He tried to ignore the person on the other side and kept walking. The figure could be an illusion or something from the river that should be ignored. But he didn't get far before the person noticed him and called out.

"Hey! Are you real?" The voice was deep and clearly belonged to a man.

"I think so," the boy replied after a pause. He was initially surprised at the question, 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 man 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.

The boy wasn't sure if he should ask the man where he had come from. He hadn't even seen him until a few minutes before. But the boy didn't know where he himself had come from, so he refrained from asking that. "I haven't seen anything besides this river for a while now, too," he called out.

-END OF "RIVER" DRAFT-