"The River's Daughter," by Chloe A.

I was about four years old when my mother and father died in a tragic car accident. I had no other family besides my grandma, so she took me in. My grandma would always say to me, “Your parents left something very powerful for you, but you're the only one who can figure out what it is, Elodie.” At that time I couldn’t understand what she meant. I wondered when I would finally understand what she meant. But now I do.

*** 

I woke up on my tenth birthday and I felt something off about myself. I guess I could have said I hadn't felt as I normally did. I shrugged it off and went on the bus on the way to school. When I got to school I told my friends that something felt off. My best friend Max told me that I may be finally getting my period and to go into the bathrooms and check. As I was walking to the bathroom I thought to myself, “I don’t feel any cramps or see any blood.” I decided not to doubt it completely because, after all, I was the only one in my friend group without my period. 

When I got to the bathroom I started frantically asking myself, “what if it's not my period and there is something wrong with me?” and “is this the gift my grandmother was talking about that my parents gave me?!” I finally gathered up all my courage and went in the bathroom stall and took a deep breath in and out and pulled down my pants and I saw…nothing. Not a single drop of blood, not anything. I felt a sigh of relief because I wouldn't have to deal with the blood and cramps, but I also felt scared. What could my grandmother have been talking about?  

I ran out of the bathroom and back to class to tell my friends that I didn't get it. When I got to class and told Max she said, “Maybe you're just a late bloomer, don't overthink it.” Honestly I guess she was right, maybe I shouldn't overthink it. Maybe my grandma was just trying to make me feel better about my parents. But, what if she wasn’t, what if she was telling the truth? All I knew was I had to find out the truth. While I was daydreaming during math class overthinking what my grandma said, my teacher Ms. Periwinkle asked me a question but, obviously I wasn't paying attention, so she tapped me on the shoulder and embarrassed me in front of the whole class. 

After having a long and stressful day at school I was determined to find out the truth from my grandma. Since it was my tenth birthday after all I figured she would probably tell me the truth. I ran out of school and hopped on the bus as fast as I could trying to get home quickly because I was so eager to know the truth. My bus finally dropped me off and I ran up the cabin steps as quickly as I could and opened the door. When I opened the door my grandma was waiting for me at the entrance with a big smile on her face and a unicorn cake in her hands. “Happy birthday Mijah, come blow out your candles and don’t forget to make a wish!” I knew exactly what I was going to wish for, I wished for the power my parents left for me. My grandma asked me what I wished for? All I said was nothing special. But it had to be special. 

I decided I wasn't going to ask my grandma about my powers yet. I thought if my parents left it for me it would have to come to me eventually if it was meant to happen. Even though I was little when my parents died, I distinctly remember when my parents used to put me to sleep.They used to say, “one day you will learn about your love for a power we will give you.” Then it suddenly clicked. Now I saw what my grandma was saying, she was talking about the same gift my parents used to talk about. Then my grandma came up to me and told me that she had to go to work and that she felt bad she couldn't spend the rest of my birthday with me. Even though I was upset that she couldn't spend my birthday with me, I completely understood it. My grandma had to work a night job in order to provide for the both of us, so I tried to not let it get to me as much. 

As soon as she left I decided to go to the lake that was in the middle of the forest in the back of the cabin. I always went to the lake when I felt stressed because the sound of the water splashing in the lake was so calming it helped me not stress out. While I was sitting at the edge of the lake I felt something hard hit my arm. I looked down on the floor to see what hit my arm and it was a crystal. I had never seen a crystal ever in my life. And then it hit me, maybe the crystal was a part of my power. I picked up the crystal and said, “If you are a part of my power, show me it, show me what my parents left me, show me my power.” The crystal didn't glow, it didn't show me anything about my power, it was just a plain old crystal. 

“Stupid crystal,” I said, throwing the crystal into the lake. Then all of a sudden the birds stopped chirping, there were no more leaves being stepped on by animals, and the water in the lake stopped flowing. Everything was still like time stopped. Then suddenly, the water started rumbling like the kind of rumbling before an earthquake happens. Then something appeared out of the water like a hologram. The hologram looked like my parents! 

“Mom, Dad!” I yelled. 

“Hi, Hunny,” my parents said in unison. “We have a gift for you.” 

“Is this about the power Grandma was talking about?” I asked them. 

My parents handed me the crystal back and told me to close my eyes. I did exactly what they said, the adrenaline in my mind was racing. What's going to happen to me? I thought to myself. I opened my eyes, my parents were gone. Then I felt more different than before but nothing had changed. All I had was the crystal in my hand and no power. 

