• There once was a small village nestled on a river. It was built at the top of a waterfall. However the people of the village often wondered about the things beyond their sanctuary. What lives downstream of the village? Eventually curiosity got the better of them.
    They decided to build a vessel, one large enough to carry forty men. It was made at the bottom of the waterfall. Before the boat was finished, they had to choose the forty men who would go on the voyage.
    One chosen was the secret lover of the mayor’s daughter. When they discovered they were to be separated, they were devastated. They met by the river the night before he was to leave. They made a pact under the stars. Everyday she was to write him a letter telling him that she was still waiting for him. It would bring up his spirits and remind him that he had someone waiting for his safe return. They sealed the promise with a kiss under the moon.
    The day he left, the two of them cried more then anyone who had ever been separated. She stood on the river bank drowning in her tears watching until the boat was out of sight and he stood watching until she was out of sight.
    After he was gone she tried not to cry so as not to raise suspicion. She kept herself from breaking down by imagining the day they would be reunited. She thought of every little detail of it. The next day she would imagine their second day together.
    He did everything he could to keep from crying in front of the men. Often, he would go to the side of the boat and fake sea sickness.
    Once the first day was over she wrote her first letter:

    My Love,
    I’m so heartbroken without you. I have to try so hard not to jump into the river and swim after your ship. I suppose I’ll have to imagine I’m inside the bottle with the letter. I’ve been trying my best not to cry. I’ve been imagining what our first day together will be like. I miss you more then any one person could miss anyone. My heart aches for you and my soul screams for you. All I can do is wait for your return. I love you and I hope you return soon.

    He had waited for her letter all day. When he did get it he read it a hundred times over and a hundred times again. As soon as he was finished with it he put it in a box under his bed. He did this with every letter he received from her.
    Over a year after he left, she came down with a deadly illness. It came upon her suddenly and violently. For weeks she was unable to write any letters to her lover. She was confined to her bed and she didn’t have the strength to stay awake.
    It had been over a month since his last letter from her. He thought that she was tired of waiting for his return and that she had found someone else. He was infuriated and heartbroken. After everyday he didn’t receive a letter, he would throw a weeks worth of them back into the river.
    Before she died she called in a maid that worked for father and asked her to write a letter for her.

    My Love,
    I’m sorry that I haven’t written you for so long. I’m also sorry that I won’t be here to greet you when you return. I was suddenly overtaken by a serious illness. I don’t think I’ll be around for much longer. I hope you’re not angry with me for not writing you. I haven’t been able to stay awake, much less write anything. In all honesty I am not even writing to you now. I’m really just talking to you. I wish I could be here when you come back to welcome you with open arms, but alas I will not. I will watch over you so we will be together sooner then expected. Do not cry for me. I don’t want you to be crying when I see next. Smile for me when you receive this. I have pined for you so much while you have been gone and I finally get to see you again. I’ll finally be able to ride down the river with the letter to you. I send my love for all eternity to you.

    The letter was put in a bottle and sent down the river. She passed away the next day. She went with a smile on her face.
    He was sitting on the back of the boat faking sea sickness again with a week's worth of letters in his fist when he noticed the bottle. He threw the other letters on the deck and ran for the bottle. As he read, his eyes teared up. He read it through a second time. “Do not cry for me,” he read. He thought to himself that it was hard not to. He felt a hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t a hand like any of the men on the ship. It was a soft delicate hand. He turned around quickly. She was standing there, smiling at him. She wiped away the tears that were rolling down his face. Her cold fingers gave him chills up and down his spine. She then hugged him. He tried to hug him back but she was gone.
    He made it back to the village safe and sound but he was not alone. The rest of the crew made it back as well. She followed close behind them. He never felt alone until the day before they made it back. As he stepped off the boat he saw her again. He saw her figure standing in the same place they made their promise to write the letter. Her arms were spread ready to welcome him back with a smile on her face.