Leaves fly, rain pours, and the boat quietly waits at the dock. No tree, no houses, not even a bit of shade to shelter from the sun and rain...only a solitary figure. And the traveler is not at a loss before the vast river, without waves; only the whispers rising from the deep bottom - the traveler crosses the river, steps on the shore, and hands over a few coins to the boatman, forgetting to say thank you. The oars move steadily, and no one sees the boatman's face.

He sits there - in the middle of the boat, in the middle of the river - at night: cold mist and quietness, the wind blowing in bursts making bones ache; he listens to the whispers from the deep bottom; he smiles at the cold water, splashing onto his face; strangely, he feels a warmth.

That day, it rained heavily, as if it were pouring for the last time. The pedestrians were pitiful, wet, and soggy...and no one was there to ferry them. That day, as if guided by some spiritual realm, he walked and left behind the unsteady little boat at the head of the dock with its thin rope...he walked until he arrived at an abandoned garden; a garden full of only bananas - bananas fallen, bananas standing tall, bananas twisted, big and small, ripe and green, with birds and mice nibbling away at the peels under the dark soil...a haunted garden with more than ten graves of a robbed and attacked wealthy family; a garden that no one dared to step into. He reached out and spread his hands over the leaves and tall grass...and kept walking, with flesh scraped and bleeding...he kept walking...until he stood behind the abandoned house. The three-bay house was built with cast pillars, with a tiled roof covered in moss, and with grass spreading over the roof; the spacious yard was filled with climbing plants and pots of various sizes tilted and overturned...he walked around the house; both the front and back doors were locked, so he stepped on the three steps and kicked the door with his strong foot, making a loud and hollow sound; the door was made of thick pine wood and had been given a silvery color by time and weather, but it did not easily yield to decay, remaining erect and incredibly firm; on the surface of the door was carved a delicate and intricate dragon, with the dragon's eyes still shining and staring straight at him. His back shivered with coldness, and he turned around.

Suddenly, as if there was a whisper - a whisper from the deep riverbed - echoed from the house. He turned around abruptly, but there was no opening in the house for anyone to look in. He hurriedly walked to the back, the back door was still the same as the front door, with a beautifully carved phoenix. The house was in ruins with moss, but it still gave him a sense of strength; just by looking at it, he knew its previous owner was a noble. But look the back door didn't have a lock. He approached and pulled the two bars, the horn rang, the wind howled, and the rain hit the roof... in front of him was a spacious area connecting the kitchen and the warehouse, and a large dining table with more than a dozen chairs remained - also made of precious wood - imagined a table full of meat and fish with a joyous atmosphere of a large family from the past, but suddenly... his heart sank. Ghosts and demons seemed to appear, but his feet kept walking. He walked straight into the middle room, which was divided into many small rooms, each with a wooden door, covered in cobwebs, and his feet stepped on the dirty floor that had not been cleaned for a long time. His eyes caught a half-closed door. He walked through the big room, feeling a solemnity with the Chinese characters carved on the altar, a very large drum placed close to the wall, and in the middle of the room was a meticulously carved salon... all made of wood - precious wood - all covered in dust and cobwebs, all gloomy and cold... Suddenly, He shuddered and turned back, as if he was running away; no! He had to come back - there was a whisper in his ear - she was here. He walked straight into the middle room, into the room with a half-closed door, and stood stunned... there, on the big bed, on the torn floral blanket, a set of bones was waving at him.

Later, they were able to identify the skeleton as his fiancée, and they also discovered the cause of death (no, it wasn't a murderer who confessed after many nightmares). The murderer - a man obsessed with the most beautiful girl in the area - begged and pleaded with her to marry him. The murderer was desperate and went crazy when she agreed to marry the man. The murderer begged to see her one last time to say goodbye, and she took pity on him. She bit her tongue during his frenzy and passion. And the murderer brought her here - on the floral mat - in the beautiful room. The murderer did not expect anyone to dare to enter the haunted garden to reach the house that always echoed with eerie howls. The murderer went there many times, crying like a small child. The murderer suddenly became crazy after his confession (or after the girl's death) because the murderer had always been there, sharing his joys and sorrows with him, admiring the moon, drinking wine, and crying with him.

Still with a thin rope, the small boat floated along the water; still, the small house, but the door was locked; still the small dock of the past, but the person was no longer there; where did he go? What did he do? Nobody knows. Only after finding his fiancée, burying and drinking himself to death with his "best friend," he disappeared.

The river flows quietly, and people still go back and forth on that riverbank. But if someone has been there once and returns, they will see that the waves are louder, the river is wider by more than ten meters, the land on both sides of the bank has collapsed, and it overflows. When the water recedes, coffins that have been there for a long time protrude, half buried in the ground, half swaying in the air, as if waiting to fall to the bottom of the water... everything seems like it was just yesterday; sitting on a boat, flowing with the water, watching the changes and everything... only then did he realize the saying "we are just dust," and yearn for the peace that is beyond measure.

The moon tonight is bright, shining over the entire sky. The river tonight is really quiet, the water flows gently with the current. The people tonight are gentle, there is no noise in the tavern. Everything is as if just after a long dream that has not yet woken up. Everything is peaceful and gentle like the river tonight, a river without waves.

Bao Binh