First Line from: The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

First entry of the new year.  Creative writing 101, using another's first line, and then my own.

Going up the river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings.  The air was oppressive and thick like the jungle on either side.  Greenish, blackish water covered with algae made a troubling path through which the small boat traveled.  The water itself seemed alive, rippled here and there with unknown creatures large and small that lurked underneath.

Was there human life beyond the water's edge?  The trees at the edge of the river, gnarled and twisted as their roots clung to the wet banks of the river were so close together and so intertwined that no light could be seen between them.  There were sounds coming from those trees, strange bird calls, echoing whoops, shrill notes, repeated sounds with unknown messages.

No one spoke, each lost in their own thoughts, some perhaps questioning their motives for being in this place.  The sun, a fiery orange ball, was setting slowly; strips of purple clouds in the sky gave the scene an unworldly appearance.

The boat slowly turned toward shore.  "We're here," a voice said.