Story 37
Playing in the River
When I was a child, in my hometown there was a custom every summer where the older kids would teach the younger ones how to swim in the river.
After about thirty minutes of swimming practice, everyone would play together in the water — that was part of the tradition.
That day, as usual, I went to the river with the older kids.
But the moment I walked down the steps built along the riverbank, I noticed something strange.
Far downstream, something that looked like a human face was floating in the water.
Just a head — resting right on the surface of the river, as if it had been carefully placed there.
I panicked and shouted,
“Hey! There’s a weird person over there!”
But none of the other kids could see it.
They called me a liar.
Even so, I couldn’t take my eyes off that face, even while we practiced swimming.
Eventually, practice ended, and we started to play in the river — a game of tag in the water.
That’s when it happened.
A boy from my class — one of the kids I was playing with — suddenly started drowning.
Downstream.
The water was shallow, and the current was slow. But in an instant, he just disappeared under the surface.
The older kids rushed in to save him, and thankfully, he survived.
Everyone kept saying they didn’t understand how it happened.
But I knew.
Because right then —
the face on the water was smiling.
