Behind The Waterfall

“She just kept repeating, ‘Behind the waterfall.’ I can still hear her saying it, over and over. Every time I close my eyes, I can see her face, and I can still feel her hand squeezing mine as she said it, until her grip slowly faded, and I couldn’t feel her anymore.” Iris said. “I still don’t know exactly what she was trying to tell me. I’m not sure if it was because she was sick, or if she wanted me to find something. Either way, it’s the last memory I have of her. I know she would want me to keep going, so I do. No matter what. Even when I know it’s hopeless. I just keep going, for her. It’s not even a question anymore.”

Carter responded, “I know how much you must miss her. I miss my family too, but we were never close like how you were. You’re lucky to have had someone like that. And that picture you have of her, you look so much alike! My parents were different. It seemed like no matter what I did, it was never good enough. Eventually I just got tired of trying to feel appreciated, and I just wanted to be forgotten instead. There’s so much I wish I would have said, and things I wish had been different, but I didn’t, and they weren’t. So often I just wished to be free and never have to see them again. Now, here we are.”

“Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault. I’m sure they loved you, even if they had a weird way of showing it.” Iris reassured him. “Mom always said that this was not the end, but the beginning of a new. That all the greatest achievements of humanity came after desecration of the old ways. That just as we are born and die, so must everything else. She always made things seem so much better than they were. She never stopped believing we would make it. That we would find the answer. Funny thing is, I never understood the question. What could there possibly be out there to find? But still, she believed there was something. And so, I too have to believe.”

Carter shifted his body closer to Iris and put his arm around her, as the two of them laid together on the floor of an old-abandoned warehouse that they had called home for the night.

“I believe. Ever since I met you. I’ve never really believed in much of anything before. But you…you’re worth believing in. Your mom knew it, and I do too.” Carter said with a slight yawn in his voice as he drifted off to sleep.

Iris smiled. Carter was her answer. She opened the heart shaped locket around her neck, that her mother had given her. Inside was a single photograph of her mother as a teenager, nearly the same age as she. “Carter was right”, she thought. The two of them were practically identical.

“I believe.” She whispered to her mother before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

•

In the morning, the two awoke to a loud clanging sound that echoed throughout the warehouse. The sound repeated in a rhythmic cadence, like a metal object falling down a long flight of stairs. Startled, the two quietly, yet fearfully made haste, not wanting to stick around and see what caused the commotion.

“C’mon, let’s go.” Carter whispered.

They gathered their personal items and hurried out of the building in the opposite direction of the sound. After exiting through an old, rusted-hinged door, they followed the pale blue of the morning sky above them towards the new day’s journey.

They made their way around the corner, out to a large open area that used to be a park. They stopped near a giant statue of a man on horseback, and Iris opened her backpack to look for something for them to eat. She pulled out a bag of chips and a can of beans they had procured while scavenging through an old breakroom in the warehouse. She opened the bag of chips and placed one in her mouth to see if they had gone stale. The texture was still fresh, and they tasted salty and delicious. She pointed the open bag towards Carter and said, “Jackpot! They are still crunchy.”

Carter was looking at an old map taken from a kiosk at a visitors’ center in town. “If we keep heading south, there’s an old train depot used to carry industrial supplies to and from the factories. Just outside the depot is a bridge overlooking a waterfall. I remember seeing it every time we used to come into this town as a kid. My parents were always fighting in the front seat, and I used to just stare out the window, wishing I could just go someplace else, be someone else. When I’d see the bridge out the window, I knew we were almost to town. Perhaps we can find a clue there to what your mom was talking about.” Carter said, attempting to entice Iris with some optimism for the day.

Iris failed to respond, as she was busy jumping on the side of the can of beans, attempting to use all her 90 lbs. of body weight to somehow force open the can. She noticed it wasn’t working and started banging the can against the base of the statue. Carter noticed her struggling to open the can and started to look around for a better option for her. He reached over, taking the can from her, and said, “Here, maybe this will work.” He climbed up onto the base of the statue and raised the can, just under the raised hooves of the rearing horse. He slammed the top of the can as hard as he could under the edge of the hoof until the hoof pierced through the top of the can. Carter climbed back down, presented the open can to Iris, bowed his head and said, “Voila! Beans for my Queen.”

“Wow! Beans AND…Cheese!” she said, making fun of his corny attempt to be romantic.

“What would I do without you?” she continued playfully.

“Beans me!” he said, attempting another pun, but immediately shook his head in disapproval of his efforts. A moment of silence followed, then then both chuckled.

“Too much?” he queried.