I decided to head back to the cabin, since my grandma would be home any minute. When I got back to the cabin I went to my room, but my grandma was still not home yet. I took out the crystal and put it in a glass container by my bedside table. I laid in my bed thinking to myself the gift had to be the thing making me feel different, it had to be, but what was the power? I wanted to tell my grandma about the crystal and what I saw, but what if she thought of me differently? I heard the front door open. I went downstairs and gave my grandma a hug trying not to bring much attention. 

“Is something wrong?” My grandma asked me with a sweet expression on her face. 

“No, I'm fine,” I told her. 

“Is it your power?” she asked me. 

I decided to tell her the truth and said, “yes it is my power but I still can’t figure out what exactly it does. All I know is I got it.” 

“Where were you when you got your power?” My grandma asked. 

I told her that I was at the river and explained everything about what happened at the river. 

“Oh Mijah,” my grandmother said, “you are the river's daughter.”

I went back upstairs trying to think about what my grandmother said that I am the river's daughter. Wasn’t I my parents' daughter? I decided to go to bed and sleep, maybe my power would show when I woke up in the morning. I woke up in the morning feeling that same feeling but still my power didn't show. I thought that maybe the answer to this was in a book so I decided to go to the local library, maybe there was information there. When I got to the library I started digging for answers. I decided to go to the R section because I assumed it would be in a river book. I searched through the shelves trying to find answers and then I saw it. There was a book called “The River Family.” I opened the book and it was a list of peoples names. Names of what?! I thought to myself. What do names have to do with a river? I decided to ask the librarian, she said that it was all the lists of people from the river family that all had powers from the river. I checked out the book. I knew right then and there that I had to take a DNA test to see if I was related to any of the people in the book, but how? 

I knew I was going to need my grandma's permission in order to take the DNA test so I would have to tell her I wanted to, but I didn’t want her to feel bad. I got back to the cabin and I decided to straight away ask my grandma for the DNA test. My grandma seemed sad that I would want to, but she agreed anyway. She said that I should be open with her and I should tell her how I felt. The next day I woke up bright and early to go to the doctors to take the DNA test with my grandma. I was so scared to take the test because what if I was not my grandma's biological granddaughter? What if I was a part of the river family? When we finally got to the doctors office the doctor told us it would take two days for the test results to get back. Once I got my test done and we were walking out my grandma told me not to worry and whatever happened was for the best and she would always love me. My grandmother's wise words in that moment helped me relax just a bit even though I was still very anxious. 

Those two days felt like two years waiting for the test results to arrive. The night before it was supposed to come I couldn't sleep, I was so anxious about what to expect and what would happen. When I woke up in the morning I went downstairs into the kitchen and my grandma baked my favorite blueberry muffins. I knew my grandma was just trying to make me feel better about the situation because she only made blueberry muffins on my birthday. After I ate I was just about to walk back upstairs into my room but then I saw the mailman walking up the driveway with an envelope. I opened the front door and snatched the envelope off the mailman and ran upstairs and slammed the door behind me.

All I was thinking was this was the final chance for me to find out the truth about my powers. I ripped open the seal to the envelope and the letter read “Dear Elodie, I would like to inform you that your DNA tests confirm that you are a part of the river family and you have powers and you are not your grandmother's biological granddaughter. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us.” Now I kind of got the concept of the true meaning behind my grandma telling me that I was the river's daughter.

I ran downstairs screaming, “Grandma! Grandma!”

 My grandma came running to me and asked me what happened. I told her that I was a part of the river family and I had powers, but I wasn't her biological granddaughter. I saw the pain in my grandmother's eyes because if I wasn’t her biological granddaughter my mother wasn’t her daughter. The test results also said that my mom and another baby probably got switched at birth, and my mom had powers from someone else. Even though my grandma was upset she was still trying to make me feel happy about it. 

There was one thing still missing I told my grandma. The test results told me I had powers, but they never said what it was from or what it did. 

“Oh Elodie, if you are from the river family your power must have something to do with the river,” my grandmother told me. “Let's go test it out,” she said. 

On the way there I started to get nervous. What if my power doesn't work? I said to myself. After what felt like ages of walking we finally got to the river. I stood on the edge of the river with my eyes closed, hoping my power would show. Nothing happened. I started to get angry, I started screaming, why is this happening to me? All of a sudden the waves in the river started getting bigger and aggressive as I got more mad and rain started to pour from the sky. When I calmed down the waves got smaller and less aggressive and the rain went away. I turned to my grandma and she was stunned. She couldn't even speak. 

