She struggled to make out what it was that the silhouette outlined in the horizon as the craft hovered upstream. It looked like a towering colossus of sorts but as she came closer she saw that it was the top of a clock tower with overgrown weeds snared about it curling up its columns like tendrils devouring the shattered bells behind the rusted bars of the openings.
Ponderously she took a book titled “The Fall" out of her coat pocket and opened the page that she had placed a maple leaf in as a marker.
“I can hear rain falling in torrents, unsuspecting mud soaked sneakers shuffling through the hallways as the river shifts off course ready to envelop this once proud metropolis of learned erudites, thunderclaps boom and echo as lightning strikes the parrots in their arboreal homes.”
As the sun began to illuminate the water with a mellow yellow glow a light drizzle began to fall causing ripples to form on the surface, countless spheres expanding in every direction. She then removed all her clothes her bare form glistening in the humid morning air as she adjusted a breather mask on her delicate face. A loud splash later and she was gone submerging herself into the unknown depths leaving only a trail of bubbles above.
Mientras descendía iba observando aquellas viejas ruinas que se extendían en todas las direcciones. Directamente opuesta a la torre se encontraba una plaza frente a una estructura con arcos y columnas que tenia el techo caído. Al nadar encima de ella pudo ver un enorme escenario frente a varias hileras de asientos. Bancos de peces se paseaban a su alrededor mientras continuaba su exploración por los pasillos de aquello que una vez fue un centro del conocimiento. Se acerco a una puerta que estaba cerrada y por curiosidad decidió abrirla a ver que había del otro lado. Al entrar a un salon lleno de ordenadores antiquísimos pudo ver varios esqueletos con ropa y mochilas en la espalda. Tomo varias fotos con su cámara sumergible y floto delante de uno de estos fijándose en la expresión vacía que yacía en sus ojos huecos. De repente pudo ver que en uno de los bolsillos de la chaqueta de aquel cadaver se encontraba un viejo teléfono móvil que tenia un protector a prueba de agua. Lo cogió en sus manos pensando que quizás ahi se encontraban algunas respuestas de lo que había acontecido en aquel lugar hace tantísimos años. Luego al sentir un breve toque de melancolía salió de el salon decidida a regresar al mundo de los vivos del cual había venido que se encontraba encima de aquel rio que en el fondo tenia infinitas piedras.
As her head emerged on the surface she traced the horizon with her stare seeking the craft which had brought her there. She spotted it hovering calmly next to the clock tower and began to swim in that direction. Unknown birds circled above the mid-day sky as she clambered atop her vessel. When she was putting the phone in her bag for later inspection she noticed the faded letters in the title of her book were now glowing gold and that it now spelled out “The Fall of Rio”. Puzzled she opened the cover and saw that all the print inside was now glowing like the title and she began to
read the introduction to see if anything had changed :
“Herein these pages is contained the chronicle of the fall of Rio. Not the Rio where tourists tanned topless on the beach to the sounds of samba but the Rio where students from all walks of life came to find a measure of themselves. The Rio where they made connections that lasted lifetimes, where they joined forces to forge a better future. The town where music and art painted the walls and literature paved the roads. The spot where magic was born again and culture re-invented itself with
every passing generation. The place that is and always will be in our hearts fueling our imagination.
Why you might wonder was this placed drowned, scratched off the map , forever to be buried in time?
Though some truths are ephemeral constantly evolving with the nature of reality there is one that has proven to remain constant : Freedom is an enemy of the state.
It all started minimally and covertly with the placement of cameras in every corner of the university.
Then they began to station security guards in the corners of “El Teatro” so the open minded students could not connect and share their insights. As time passed the government of this subdued exploited colony began to become increasingly more Orwellian. The inspiring thing about it though is that us the people did not submit. The more rules they placed the more rules we ignored. The freer we became the more control they tried to exert. Long story short, when all the cards were on the table and they saw that they could not break our indomitable will, they used the H.A.A.R.P. weather control system to literally drown the opposition whose base had always been the unrepeatable town of Rio. And to this day the rain does not stop because they know that if it did, the town would rise again to liberate a nation of free thinkers that would shake the very foundations of the planet.”
Tears ran down her cheeks upon reading those last words when suddenly she heard a very loud crowing. Looking in the direction of the sound she saw that perched on top of the tower was a majestic rooster it’s spread wings gleaming in that sunlight which will always disperse the rainy man-made clouds to make way for the bright skies of tomorrow.
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