Ghost River | Shade and Hayden
Hayden had been avoiding the river. It teemed with ghosts so that they could sense it from quite a distance away, far more than they their range normally allowed for. It seemed unlikely that the bulk of so many ghosts would be patient and peaceful, happy to wait their turn as Hayden helped each pass on. Even if they were, it would take a long time to lay them all to rest. Much more likely, though, that some or all of them would be angry and vengeful, desperate and too far removed from their mortal selves to recall much beyond resentment of the living. So Hayden had avoided the river, uncertain how to tackle such a massive problem alone.
No, not really alone. There was no alone, now, because there was Heart-in-Hand.
Some impulse had driven Hayden toward the river that night. Maybe just that it was not in their nature to ignore a problem for long. Maybe because underneath the resentment and anger and despair Hayden could still sense...something. The last shreds of the ghosts’ humanity, perhaps. The core of what had made each of them whoever they were in life. Their footsteps sounded loud in the dark, a slow but steady rhythm as they made their way to the river bank. Anyway, they reasoned, I’ll have to come take a look at some point if I’m ever going to do anything about it.
A splash, then more. Was that...had someone fallen in? The splashes sounded like someone struggling in the water. Maybe? Or maybe their mind was playing tricks.
Hayden rushed forward, squinting in the dark. There! Someone thrashing in the water...and hundreds, maybe thousands, of ghostly hands pulling whoever it was beneath the water. Instinct took over. Hayden was in the water before it occurred to them that maybe that had not been the best plan. It was hard to swim while keeping the ghosts from getting a decent grip on them, but they managed. Heart-in-Hand swirled through the water around them, apparently helping. At least, the phantom hands touched Hayden and attempted to grasp but failed to do so.
Their own hands touched solid flesh--an arm! As their fingers wrapped around it, some of the ghosts seemed to lose their grip. Hayden pulled the arm over their own shoulders and kicked toward the surface. Ghostly hands sloughed off the stranger as they rose, though some clung desperately. Hayden hoped if the two of them made it to shore, the hands would release. They broke the surface, and Hayden drew in a desperate lungful of air. “Hey! Can you hear me? Are you conscious?” they asked, already kicking for the riverbank.
