Into the Flood

I. The Storm Breaks

As any other night would, it began. The air in the village of Mohanpur remained thick and heavy. From the fields, farmers went home on foot. While laughing and avoiding puddles caused by the afternoon rain, the barefoot children ran across the dirt roads. In addition to being dark, the skies had become enraged by sunset. The thunder split. Wind howled through the bamboo groves. After that, it began to rain. First, a constant tap. Then a pounding roar.

In his tiny tin-roofed house, Arif, 22, sat with Meera, his younger sister, and listened to their mother tell stories from her childhood. The candles flickered with each gust of wind sneaking in through the window cracks.

But then they heard a crash, something deep and strange. Low, heavy, and getting louder. His mother's eyes got bigger. She said in a whisper, "It's the river." "She is enraged tonight." The village was at the mouth of the river. She provided them with fish and cool relief from the heat during the favorable seasons. During the monsoon, she can be cruel and devour homes, crops, and land. Lives.

This evening, she had also broken her banks. II. Panic in the Dark

The air was pierced by a scream. Then another.

Arif ran outside barefoot, the rain immediately soaking him. Yelling could be heard further away. The lights flashed once. Families ran, holding babies, goats, bags — anything they could carry.

The embankment has been destroyed! Someone shouted. “The water’s coming!”

The lower parts of the village started to drown in a matter of minutes. Like paper, the mud houses gave way. Water rushed through lanes, pulling carts, trees, even motorbikes with it.

"Go get Meera!" Arif shouted to his mother.

But as he turned to run back, he heard a girl's scream for help over the chaos. When he looked toward the sound, a small hand was holding a mango tree branch near the canal. A girl, maybe seven years old, was holding on as the water below her rose. No one else saw her.

Arif stopped. He was needed by his sister and mother. The woman, however... He ran.

III. A Leap of Faith

The water was waist-deep already, rising fast. Arif persevered through it, each step a struggle. Debris rushed past — plastic buckets, broken bamboo, even a dead hen.

He made it to the tree. "Here I am!" he shouted.

The girl sobbed. “I can’t hold on!”

Arif grabbed the branch as he swam into the current without thinking. The force nearly ripped them both away. He wrapped one arm around her waist and began to wade back — but the current pulled hard.

He was without a foot. They went under.

IV. Underwater

Time froze.

In the whirling mud, Arif could only feel and couldn't see. In his arms, the petite frame of the girl. Screaming from his lungs. The weight of the river pressing down.

Not like this, he thought. Tonight, no. He gasped for air as he kicked vigorously upward to reach the surface. He observed lights. Smelled voices. He screamed and waved. Someone saw him.

A rope was thrown. He was then grabbed by arms. Pulled him. Shouted. The girl he was holding gave up on him. He collapsed on the ground, coughing, trembling.

Alive.

V. Aftermath

It had stopped raining by morning. But the damage was clear.

Due to the destruction of three homes, two people are still missing. Fields are gone. However, the girl, who went by the name Lamiya, was safe. Between sobs, her parents thanked Arif. Others in the village came, patting his back, calling him “hero.”

Arif did not appear to be one. He was soaked, shivering, and scared. His legs ached. His chest swelled up. However, Meera was secure. Additionally, his mother. They hugged him tight when he returned, silent but grateful.

VI. The Interview

A week later, a local reporter visited the village.

She requested that Arif tell his story. He hesitated.

He said, "I didn't plan to be brave," in the end. “I just… couldn’t walk away.”

VII. Years Later

As he got older, Lamiya decided to become a doctor. At her graduation ceremony, she invited one special guest — Arif. She spoke into the microphone with a proud smile:

“I am alive because someone I didn’t know risked everything to save me. My life was shaped by that moment. Now I want to save others.”

Arif cried quietly in the back row.