'Sora?'
'Yeah?'
'I love you man.'
'I love you too.'
Two boys stood side by side with their toes wriggling in the sand. The ocean spread out before them, tinted crimson by the sun sliding into the West. Their houses stood behind them; little shacks on the beach front. Soon their mothers would be calling them inside but for the moment they had the beach, and each other.
Sora looked at his friend with silver hair and sighed. There was a strange tension in the air, sort of like a silent buzzing; almost like the calm before the storm. Yet there were no storm clouds in sight…
'Riku?' Sora asked his best friend.
'Yeah?'
'Let's be best friends forever.'
'Kay.'
Riku reached down into the water, staring long and hard at his reflection. He searched his own eyes, looking for answers to questions that he didn't even understand. Sora watched Riku's reflection, confused at first then a smile crept across his face, lighting up his eyes. Quick as a fox he reached over and splashed water square into Riku's face.
Surprised, Riku fell spluttering into the water. He rose with his long silver hair dripping wet. Scowling, he glared at Sora whose smile was now ear to ear. He tackled the smaller boy into the water, and soon they were both laughing as the sun reached the water's edge.
Sunlight filtered through the window slats, lighting Sora's forehead. He felt so sleepy, and so warm. It was pleasant. He could hear his mum's voice downstairs as she made breakfast for the family. It would be ready soon… and it smelled delicious.
Everything felt surreally lovely, as if it were all a dream, but deep down in Sora's heart he felt a nagging… a sort of pulling… an … absence.
He fought to open his eyes but found he couldn't. With growing panic, he tried to move his hands so he could force his eyes open but found he was paralyzed. His chest felt swollen and his breath came in shallow. A cold numbness unfurled through his body as though someone how blown a chill into his lungs. He could sense a high keening sound, a shriek but at a decibel so high it could be close to a dog whistle.
Sora didn't know how long he lay there but it felt like an eternity. His vision was just a white oblivion while he waited for someone to wake him up, for surely he was dreaming. His last memory was of the beach with Riku, so he focused on that. He imagined all the colours of the ocean as the sun set, and the way his friend had looked when he threw water in his face. Keeping his mind occupied helped with the fear, and soon enough he slipped into unconsciousness.
'Sora…' a voice called to him and it sounded as though it was from far away.
'Sora…' it sounded like his mum… but he couldn't wake up… not yet.
He felt something shaking his body, but it was as though he wasn't in it. He could hear other noises now too, and the white was slowly forming into objects and colours.
He was in a room… someone's bedroom. It was… similar to his, but different. There was a different poster on the wall, and the desk had pens and pencils on it where Sora's had CDs and a laptop.
Sora was at the end of a bed where someone was sleeping. He could just see the other boy's spiky blonde hair above the quilt. There was something familiar about him. His hair…
An alarm went off and the boy shot up throwing his quilt off. In a split second he met Sora's eyes, and his mouth opened in alarm.
Then Sora was back in his own body, and the voice was louder now. It was his mum, and she was calling to him, sobbing, praying for him to wake up.
'Please please please please,' her voice was a gentle melody to his ears and his eyes fluttered open.
The room was white around. White walls, white floors, white sheets… It was almost too much to bear. He wanted colour, damnit! So he gazed at his mother whose eyes were red-rimmed, and her rumpled sweater was magenta. He smiled at her.
'Oh Sora,' her voice broke.
'What's up mum? What's happened? Why am I here?' Sora's throat felt crackly and sore, like he'd swallowed a bottle of sand.
'We found you. On the beach. With cuts all over your body,' Her eyes went to his arms and torso, most of which were bandaged. 'We were waiting for you to wake up so you could tell us the rest.'
Sora tried to move his hand. It felt clumsy in all its bandages.
'I feel okay mum, really I do.'
'The wounds are only surface deep, you're lucky they didn't cut any tendons or veins, otherwise you'd have bled to death till we found you.' His mother's eyes filled up with tears again as she talked. 'I was so worried about you Sora!'
'How… how long have I been asleep mum?' Sora was almost too afraid to know.
'About six days now darling.'
'SIX DAYS?' Sora's heart skipped a beat.
There was no way he could have been asleep for that long, no way in hell. It was just two hours ago he was on the beach, laughing and playing with Riku.
Wait.
Riku.
'Mum, where's Riku?'
He searched his mother's eyes, refusing to see the pity that lay hidden there.
'He… We… they never found him Sora.'