“I’d say more like 5 much” she replied. “But that’s why I love you.”

•

After they had eaten, Carter repeated what he had said about the bridge and waterfall. Iris loved how hard he tried to be supportive, and with all that had happened in the world since the start of the war and then everyone getting sick after, she couldn’t have asked for anything better in life than to have found him. He was all she had, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The two made their way across the town, along the train tracks towards the depot. As they walked past a small gravel road, Iris stopped.

“I recognize that house”, she said. “It looks so familiar. I’ve definitely seen it before.”

“This town is pretty small. Perhaps someone you know…or someone you knew”, he said emphasizing their current aloneness in the world.

As they approached the train depot, Carter pointed into the distance. “Do you see that tall structure there? That’s the bridge. And that rockface across from it, that’s where the waterfall is. It’s hard to see from here, but from the highway coming in, you can see it perfectly!”

Iris smiled and the two picked up the pace towards the bridge. She had no clue what she expected to find, but having a destination of any kind was better than wondering around aimlessly. Besides, she had Carter. So, what else need there be?

While crossing the depot, they started hearing noises. It sounded like voices. They stopped dead in their tracks.

“That’s a human voice!” Carter exclaimed. “It has to be!”

“Maybe…we should keep going”, Iris said, her voice trembling.

“What if they are in trouble?” Carter asked.

“What if they are sick, or dangerous and try to hurt us? Or even worse… I don’t think we should stick around to find out.” said Iris.

Carter didn’t respond. He had already started walking towards the sound. He called back to Iris, “It’s coming from that reddish-colored car.” He continued towards the sound anxiously, whilst Iris followed from a distance, hardly sharing Carter’s enthusiasm.

“Hello! We can hear you! Do you need help?” Carter called out as he approached the rust-covered caboose. “There’s someone inside. We have to help them. Maybe they are trapped.”, he called towards Iris, who had stopped moving and was now fearfully watching Carter from a distance.

“Carter…Don’t open it. Please…” she said, frightened.

Carter banged on the door, “Hello. Are you in there? Don’t worry. We will get you out!”

Carter pulled on the old, rusted door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Iris! I can’t open it. Help me!”

Iris resumed walking towards Carter, as he finally managed to open the door.

“I got it!” he yelled. “Hello? Are you ok? We are here to help.” He called out as he slowly crept into the dark train car. Suddenly, Iris heard Carter scream.

“Carter! Are you ok?” she yelled as she started running towards the caboose. She couldn’t see him now that he was inside. Suddenly she saw him hanging out over the edge from the door, struggling as if something was pulling him inside.

“Iris, Run! Don’t come any closer! Run!” Carter screamed as whatever was holding him quickly snatched him back inside the car.

•

Iris ran all the way back to the road. She was frantic and crying, scared to death. As she approached the house they had passed before, she ran towards it and banged on the door.

“Hello! Anyone home? We need help, please!” she called out, but heard no response.

She opened the door and stepped inside. The house was old and abandoned and smelled sort of mildewy. She closed the door and frantically tried to calm her nerves and wipe away her tears.

As she crept through the house, the familiarity overwhelmed her. She had been here before. She explored around and made her way into the kitchen. When she approached the refrigerator, she stopped and remembered! This was the house where her grandmother had lived! Her grandmother died before she was born, but she had visited the house before with her mother when she was younger. She remembered because literally nothing had changed. No one had lived there since, so everything was exactly as it had been when she was little.

Suddenly she remembered, “Carter! Oh my God! What do I do?!” she exclaimed to herself. She thought maybe her grandparents had owned a hunting rifle or something she could use as a weapon. She started digging around the house hurriedly to see what she could find.

As she entered the bedroom, she noticed something sitting on top of the dresser. It was a photograph of an older lady and two teenagers, whom she did not recognize, but they were standing in front of the waterfall!

She picked up the photo and examined it. Suddenly, she could once again hear her mom’s last words in her head, “Behind the waterfall.” She turned the frame over, opened the latches on the back and removed the photo. As she did, she realized there was more than one photo inside.

The second photo was of the same woman from the first photo, but older. “That must be my grandma.” she thought. Her grandma was standing next to another woman, that looked a lot like Iris. The two of them were holding newborn babies. Iris turned the photo over, and there was writing on the back. It said, “We love you mom! Love, Kayla, Iris and Isabelle”

“Isabelle? …Could it be? Iris exclaimed to herself aloud.

“I have a sister? Could she be alive?”

If you like my articles, stories and content, please feel free to like, subscribe or leave a tip. Your support is much appreciated! Thanks.