"Oh! I need to take a photo of this," I said to myself, sure that no words could describe what's happening, and the only way to share this was to record this unusual event.

I went down further to the slope near the bridge so I could get a closer glimpse of the fish. Now the fish eggs looked like toads to me. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them oozing out of the gills of the giant carps wriggling all over the place.

After finding a good spot, I positioned myself and aimed my camera at this strange phenomenon happening right in front of my very eyes. As if things were not weird enough, I noticed a brown spotted canine-like animal with big fangs and it looked like it was ready to attack me. It must have thought I was disturbing the fish (which I really was, in hindsight).

I froze. The big-fanged animal lept at me. It circled me, sniffing. Its wet fur was dripping on me. Its strong scent infiltrating my nostrils, giving me a headache. I could feel my heart thumping, ready to leap out of my chest any moment. I wanted to puke.

Wait, it could not see me! It must have sensed my presence but did not see me at all because it left after circling me a couple of times. It sat back to its old spot.

"I thought it's the end of me," I let out a sigh of relief.

It was then when I decided to retreat back up to the house. I traced the dirt path that led to our old house. My sister must be waiting there. I cannot wait to tell her what happened.

"Oh no! I was not able to record any video nor take a photo," I kicked myself in disappointment. "Now how will she believe me?"

I looked back to the river. It was calm again, the fish gone. The riverbank was as clear as if nothing happened.

"Did any of it really happen?"

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It was like I could still smell the fish and that dog-like scary creature when I opened my eyes... I got up and had an urge to write about it.