Contenido

The presence that lives in the waters.

Even if you don't believe it

My name is Julián, and today I want to tell you a story that has stayed with me my entire life, a story that, although hard to believe, I assure you, happened many years ago in a small corner of Antioquia, in Santuario. Back then, the town was just a handful of small houses scattered among the mountains, surrounded by rivers and streams that seemed to come to life under the veil of mist. It was on one of those days, between the fog and the murmur of water, that something happened that changed our perception of that place forever

It was the 1940s. My grandparents used to say that the water in those mountains had a power we should never underestimate. Many spoke of invisible beings inhabiting the rivers, guardians who punished those who dared disturb the calm of the currents. In my youth, I laughed at those stories. I thought they were just tales to scare the children, but what I saw one October afternoon made it clear to me that those stories held more truth than I could ever imagine.

It had been raining nonstop for weeks. The roads turned into mud, and the rivers began to overflow. It was then that we heard one of the streams, the Quebrada del Silencio —a name that always unsettled me— had changed its course. The townspeople said something strange was happening in the mountain, but no one dared to go investigate. A group of young men, including myself, decided to see for ourselves what was going on. We carried torches and machetes, confident that it was merely a diversion caused by the rain.

When we reached the stream, the atmosphere was different. It wasn’t just the darkness falling with the night, nor the sound of water crashing against the rocks. It was something more. An overwhelming silence, as if nature itself had held its breath to watch us. As we moved forward, something caught our attention: on the riverbank, there was an old tree, its roots twisted in the water as if they were alive. No one had noticed it before. I approached to take a closer look, and that’s when I felt it... a presence, something unexplainable emanating from the river. My companions, feeling the same thing, stood frozen. The water began to stir, as if something beneath the surface was moving, a shadow sliding through the depths, causing the current to change direction, as if obeying a will of its own.