I said to her, “this is bad isn't it?”

“It can be bad and it can be good,” my grandmother told me. “Don't get too mad and use your power wisely,” my grandmother added on. 

As we were walking home my grandmother told me that there hadn’t been rain in a while to moisture her plants in her garden. I told her not to think too much of it and that there would be rain soon. My grandmother loved to plant different plants in her garden. She had a green thumb. We decided that it was best to take a nap from all the craziness that happened today. After our nap when we woke up we decided to go to the living room and watch the news. Nothing much was happening on the news, it was always something boring like Taylor Swift won a Grammy or something. Then out of nowhere the emergency broadcast system turned on and said “there hasn't been rain for months in the town of Jackson, this is leading to severe drought, very soon the town will be a desert if rain doesn't come soon.” 

“This is very bad,” my grandmother told me. “Jackson hasn't had a drought since 1954.”

“What can we do?” I asked my grandma. 

“Nothing,” my grandmother said. “We just have to live our lives the way we had been doing.” 

The next day I entered school and everyone was talking about the drought. Everyone was scared and wanted to know what was going to happen to our town. Me and my classmates were all sitting in class and all we saw outside the window was empty desert and a few buildings. That's what was left of our town. I still hadn’t told any of my classmates about my power, not even Max. I knew I would have to tell them soon, and maybe Max would know what to do. I decided to tell them during lunch because that's when everyone sat together. The bell rang for lunch, I was nervous to tell everyone but I knew it was something I had to do. Once we sat down for lunch, I decided to start the conversation. 

“I have powers, powers that control water and I don't know what to do with it and I don't want you guys to think of me any differently,” I said to my classmates. 

Then Max said something I didn't even think about. She said, “Why don't you use your powers to save our town from the drought?” 

“That's a brilliant idea, but it won't work," I told Max.

 “Why not?” she asked me. 

“My powers only work if I'm angry," I told her.

“Then think of something that makes you angry,” Max said. 

I couldn't wait to get home from school. I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to save the town of Jackson. When the bus dropped me off I sprinted to the cabin. I had to tell my grandma what my plan was. “Grandma! Grandma!” I said. 

“Welcome home Elodie,” my grandmother said. 

“I’m going to go to the lake and try to save our town from the drought,” I told my grandma. 

“Elodie, I know you want to save the town but, I think we should just wait it out,” My grandmother told me. 

“No!” I shouted back at my grandma. At that moment I didn't care about what she wanted me to do because I knew what I had to do. I ran away, not far, just to the lake to try to save our town. 

When I got to the lake I closed my eyes. I tried to think about things that make me angry. For example, my grandma telling me not to go to the lake. Thinking of my grandmother didn't work. I couldn't get mad. And then I knew what could get me mad. My parents. My parents left me in this stupid town where no one listened to me. When my parents were here they would understand me, but then no one did, not even my grandma. And I had this stupid power and everyone probably thought I was a weirdo for it even if they didn’t show it. And then it happened, the waves started to be more aggressive and it started to rain. I saw the plants starting to come alive again, the soil sucking in the water like it never got water before, everything seemed to come alive. 

The next day when I entered the school everyone was waiting for me. Then the announcement speaker went on and said “everyone please make your way to the auditorium.” I started walking to the auditorium. I felt generally happy about what I did. Everyone patiently waited in the auditorium to see why we were there. 

Then the principal entered the stage. “I made this meeting today to give a special congratulations and give my gratitude to a very special person who is here today, would Elodie please come onstage?” The principal said. 

I got up and walked on the stage as proud as can be because I knew I saved the town. 

“Now Elodie I would like to give you something special for all the work you did to save our town,” said the principal. The principal pulled out a superwomen trophy and a million dollar check. I couldn't be happier in that moment, I knew I deserved that more than anyone or anything. 

***

Now I knew what my grandmother meant about that I was the river's daughter. I was the river's daughter not because I was a part of the river family but because I was brave and nothing stopped me, just like a river. A river keeps flowing and never stops. It is ten years later and I still use my powers. I help children in need of water that are dehydrated and I make it rain fresh water. I make sure every town has a good water supply and no one is struggling. My grandmother sadly passed away 4 years ago and I still grieve for her, but I know that she's watching me and is very proud of me and of the women I have become.