I regret finding out why we weren't supposed to go down the river.

Written by Girl from the Crip

Growing up, I was strictly forbidden from playing the river that ran through the nearby woods.

It was the same for all the neighborhood children.

Nobody cared if we climbed down rocks and trees.

Heck, there was one kid who would always try and shoot birds with a slingshot,

and apparently that was just fine.

But if we even dared to mention the river around our parents, they would break into a lecture

about how we'd be in big trouble if we were ever to go near it.

Now, in every used life, there is a time during which they seek to revolt.

This phase can result in the strangest behavior, and believe me, I've

seen a lot, like my friend Talley, who thought it was a good idea to pierce her ears herself.

My rebellion, however, was much simpler. All I needed was to test some of the rules constituted

by my mother and father, just to prove to myself and them that they weren't always right.

That's why one night while my parents were away, I put on some weatherproof clothes, grabbed my father's flashlight, and marched out the door right into the woods.

My destination was the river.

I really wasn't expecting a lot.

My parents had never given me any reason not to go there, apart from it being dangerous.

It had always seemed excessive to me.

The river wasn't deep enough to drown in it, and as far as I knew,

there weren't any kinds of utter currents that could have been a threat to us either. I figured my

mother and father were just being paranoid, though it sure was an oddly specific fear.

...