He wades in the creek, its icy black waters soaking his clothes and dripping from his long dark hair. The water is always just below his hips, and he never swims, even when his feet shouldn’t touch the rocks below. He only ever stares ahead, and though his eyes should be glassy, they’re set on something you can’t see, always ahead of him. It makes you shudder to think about. You’ve seen him before, when walking in the woods, when crossing a bridge, always in winter, always walking with the flow of the creek, pace steady like a calm heartbeat. And you think you’re the only one who’s seen him. Nobody speaks of him. Nobody looks at him. You don’t know if he’s a ghost that fell through the ice, or if he’s a horrid hybrid of a kelpie and a nymph.
So one day, you decide it’s too much. The mystery has sunk itself into your mind, and like a fool you’re going to follow it down and down until you run out of air. So this time, you seek him out. Stand by the creekbed, wait for him to walk by. Your breath sends clouds into the air, and you shiver from the cold even as you shudder with anticipation. You see him now, walking like a heartbeat, the same pace, the same motion, the same water height no matter the depth he walks on. Your mind freezes. You realize, you don’t know what you’re going to do when he gets close. But luckily, you don’t have to know. Because when he’s right in front of you, he stops walking. He turns, and you see his steady gaze, his dark eyes boring into your own. And you notice that your breath no longer leaves clouds in the air. But you’re calm. And you walk to him, steady as a heartbeat-- wading into the muddy and icy water, sideways against the flow of the creek.