Woven Together

Chihiro stared down the train, not really looking at anything. Her right hand gripped a ring that hung from the ceiling, her left held her school bag. She watched as people swayed back and forth with the gentle rocking of the train as the world whipped by past the windows. She felt the same nervousness she did when she transferred middle schools, but she was able to put that away and put on a brave face. Chihiro hadn't felt like she fit in for three years, ever since her family had moved to the house near a train station. She watched as people shuffled groggily onto the train, or worriedly leaped off the train, late for some appointment. The train was the only time she felt calm. It was strangely the closest thing she could call home. Ever since her father had moved her family for work, she'd felt like an alien in her own house. Her own mother said she'd never been the same since they moved. Even so, she enjoyed watching the world whiz by on the train, and feel the gentle, steady rocking under her feet. She liked watching people get off the train and meet with relatives or lovers. It was cozy, and familiar. Chihiro's mind was whipped back into reality as the train reached her stop. The train stops always sounded unusual to her, but it didn't matter. The interesting thing was the ride itself. She stepped off the train and onto the platform, watching as other people did the same. Chihiro sighed and left the platform and comfortable familiarity of the train for the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.

Chihiro didn't much care for her walk to school. It was eerie, and full of back-alleyways. About the only thing she liked about it was the artificial creek that she passed along the way, it seemed familiar like the train. To be frank, the world around Chihiro seemed dead. The people around her were small and boring, obsessed with their boring little lives. Like drones. Even when they laughed they seemed to be devoid of life to her. The only place she found things to be alive was when she cleaned rivers of junk and debris, and it wasn't the people she volunteered with -they were dead too- it was the river when she was done. At one point Chihiro could swear that she could hear the water speaking to her and thanking her, but she never told anyone. She knew they would call her crazy.

Chihiro rested her head on her hand and drummed her pencil on her paper. She'd given up on taking notes long ago, preferring to let her mind wander in class while her eyes followed her teacher. She remembered once embarrassing herself by looking out the window rather than keep up the false pretense that she was actually interested in what her instructor was saying, and she had to stand outside in the hall while passerby ridiculed her. "Ooh look, the princess was put in the hallway! What an insult!" they would say. She couldn't help it that she didn't like her peers. They were so BORING. Always talking about what was on TV or which idol was hot. They didn't care for their surroundings or they wouldn't pay attention to the way the world moved around them. It was frustrating and aggravating and made her want to shake them and scream at them "Don't you SEE? Can't you think about ANYTHING? Kami, you're all PIGS! As dead as coal!"

She remembered once trying to tell her parents about a time in the summer when they first moved into their house. It was alive with bright colors and jewels and monsters. Fantastical dragons and soothing steam everywhere. They told her she had to have been dreaming. That was when she started noticing the deadness in the world. How everything seemed to just plod along, and she couldn't help but be tugged into the drone of it.

She ate her bento outside on the roof. Even when it was raining cats and dogs she ate on the roof, just sometimes in the doorway so she stayed dry. It was the best place to see the sky. The sky was NOT dead. It was always changing and bright, even on rainy days. And yet, it seemed to be missing something. Every day, Chihiro would make a point of being outside, just to watch the sky. She realized later that she was looking for something. There was always something that belonged in the sky, but she could never find it. Much like today. Today she sat, eating her bento and looking at the sky, waiting for something to flash across it and complete it again. But what was it? What was she expecting, up in the heavens among the clouds?

"Hey there." said a voice behind her. Chihiro turned, surprised that someone wasn't calling her "princess". She raised her eyebrow. It was a boy, a little taller than her. He seemed dead like the rest of them though and she quickly forgot what he looked like.

"What're you doing up here all by yourself?" he asked. At least he seemed curious. Slightly less dead than the others, who had given up on her long ago.

"Waiting." Chihiro replied, looking back at the sky. Maybe she needed binoculars to see it?

"What're you waiting for?" he asked. Chihiro turned around to ask sarcastically if he made a point to wasting his time, when her eyes widened in surprise. He was gone. Only mildly disturbed, she went back to sky watching until the lunch bell rang. She got up and went back to class.

For the first time in a long time, someone left a lingering impression on her. She remembered her childhood friend, but they fell out of contact when she moved. Chihiro found that Lily had become a boring drone too, even when the other girl was happy to talk to her on the phone. The flowers Lily gave her as a goodbye present had wilted long ago, but she kept the card. For some reason the card was important, and she always protected it and made sure it was safe and hidden. Thinking about this strange boy though was different. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't bored. He seemed… familiar somehow. Maybe I volunteered with him at some point… she thought to herself. Or maybe he went to elementary school with me…

She scratched her head, trying to think about it as she did her class work. She tried to remember his face when she walked to the train station. She tried to remember his voice while she was on the train. All that stuck in her mind though was what he asked her:

"What are you waiting for?"