Chapter 3

After falling through the hole, Anna realised she had landed in Yoh's room. Her eyes filled with tears once again as everything she had ever known about the younger Asakura brother came flooding back to her. The atmosphere in the room was strange - it felt as if there was a spiritual presence nearby. Anna looked under Yoh's pillow, something she had never thought of doing before. She blushed. There was a photo of her under there. He must have really loved me, thought Anna. She grabbed a photo off one of Yoh's shelves. It was a picture of him eating a huge icecream at a funfair. She held it close to her, trying to convince herself he was still alive. All his things were still there - the reggae CD collection, his special orange headphones, numerous drawings of cheeseburgers...this did not look like the room of a dead person.

"Anna."

Anna snapped out of her daydreaming. Someone...or something...had just said her name. She looked around, a little scared, but there was nobody there.

"Anna?" the voice said again. It sounded exactly like Yoh. Anna looked at the funfair snap of him. The ice-cream had disappeared - eaten or dropped. Strange - photosweren't supposed to move!

"Yoh?" she said dreamily, not believing what she had heard.

"Anna, it'sme, Yoh," the photo said.

"Yoh? I thought you were dead! Oh Yoh!" she said happily, tears streaming down her cheeks. She hugged the photo.

"Anna, wake up. You have to wake up. Please, Anna."

Anna woke with a start. She was back in the car again. She must have fallen asleep. Ren was arguing with Hao, and Horo Horo was trying to stop her head from falling onto his shoulder. She jerked upright. Chocolove was not a good driver...Hao was screaming that he should be allowed to drive. (This meant speeding along at 95 miles an hour - Hao did not do speed limits). She sighed and made a mental note to go back to Yoh's house some time and pick up that photo. Maybe her dream was a sign...perhaps pictures of Yoh could talk to her? Without warning, the car screeched to a halt outside her house.

"Thanks for driving, Chocolove," Anna said wearily. She got out, feeling slightly sick, and decided to go for a walk around the town centre. It was no use. Everything she saw seemed to remind her of Yoh. The icecream van came down the road, playing that annoying tune as usual. Anna noticed the words "Yoh A.was here" in Hao's untidy scrawl. She sighed. That boy really was evil sometimes. She went past the music store, half expecting to see Yoh in there looking at the reggae section. Past the small café on the corner where she and Yoh had once gone for coffee together. Past the fast food restaurant, displaying a large poster of a double cheeseburger in the window. Past the cosmetics shop, where they were advertising hair gel half-price. Anna almost laughed.Yoh had once thrown some of that at her for a joke. It had taken a week to come out of her clothes. She decided the best idea would be to go back to Yoh and Hao's house and get the photo. She caught a bus home then picked up the spare key Yoh had given her once ICE (In Case of Emergency). Now more strange things were starting to happen. The furniture started to move around, cornering her. She screamed. This was too weird.

"Yoh, help!" she yelled, wishing he were here to help her like he had been so many times before. She felt someone's hand squeeze hers. She looked to the side of her. No-one there. As if by magic, the sofa and chairs went back to their original position, like who or whatever had touched her had restored things to normal. She breathed a sigh of relief and went outside to get in her car. Before she had even opened the door, she appeared on the doorstep of Hao and Yoh's house.

How the heck did I get here, she thought. She pressed the doorbell a few times and waited, but nobody answered. "Typical," she muttered. "Flipping Hao's never in."

She opened the door using her spare key, then went upstairs to retrieve the picture she wanted. She was surprised to find Hao sitting cross-legged on the landing.

"Hao? What are you doing? Why didn't you answer the door?" she questioned. He didn't answer. "Hao? Hao! HAO! This isn't funny! Answer me!" she yelled. She poked him and he fell backwards, still in the same position, staring skywards. "Hang on a minute, this isn't Hao! It's just some stupid plastic dummy. Whose pathetic idea was this?" she said angrily. Nobody answered. She strode into Yoh's room and put the picture into her bag. She noticed it was getting pretty dark outside. There was still no sign of Hao. She lay face down on Yoh's bed, breathing in the smell, surprised how much it reminded her of him. She put her head on the pillow for just one minute...just to rest her eyes a little...