I actually saw this one, I wish I hadn't. It's not that the body was gory or anything, it's just... unnerving. The videos online don't capture the little details, the things you only notice if you're there. The bodies don't make any sound when they move. If you aren't looking, you might not notice them approaching until you feel the pressure. It's like a hand, somehow, gentle but very insistent that you move aside. So you look to see what's causing it, and realize there's a body, drifting its way to the sea. And drifting is really the right word for it. They don't walk. Some of them don't even have legs to walk on, but they still just... drift along, like they're out for a stroll despite them being dead.
The one I saw was in good condition, at least. They looked like someone's grandmother, like any of the dozens of little old ladies you see swarming the sidewalks after a church service. I don't know what happened to her, but I hope it was peaceful.
The authorities want people to take pictures, video, any evidence they can get without touching the bodies. They say it's to help identify the missing, but it feels invasive. Like attending the funeral of a stranger, where you don't know any of the other attendees, but you have to be there. So I took a picture, and felt guilty the whole time. It's not like there was anyone else to do it. Just me and the body on the beach.
I watched it continue past me, that weird pressure fading away as the bubble of its presence moved. It hit the water and didn't even slow, just kept going, sinking down without more than a ripple to mark where it had been.
I wonder where they go. I wonder what makes these random people go to the water when they die, instead of staying still and decomposing like everyone else. I wonder what's happening out in the river that we can't see, or track, but that compels the dead to move.
I wonder whether I'll be one of them someday.
2.
They found another one today. I saw it on the news, right before I went to bed. The reporters say that brings the total to fifteen.
It started a few weeks ago. Some runners out for a morning jog found a weird body outside an apartment building. A few days later, someone came home from work and found another. And a few days after that, a dozen people witnessed someone jump off a building, landing right in front of them.
People kill themselves every day. I once read that someone commits suicide every 7 seconds,. I don't know if that's true or not. But these were different. All the people that died - who jumped off buildings - they all had wings.
The police don't know where they're coming from. None of the bodies can be identified, all of them burned or destroyed by the fall. No dental records, fingerprints, nothing. It's like they never existed, except to die.
The media is calling them the 'Angel Suicides'. Where are they coming from? Were they regular people who had something done to them? Or are they really angels, dying for some unknown reason?
I guess we might never know, given that it's been weeks with no leads. In any case, it's really something for the police to worry about. It has started to rain outside.
My back's a little itchy.
3.
♪
…
…….
Down by the river by the boats
Where everybody goes to be alone
Where you won't see any rising sun
Down to the river we will run
When by the water we drink to the dregs
Look at the stones on the river bed
I can tell from your eyes
You've never been by the riverside
Down by the water the riverbed
Somebody calls you somebody says
swim with the current and float away
Down by the river everyday
Oh my God
I see how everything is torn in the river deep
And I don't know why I go the way
Down by the riverside
- Alina Wang
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