00:00Amma was born on a night when the rain fell hard and thunder shook the ground and the great river
00:11behind her village swallowed an entire fishing canoe. Her mother said the river took more than
00:17fish that night. It took Amma's father. He never came back and his body was never found.
00:24The villagers feared the river. Some said a spirit lived there and took people it wanted.
00:31Others said the river was always hungry. Regardless, everyone stayed away from it.
00:37But Amma didn't. She used to sneak close and sit near the rocks, listening to the sound it made.
00:44It didn't scare her. It made her feel alive, like something inside her was waking up.
00:50Amma grew up looking a lot like her father. People told her mother the river might come for her too.
00:56Her mother started keeping her close. One morning, strange things began to happen in the village.
01:03The birds stopped singing. Goat would not eat. Children woke at night, crying and gasping for air.
01:11They said they felt hands pulling them in their sleep. At first, no one thought of the river.
01:16But when the village healer died in her sleep with her mat soaked, the elder said the river had risen in
01:22the night and wanted something. Amma didn't tell anyone. But she had been dreaming strange things too.
01:30In her sleep, she walked deep into the river, not drowning, but breathing. She saw shapes moving
01:36beside her. One night, she saw her father, waiting with his hand out, not smiling, just watching.
01:44Her mother grew afraid and begged her to leave with the traders heading out of the village.
01:49Amma refused. She had begun to feel something pulling her toward the river.
01:54On the seventh night of sickness, Amma left her house before dawn. She walked to the river,
02:00past the warning signs, and overturned canoes. The water was high and calm, too calm. Mist floated
02:08above it like breath. She walked in slowly. First her feet, then her legs, then her waist.
02:16The water didn't feel cold. It felt like home. At the edge of the deep part, she stopped.
02:23Then she spoke, soft but clear. I know you know me, she said. I'm ready. The river didn't answer.
02:32But the mist thickened, and the air became heavy. Suddenly, the water began to swell fast around her,
02:40circling her like a whirlpool. The wind rose. The trees bent low. Then she was gone.
02:47The villagers found only her footprints leading into the river, but not her.
02:53But the next morning, the children woke up healthy. The beds returned. Everything was still lagging.
03:00Except for one thing. That night, her mother found a small box on their doorstep.
03:06Inside was a brass pendant. Inside the pendant was a drawing of Amma, standing by the river Oda,
03:13smiling, and holding someone's hand. But the hand in the picture was not human.
