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article by Joshua Brown
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God looked down. He was happy with the world. There was perfect harmony. The trees waved back and forth in the wind. The tops of the grass danced and the animals were all happy to just be together. The people were nice to each other. God laid down beside the stars and fell asleep.
There was only one Store in the entire earth, it was located just beside the Big River which fed out into the Big Ocean. These were the names that Atticus had given to the river and oceans. He had built the store and explored the world. He had drawn maps and named cities where the people could live.
There were no roads.
Peter had been building boats for a long time, he was really good with the knives and saws that helped him craft the wooden floats. He knew about the roads that used to be but he had never seen one, it was only the grandmen and grandwomen that had seen them. At this point it had been over 700 years since the last one disappeared. Peter didn’t know, but he was about to see one.
There was a woman named Lagoxna sitting there behind the Store, looking out towards the river. She was thinking about God and what He must be doing. Her mind wandered towards the beauty that surrounded her, there were flowers and dark shadows cast out from the “sun” back towards the plains. She could see the fish swimming lazily through the Big River, maybe they were going to the Big Ocean?
There was a door into the Store that opened out towards the north. Instead of the “sun,” there was a broad streak of light that illuminated the sky, wafer-like in shape, and much larger than the sun. Perched in one of the trees was a bird, similar to an eagle, but pure white with a bright green beak which blended into the foliage it was resting on.
Peter stepped outside of the shop, he was tired, he had worked since before the Wafer had risen and was ready to go home to his family home just down the river. The last of the customers had come into the Store just a short while ago and no one was expected until tomorrow.
“Hey Lagoxna, I’m about to go home.”
“Okay Peter, did you sell a lot today?”
“Yes we sold many boats and paddles and a few people brought in repairs. How is your husband?”
“He is doing well in work and we now have built a new room in our home. Our child will be born soon!”
She smiled and rested her hand on her womb.
There were no question about it, she was definitely very far along in her pregnancy and Peter was glad that their family was healthy and strong. God was truly good to have created this land, these people and this River.
There was a strong gust of wind and Lagoxna’s hair flew out into a mess, Peter steadied himself against the wall of the Store and on the other side of the sandy divide between the Store and the plain a large tree groaned and creaked until it finally gave way and a large snap rung out, echoing against the Store and back and forth across the river bed.
The tree groaned as it fell over and there was a thunderous shock as it landed.
The wind was gone as quick as it had arrived and Peter and Lagoxna just stared for a moment at the place were an incredibly large tree had once stood. The Wafer kept crawling across the sky, inching towards the west, casting larger and larger shadows, but there was now a shadow missing.
“Goodbye Lagoxna.”
“Goodbye Peter.”
They exchanged pleasantries and Peter readied his boat, prepared to head home.
Lagoxna was waiting for her husband to awake, he worked during the nights at the Store, he was a master mapper and this season he was mapping the stars for they had changed recently. There was a large telescope here at the Store and there were many things for Hymoss to observe and record.
Lagoxna was now excited to share with her husband this new story of a tree’s felling by a gust of wind.
The white eagle had calmly remained in place during the trees fall but now that the Wafer was nearing its western exit from the sky, it stretched out its wings and flew towards the cliffs that were southwest from the Store. It had a family and nest perched among the rocky cliff edges and though it had not found any more food to return with, it was satisfied that it would find enough food tomorrow to feed the eaglets that were expecting to eat in the next 24 hours.
Hymoss woke up and got ready for his work, he was going to be busy and this was good, his family was growing and there were many resources that they would need, the people along the Big River counted on him to clearly and quickly draw maps that they could use to navigate the world. He worked with Peter to get maps delivered both up and down the River but also to the people that lived beyond the Ocean.
Sybus was a great map preserver, he worked with Hymoss to design well crafted maps that would last a lifetime of use!
As Hymoss was walking from his home to the Store the shadows were nearly fading into the darkness itself and his wife found him just as he was leaving their yard. She embraced him and they danced for a moment in the deep shadows.
“How was your sleep, dear?”
“Ah, Lagoxna, my sleep was so refreshing! How was the day? Have you been careful? How is the baby?”
His questions rang out, his curiosity of her and her life matched only by her affection to him and his provision and kindness.
They whispered among the shadows and she walked together with him back towards the house.
“Be safe, wife! Lagoxna!”
“Be brave, Hymoss, I love you!”
“And I love you more!”
He covered her mouth as if to silence her, keeping her from replying of her own love for him.
They kissed and Hymoss ran out the door, back towards the Store.
