"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 was deep and clearly belonged to a man.

"I'm not," the boy reassured him. 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 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-