There was a river in Rin's backyard, which was so entangled in thorns and weeds that she had never fully figured out where it came from or where it went. It was usually murky and the water was void of all living things, even mosquitoes. Rin was the only life form that showed her face at the water's edge, and, ironically, she only went there to think of drowning herself. Her parents were never home and sometimes she came awfully close, considering there was nothing stopping her and she had no reason to feel guilty about it.
She bent her head to the water and her hair touched the surface. She had attempted to dye her hair before, but wound up not caring enough to maintain it, and let it return to its natural black.
She let out a breath that she had been holding for about a minute; she had been "practicing", to see if she would really have the nerve to commit suicide-- but Rin was not suicidal. She only liked the idea of death; it was only natural for her to be curious. She only wanted to see what was on the other side.
She brought her face closer to the surface, staring at her reflection as her hair swam out in spirals around her. Somehow she thought this river was connected to her strange obsession, as if what lay on the bottom was part of another world. This was completely stupid, of course, she knew there were only leaves and sediment on the bottom; but sometimes she thought she saw something else when she looked into the barren cavity that swallowed up half of her yard.
On a whim, Rin dropped her head beneath the surface and opened her eyes; it was black on the bottom except for a rather large light patch in the shape of a log. She returned to the surface and gasped for air, regaining balance on the half-dead tree which she had used as a brace while leaning into the water. She rubbed her fist across her eyes and growled in exasperation when a large streak of black mascara marked her hand.
She held her breath and put her head in again. The log vaguely resembled a human; if she reached down, she could probably touch it...
She rolled her sleeve up to her shoulder and sank her arm into the water, which almost lacked temperature. The light form was easily within her grasp; without thinking of anything dangerous, she touched it and found it surprisingly soft against her fingers. It was at this point that she realized the shape was a human; without panicking, she moved her hand down to grasp its arm and began to pull it out of the water.
The person's legs seemed to be lodged in the mud at the bottom, but after a tremendous heave, the person was free, the branch broke, and Rin fell completely into the water. Catching the bottom with her bare foot, she headed for the edge of the narrow river with the human in tow. The mud at the bottom was smooth and very soft, not giving her much traction.
By the time she reached the shore and saw that she was holding a human wrist in her hand, she was losing some of her composure; the possibility of finding a dead body in her river was quite jarring, but then, what else could it be? Did she expect to find a live person lodged in the mud under four feet of water?
She grimaced and stared at the hand she held in hers. It was decidedly a boy's hand.
She decided to pull up the person anyway; he came very slowly, as if he was still lodged in the mud, but eventually an upper arm began to appear out of the river.
Rin stopped, braced herself with her feet on a tree root, and pulled again, biting her lip. A shoulder followed the arm, and finally, a face appeared. Rin estimated him to be about a year younger than she. Ruefully, she thought, Why is it that live boys are never this hot?!
She pulled again, finally dislodging him and dragging him up onto the bank. Her hair had begun to dry, and she took a moment to catch her breath and gaze, somewhat admiringly, and what she had found. There was no doubt now that he was dead; she could tell merely by smelling the air. However, there seemed to be no apparent cause of death, save for an enormous scar under his jaw that had clearly healed far prior to his placement in the riverbed.
She felt somewhat guilty about not reacting to death in the way most would. She leaned back against the withered tree trunk and closed her eyes; he was still there when she opened them. She grabbed his jeans and pulled his legs onto the bank.
The joy that came with coming so close to her dream was dampened by the prospect of what Rin was supposed to do with this body. The first thought that entered her head was to take a picture and then push it back in the water, but she supposed that if he had been murdered, the police would find him to be useful.
She blinked and looked at him with what was a mix of curiosity and spite. His hair was a curious black and white mix; she leaned her head back and caught a glimpse of the gray-blue sky between the gnarled branches of her tree.
"I went along for the ride."
Rin gave a start, and yelled. She looked down at him; there was no question about it: he had said those words. Rin walked towards him on her knees and bent over him, her hair falling around her face and almost touching his. "Are you all right? Do you want me to call 911?"
A few seconds passed, and his eyes, which were half-open and slightly tilted to one side, focused on her face. "No thank you," he replied.
Then came the obvious question from Rin's end: "Why were you at the bottom of a river?"
The boy's eyes went in and out of focus. He sat up, forcing Rin to back off, and pressed his thin shirt against his face. Rin noticed that it seemed to have lost its color from being underwater; it looked rather small for him as well, and she wondered whether this also was a result of its immersion in the river. His skin, however, merely looked wet and not damaged at all.
She asked again- "Are you all right?"
A few seconds passed before he, while gazing into the distance, answered, "Yes."
For lack of any other ideas, she took his shoulder and turned him around to face her. "I'm Rin."
"Haru," he said; Rin assumed this was his name and did not pursue the subject.
He laid back down on the bank; Rin stood up and hoisted him to his feet, pulling his arm around her shoulders to support his weight. Without speaking, she began to drag Haru out of the woods.
Eheh. Yes… that was boring. But that's okay, because the next chapter is more interesting, and the one after that is even more interesting, and so on. It's very interesting. Yes… interesting. Hah. Well… I will update, if I get one comment that is not a flame. Okay? Okay. Yuss. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this.