Who Is The Speaker In 'The Negro Speaks Of Rivers'?

My parents always said the world had no sympathy for the weak. So from the moment my younger brother and I could walk, they put us through what they called the 'Strong Child Program.' At five years old, we had to run five kilometers every day. If we could not finish, we were not allowed to eat. At seven, my brother broke his arm. My parents refused to let the doctors use anesthesia, saying enduring pain was a lesson every strong person had to learn. At nine, I burned with a 104℉ fever. Instead of taking me to the hospital, they wiped my body with ice water and forced me to endure it because 'sick children grow stronger immunity.' Then, on the first day of summer vacation, my father announced this year's special training: We were going to learn to swim in the Roaring Spine River. No life jackets. No safety gear. "You only learn after choking on water a few times," my father said. But my brother choked over a hundred times and still could not swim. I desperately swam toward him, trying to pull him back to shore, but somehow the distance between us only kept growing. I called my father, screaming for help, begging him to call emergency services. But after listening to me, he only snorted coldly. "Who learns swimming without swallowing some water? "Your brother isn't made of paper. "Stop yelling and focus on learning to swim." But by then, my brother had already been swept away by the current…

There was a river that ran through our village. According to the legend, a river god dwelled in its depths, and every month on the 15th, the village had to send a young woman to enter the water and serve him. At first, everything seemed normal. After their service to the river god, the women would return to shore, go home, and eventually marry and start families. But this year, the peace was shattered. Every woman who spent the night with the river god turned up dead, their naked bodies floating to the surface. I secretly watched as they retrieved the corpses twice. The evidence of the violation was horrific. This month, I was selected. I had been chosen to marry the river god.

I was the last one to find out that Rowan River was going to be a dad. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw him giving orders to his staff. "Don't let the news of the baby leak out. If Angela finds out, she'll definitely come back and cause a scene." I had liked him for ten years, and a year ago, I confessed my feelings to him. At the time, he said, "Wait until you finish school and come back, then we'll be together." I found it laughable. This time, though, I didn't react like before. I didn't yell at him or ask why he had lied to me. Instead, I boarded a plane and left the country, agreeing to marry the guy who had been pursuing me recently. From that moment on, I no longer loved Rowan.

--- River Witch Some bloodlines are bound to water. Some debts are never paid in full. When Evelyn Blake returns to the remote riverside village of Elowen after fifteen years away, she expects grief and silence—but not the whispers that rise from the mist-covered water. As bodies resurface and ghostly lights drift through the fog, Evelyn uncovers a buried legacy: a pact made generations ago between her family and a nameless spirit that haunts the river. With the curse's final reckoning approaching, Evelyn must confront the sins of her bloodline, unravel the truth behind her ancestor’s forbidden ritual, and decide whether to escape the fate written for her—or embrace it. In a village where no one speaks of the drowned, the river never forgets. And it always collects what it’s owed.

In the 1980's in a small, not too well known town, a young Black girl named Ariel Smith in a mostly white school juggles her studies to get into college, and deal with a murderer committing multiple hate crimes, so you'd think she wouldn't have time for romance until she saved a young white boy named Ernest Rivers from drowning, literally. "Dangerous? He looks so peaceful here. Angelic almost. How could someone so beautiful be dangerous?" Satan was once an angel. Warning: depictions of sexual assault, racism and murder throughout the story. If any of these topics are triggering for you, I do not recommend reading. Thank you.

Nine million years ago.Before the appearance of the fist men on earth. There was a great war that destroyed the order of the heavens. Superior beings fought for hegemony and power. Several powerful God's and Immortal beings were slain and annihilated.Amidst this crises, a young black prince rose to power, burdened with his innate desires to to gain ultimate knowledge, he strives to uncover the secrets of the forces of heaven.Caught up in intense family fights and drama, he hopes to be triumphant. However, in his quest to be better he has to contend with several forces of good and evil.Will he be able to uncover the secrets of heaven? Will he succeed to settle his family dispute?Will he come out victorious against the forces of good and evil?