Dream Lantern (A Collab Story)

2

Chapter 2~ A Festival of Memory
{Flashback}
It was almost the end of summer and into the fall seasons, the temperature dropped everyday little by little. I started wearing a blue sweater with white stripes and I got Leaf a red one with white stripes, honestly we kind of match. She loved the gift I gave her so much, she wore it every time I wore my sweater and I would always smile and laugh when she did that.

“Hey Ash, can we match shirts again and go to the Fall Festival?” She had asked me and smiled.

“Sure, Leaf, want to get candy again?” I agreed and smiled too.

“Of course, can I get a caramel apple?” She asked, almost drooling at the thought.

We went back and forth on this kind of conversation, usually I get bored of it easily but with Leaf, every conversation we have is always exciting and it makes me feel happy on the inside. I’m always happy with Leaf, she’s like a little angel to me and I would always protect her with all my heart.

When she died though, I was devastated, all the memories of her came flooding back as I fell to my knees in the hospital room and cried uncontrollably like I just got my heart ripped out of my chest.

I’ll love you with all my heart and soul, your big brother will always be here.

~An Invitation to Let Love Sail~

Itomori Japan, January 27th, 2009
[Serena’s POV]
{Back into their present day}
Birds calling and singing a beautiful song in the early wet morning at 6 am. Rain was still dripping off of tree leaves and onto a puddle on the floor. Serena heard the door to her room open and she decided to crack open my eyelids and see who it was.

“Good morning hon, wake up and eat breakfast.” My mom said and pulled my warm blankets off of me.

“What? No school today?” I asked out of curiosity and looked out the window.

“Nope, no school because of the festival.” She replied and pulled me up and off the bed, which I stumbled and fell.

“Huh, okay.” I said, got off the floor and went to my closet.

After getting dressed, I went to eat breakfast which consisted of pancakes, eggs and xiao long bao. It was pretty good except for the fact that we ran out of salt and pepper for the eggs and we needed to get more maple syrup, I was in charge of getting it.

“Do I head to Pine Woods?” I asked my mom who was washing the dishes.

“Yes hon, grab a bucket and head there, do you want Wanpachi to come with you?” She asked.

Wanpachi was the neighborhood dog and she was the friendliest in the town of Itomori, she often visited the cafe and we would always get a small treat for her. This time I got her a biscuit that is suitable for dogs to eat and she wolfed it down as soon as it was in her mouth.
“Haha, did you enjoy it?” I asked and gave her a scratch behind the ear.

“Woof, woof bark!” She barked.

“C’mon!” I said, guiding my hand towards the woods.

We both ran into the woods happily, I then found a stick and threw it further into the woods. Wanpachi chased after it, barking happily as her tail wagged around like crazy.

“Hey, this looks like a good tree!” I exclaimed and pointed to a giant maple tree that looks to be very old.

“Ahwoooo!” Wanpachi howled.