"Hello?" He hated how timid he probably sounded. But the figure stopped in its tracks and replied almost without hesitatation.
"You're not some kind of illusion from the river, are you?" the stranger asked. The voice clearly belonged to another boy around his age.
"I'm not," he reassured the other boy. It was a strange question to be asked, but considering the strange place they were both wandering at the moment, it was an appropriate question to ask at the very least.
"Good. I haven't seen anything besides this river for a while now," the other boy called out next. It was hard to hear him at times because of the musical sounds that the river made, but he clearly tried to project his voice as much as he could. It was difficult to see him as well because the opposite river bank was quite a distance away. His face was hard to make out, and it appeared as if static was covering it.
The boy wasn't sure if he should ask his new companion where he had come from. He hadn't even seen him until a few minutes before. But he didn't know where he himself had come from, either, so he refrained from asking that. "I haven't seen anything besides this river for a while now, too," he called out.
"Damn," the other boy replied. "Looks like we're both in the same predicament." He paused for a moment and then said, "Hey, wait. I think I recognize you. You're
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right?"