“I LOVE YOU MOST” Lagoxna yelled out the door, smiling and happy as another day came to a close.
She went to bed and forgot about the day, content to see a new day tomorrow.
Hymoss reached the Store just as Sybus did. They both set about to work. The Store was quiet after a day of hustle and bustle. The hundreds of people that came into the Store on a daily basis left their mark on the store itself but they were careful not to disturb the surrounding areas.
The stars shone brightly, and Hymoss quickly found where he had left off in their cataloging. He had worked on the brightest stars first to give Sybus a good summary of the skies to transcribe. Now he was working on the less bright stars, giving them names and numbers to distinguish and organize on his own mapping system.
There was a strange sound outside the Store. It was almost like a ghost. A high pitched cry that didn’t stop but just kept eeking. It kept going but it didn’t get any closer.
Sybus went outside to go see what it might be or which direction it might be coming from. It was coming from the south but Sybus couldn’t be bothered to walk around the building to see what it was, not unless it got louder. It was probably just some water flowing over some small bark or some other easily understandable anomaly.
They both went back to their work unaware of the upturn that their little community would face before God woke up from His slumber.
Before midnight, Kash came by to check on the Store and the two men. He was the security patrol. He had already checked on the strange sound and had gone as far south as the Osso’s house which was a few miles away from the Store, near the deer path that led to the cliffs.
“Everything good boys?”
“Yup, what’s that weird noise Kash?”
“Beyond me, I checked as far as the Osso’s and still couldn’t see where it was coming from: somewhere far south.”
They shrugged their shoulders and spent the next few hours busy in their work, tuning out the strange sound.
Peter woke early in the morning, he too heard the sound when he awoke but he had a lot of work to do so he hurriedly readied himself for work and cast off, rowing back up the lazy river, the wafer greeting him as they both rose to their tasks.
Such was the life, day in and day out of the River people. The people that lived north of the Ocean.
The eagle flew back to his perch, ready to catch a meal for him and his family.
The wafer crawled high into the sky, casting warm rays on those below.
God slept on, content at the love and life He had imbued this planet with.
And out of that unconsciousness into the consciousness of family and love, Snow himself came roaring in. His car drove fast, he couldn’t stop or else they would find him, they would find evidence of him, they would know where he was! He was stressed out! He was in an emergency! Oh no! Drive fast!
The barricade against speed was that sandy dune that grabbed at the tires. The high pitched whine of his car, the accelerator firmly planted on the floor as he desperately woke to this reality! This was dangerous! How easy it would be for the enemies to find him! They were going to kill him! Oh no! Drive fast! Turn! Hide!
Peter was just arriving at the Store when he heard the whine grow incredibly close. He moored his boat and trudged up into the door. Hymoss and Sybus had locked it up and gone home already. The Store was rudely awakening to this ghost! Peter had barely unlocked the door when the car came flying around the corner, and as it accelerated it lost momentum, sinking into the sand near the River.
Snow could not see Peter, but Peter could see Snow.
The car stopped, silent now. Snow jumped out and furtively looked around! Could they see him? Could they find his car here? He ran!
Peter watched in fear. What was this crazy man doing here and why did he have a car in a land with no roads?
Snow ran back the way that the car had come. He sprinted as if their was no sand, uncaring of the landscape or environment, thrashing about in some deranged way! His movements were smooth flowing but erratic. Peter just watched from the open door.
Snow might have called out if he knew of the people in the area, but all he observed were the ghosts and remnants of a civilization gone by. Somehow he knew the car was stuck in sand, but all he observed was a clean asphalt road, a large open door and the trees that shadowed the ghosts.
Peter stood there watching Snow flee from the car and as he stood there, he imagined for a brief dream of the road that Snow was running on. Of course there was no road actually there, but almost as if his eyes were flitting back into his head, he felt a premonition of some earlier time period before God had painted this land, even before Atticus had mapped the places and people of the world, and Peter saw the road that Snow saw.
He passed out in the doorway never to see Snow again.
When the people found the car and Peter unconscious in the Store, they wondered what great magic had taken place. The grandmen and grandwomen were astounded that a car had showed up these many years later.
Lagoxna named her daughter Umbra after the great ghost that had appeared along the river.
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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this creepypasta. It's kind of a story, but it's really just a glimpse into a dream that I had. A lot of the names are taken from Tsimshian or Latin roots. Fun fact, "Snow" is the latinized word for Josh in Mandarin.
It would mean a lot to me if you kept reading!
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