Grayden & Zaria

text by grayden hamilton • artwork by zaria cannon

An Introduction

Hello, my name is Wayne the Water particle I have been flowing in the Flint River for years now. I’ve noticed over the last few years that there was less water in the river. Then one day I was flowing along, and this tube sucked me up, here I am floating along this dark, cold tube. It is hard to flow through the inside of this it is so rough. I have now started to see the light at the end of the tube, and I hear the water splashing around at the end. I have fallen out now and smashed against a big metal box, and I have to say it did not feel very pleasant to be treated in this way. I have heard talks of us being shipped through another metal tube into somebody’s house. It is a lifelong dream of mine to be absorbed by a human, and I am so excited that I have a chance. So here I am sitting in this tub, and they started putting these things that make water “safer” for people to drink, but all it did to my friends is make them disappear. We weren’t just water any more we were dirty and contaminated but they tried to cover it up with the harsh chemicals nobody should ever digest. I hope that all the pain I feel is all worth it in the end. My whole life all me and my friends dreamed of helping people. Oh no what’s that noise, we are getting sucked into another tube I think we’re off to a house and I am so excited. It has been three hours now cycling through this tube and its so dark and cold. Finally, I see the light again I am coming to meet the world. Here it is my last seconds in the tube, and now I’m in a cup. Oh, my there are so many people watching me. After a long journey, I’m finally in a cup and I am being handed to a man. He took a sip and there i was inside of him sitting there waiting to see what was happening. Finally, he started talking about this evil thing that was hurting people then I realized it was me I had been killing people and making them sick. But the worst part is I just lived my dream after taking the lives of people who never had a chance to live there.