Return to the River

Chapter 1

8 years later

Will we see each other again sometime?

I'm sure we will.

Promise?

Promise.

"Chihiro!! Your friends are here! You ready?!"

"WOAH!" I yelped falling off my bed. Guess I took too long of a nap. Good thing my mom shouting woke me up.

"Chihiro! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, Mom! I'm coming!" I was getting ready to leave with some of my best friends to have one last ride around town before I left for college the next day. It was finally time for me to move out and be on my own, but having one last day with friends would be kind of hard if I was asleep. I frantically put on my brown sandals and pulled back my hair with my favorite purple hair tie. I couldn't remember where I got from, but when I was ten I wasn't able to let it go. I ran downstairs and met my mom and friends at the doorway.

"Chihiro, let's go!" My friend, Hana shouted from the car. 

"Ok! Bye mom!" I said kissing my mom on the cheek before rushing to Hana's car. 

"Finally! You take way too long, dope," Hana joked. But what she said sounded a bit familiar. I felt like I'd heard someone call me that before. It was probably just me getting deja vu from Hana always joking with me, but who knows. I got in the passenger seat and saw my friends, Mizuki and Sora sitting in the backseat. 

"Yay! Chihiro's here! Now we can go. All of the food stalls are open tonight, so hopefully we can grab some takoyaki before they're all gone," Sora said. She had a thing for food, but somehow she was always able to maintain her figure. 

"Yeah, let's pig out before we're worked to the bone in college," Mizuki added. Then we were on our way to the town. 

The whole ride there while Sora, Mizuki, and Hana were chatting about different things, I kept thinking about my dream I had earlier. That scene felt so familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen that before. And that boy's voice sounded familiar, too. The images were blurry, so I couldn't make them out so well in the dream, but I know I'd seen that somewhere. 

"Chihiro? Chihiro! Are you even listening to us?" I heard Hana say. I woke up from my little day dream session and turned my attention to Hana.

"Sorry! I was day dreaming. I'm listening now."

"Get your head out of the clouds and back in the car, Chihiro. It's our last night out together, so let's make the most of it ok? Who knows if we'll even remember each other once we get to college," Sora added. Again, that phrase seemed to bring more deja vu to my mind. 

Who knows if we'll even remember each other.

Something weird was going on. I'm pretty sure it had to do with that dream a while ago. I just hope I figured it out before I tore my hair out.

"Hey, we're here now!" Hana said parking the car on the side of the curb. "Let's go make some last memories together." All four of us started getting out of the car, but I heard something that almost made me fall out on the street.

Once you've met someone, you never really forget them.

"Woah!" I shouted grabbing onto the car door to keep from slipping. "What was that?"  I asked myself.

"You ok?" Sora asked getting out of the car. 

"Did you hear that?" I openly asked.

"Hear what?" Mizuki said.

"That voice." I said simply.

"There's no one else near us, Chihiro. I think you're just hungry. Come on," Hana said. 

"Yeah. You're probably right." I closed the car door and all four of us started walking towards the stalls. I acted like nothing had happened, but my mind was still struggling to figure out why I was hearing these things. 

What is going on?