[ WP ] God of the dead river .

**'' McGuyver, this is your wake up call. Apartment 1424 is raining. `` ** 
 
 I rolled over and looked at the clock. 6:47 AM. One day I would hear my alarm. One beautiful day. Not today. 
 
 **'' Hey Guy! Wakey wakey- rise and shine! ** 
 
 Lurching out of bed, I grabbed the radio. `` I'm up, Clyde! 1424 is leaking, got it.'' Clothes. Toolbelt. Radio. Really long rubber gloves. Car keys. Yep, good to go. 
 
 Pulling up to building 14, I parked my golf cart next to the curb and headed up to the second floor. Ms. Olsen was waiting for me at her door, still in her nightgown, and looking upset. She pulled me into the hallway and her office to show me the water running down the walls and onto her desk. She was never very talkative, but she seemed to be doing well, even in the years after her husband passed. 
 
 I excused myself, having seen the problem and figured out the source, and headed up to the third floor. When there was no response from knocking on 1434, I found the right key and slowly opened the door. `` Maintenance! I'm coming in.'' The sun had started rising by now, but as my eyes adjusted, I saw the lake in the hall. The toilet in the halfbath was overflowing and flecks of wet toilet paper floated along. Yep. The Copps had two small kids, and it appeared Jake had taken his toilet training a bit too seriously. Toilet paper goes in the toilet, so all of it should, right? 
 
 After turning off the water, and with my gloves on, I reached in. As my fingers found the clump I whispered to it *Hey there, you do n't really want to be stuck in there, right? You want to flow free through the pipes, and have an adventure, and get cleaned at the sewage plant! * It agreed, and I felt it dissolve. 
 
 Ya'see, I'm a bit of a mage. 
 
 I've always been able to talk to things, but unlike most people, for me they listen. It's not like I can do anything fancy, like shoot fireballs, or turn invisible, but I can hear the voices of your plumbing and talk the bugs out of walls. Nothing big, and nothing it would n't do, but enough to make a difference. 
 
 I'm now the live-in repair man for Rushing River Apartments in the outskirts of the city. I may be biased, but I thought it was a nice place to live. RRA had staff who truly cared, was in a good neighborhood, and most of the folks there were happy and friendly. In part, because I kept their toilets working. 
 
 Roger Copps was standing there in his boxers, wiping sleep out of his eyes with one hand, and holding Jake with the other. I explained what happened, and that it was fixed, and let myself out. Behind me I heard the gentle scolding start, that he was not in trouble, but he was going to help clean up. I reminded the building on the way down the stairs *You dont want to hold the water, it'll hurt your walls! Let it evaporate, * waved to Ms. Olsen, and headed into the office to start my day. 
 
 Clyde was waiting with a cup of coffee, kuregg special. Someone had tossed it, but I had convinced the machine to work again, and we had much better coffee as a result. With a saunter, he headed out the door, my arrival marking the end of his shift. 
 
 The day preceded as normal, paperwork, breakfast tacos bought from Mrs. Garza, more paperwork, called to fix something, ect. It was during my lunch break that I had first felt it. I had gone back to my house to lie in the ditch behind it, and enjoy the sun while I ate. A certain tang to the air, the birds were chattering too much. Some storm was brewing, from the direction of the city. I did n't know what trouble was coming, but something from the city. 
 
 There was nothing I could do besides worry, so I put it out of my mind and got on with my day. It remained forgotten until neatly sunset. I was out driving the perimiter, looking for trash ( I had had enough paperwork for one day, ) when I heard two cars driving much too fast. As they zoomed passed, a bottle flew out one window and hit the second car. They careened into each other flying off the road into the ditch where i could n't see. I heard yelling and cursing, a few thuds, then gunshots. I am not a very brave man, and fled at that sound, but not before I saw more cars, in the same two colors as the first two, and very heated arguments, between them. 
 
 The next part... I do n't really remember. Or I do n't want to remember. Or I ca n't forget. It's mostly a whirlwind of fear and violence. I ended up back behind my house, no idea what happened to the golf cart, but I was hiding where I had eaten lunch just a few hours ago. 
 
 *help... * 
 
 I was n't sure if that was my voice, or someone else's. How had I gotten into this, but I really needed some 
 
 *help... * 
 
 Ok. That time I knew it was something else. *Hello? * I called. 
 
 *I help... you help... * 
 
 *'' Where are you? I can hear you, but I ca n't see you. `` * 
 
 *woke by flow* I had a flash of a man bleeding out, under a car. *no other flow* 
 
 *'' What are you talking about? `` * 
 
 *I miss flow... I help you... you help me... flow? 
 
 *'' Umm, sure. If you can help me, I will help you flow. `` * 
 
 *oath... * 
 
 *'' I, Guy Molloy, will do everything in my power to help you, if you will help me. `` * 
 
 I felt a grin at that, and something swallowed me. I caught a glimpse of a long dragon, covered in rocks and branches, a bicycle wheel for one eye, and a stop sign for the other. Then, I felt the apartments. I could see the people running in terror from what I could now see as gangs, but I did n't stop to look. 
 
 Doors jammed when they were tried, asphalt gravel found eyes. A hornet's nest I had n't know about moved shop to someone's pants. Windows refused to crack. A tree branch fell. An AC unit exploded. 
 
 As night finally fell, we had been saved. I scraped the worst of the mud off, and showered as the water whispered secrets into my ears. My last thought before I passed out was of the future and of promices. *I wonder who I should talk to. We could do with a water park around here. *
