The River That Flowed Backward

No one knew when the river changed direction — one morning it simply flowed the wrong way, carrying lost objects upstream: letters, toys, rings, old shoes.

A wanderer named Elen followed it to its source, gathering the things it returned. The farther she walked, the older everything became — until the river glimmered with sunlight from another age.

At the very beginning, she found her own childhood ribbon floating in the water. She tied it in her hair and felt the years fall away.

The climax: When she reached the mountain where the river began, she realized it wasn’t water at all — it was time, flowing in reverse. And when she stepped into it, she smiled and whispered, “At last.”