Chapter 4: On My Own


I had now lost the two most important people in my life. I was depressed. Neighbors tried to include me in festivals and get-togethers, but I never showed up. They finally just gave up on me. The only person who talked to me was May. She was now a young woman, only 6 years younger than me, but I never considered her romantically. We were just friends.
"So Jack, need feed?" she asked, waltzing up to my farm.
"No thanks May, got enough after I made my own with corn." I replied.
"You'll be the death of my farm Jack, you will." she said.
"Ok." I said laughing.

She left, and I decided to go fishing. I went to the waterfall, I had painful flashbacks of Popuri and I. I put them in the back of my mind and started fishing. I suddenly had a flashback of fishing with Ann, I pushed it away also. They were gone, I had to accept it. I fished, caught nothing and solemnly walked home. I sat on the table and watched TV. It was going to be sunny tomorrow, what else was new. I cooked an omelette and ate it, then I decided to visit the church.

I hadn't set foot in a church for almost 3 years, I felt odd standing there, like I didn't belong. I sat down on a pew and listened to the sermon. Then I went into confession. I told the Preast of all my sins and what was going on in my life, hoping he could give advice. He just told me to tough it out and it'd all work out the way it's supposed to, as was god's will. I sighed and thanked him, then walked out.

On my way out, I bumped into Cliff. I had never really known him, but he always seemed like a nice guy. We got to talking and he told me about how he had worked all over and really liked it in the village. He admitted his crush on Ann, and I told him my story. He sighed and said maybe he'd stay away from girls and learn from my experience. We went to the mountains to look off the summit and talk some more.

Cliff was a good friend. We did a lot of stuff together like fishing, hiking, going to the bar, everything guys do. We occasionally visited the city, but only certain parts, and we avoided the place where Popuri lived. One day, Cliff and I were planning on going swimming at the beach, he stopped by my house.
"Hey Jack." he said.
"Hey Cliff, how's it going?" I asked.
"It's going great, how about you?" he replied.
"I'm great too. Let's go." I said.
"Ok."

When we got to the beach, we went swimming, then got out to dry off. We finished and went to Kai's shack to get some lunch. We ate and talked, and nothing real special happened. After the beach Cliff had to go work, so I went home to feed my dog, Koro. Koro was the best dog you could ask for. I walked home and couldn't find Koro. I searched high and low, but couldn't find him anywhere! I started to become frightened.