“Hey…Are you really leaving?”

  It was a bright sunny day. We were hanging at our favorite spot atop a big rock right close to the cliffside.

  The sight of the gleaming ocean reached out into the distance, I could hear the sound of its waves crashing to the steep walls of the cliff.

  I stopped licking the blue ice pop that I was snacking on and looked at the girl beside me.

  The blinding light of the sun shined right above her, as if it was trying to hide her face.

  “Mhmm…my summer vacation is about to end. School is gonna start soon.”

  I looked up towards the blue sky above us.

  The school where I was studying from is in a different country. I only went here because Dad wanted me to spend my summer vacation in the province where he came from.

  That’s why…it would take a long time for me to see her again.

  “This sucks!!!”

  I already begged mom that I could try to move in with the retives we had here, but no matter how hard I tried she just refused every single idea I had.

  To be fair, I’m being unreasonable to her.

  Besides me, the girl let out a giggle. Her sweet voice was pleasant to the ears, like the soft rings from a wind chime. I didn’t know what she found so funny.

  “Your ice pop.”

  “Ah!”

  While I was clenching the sides of my head, I forgot about the ice pop I was holding. It dug into my hair.

  “Aww… Now my hair is sticky.”

  “Geeze, you can’t even pay attention to one thing… Here~”

  She suddenly moved closer, and started wiping my hair down with a handkerchief she had hidden in her pocket.

  “H-Hey…!”

  A wave of embarrassment washed over me, she got too close for comfort. I could feel her warm breath tickling my ear.

  “Mhmmph! Stop moving around!” She pouted, puffing as her small cheeks grew.

  I stopped and just accepted my fate. I should be grateful for this in the first pce.

  “Hehe… Just like that.”

  She giggled as she finished wiping down my hair. I don’t know why but it seemed like she enjoyed it.

  “Ken is such a knucklehead sometimes, you always forget about the thing you’re doing”

  “Not true at all! It’s not like we’re doing anything important in the first pce…”

  “Mmmh, really?”

  “Ah…Well…” I timidly scratched my cheeks.

  I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be talking about something important right now…

  Oh right, the fact that I’m leaving.

  “Hehe…See?”

  “....”

  I sat silent, watching the joyful changes of her expression.

  Remembering that I have to leave this person beside me today, my chest felt heavy as if it was being filled with lead.

  “Hey, are you still listening?”

  “Mmhmm… I’m sorry.”

  I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t want to say anything.

  I just wanted for this moment to st forever.

  “Really… You’re realllllly hopeless!”

  “Geh–”

  She flicked my forehead, snapping me back into reality.

  The star shaped neckce she wore reflected the brilliant light of the sun.

  “Just make sure– Really make sure you come back next summer, okay?”

  “Hopefully…”

  Her cute face switches to that of dissatisfaction.

  “Mmph, I don’t see a lot of confidence in that answer.”

  “Then, why don’t you give me a reason why I should come back no matter what?”

  “Eh? Ummmmmm….”

  I watched her scrunched up her face in deliberation.

  I already have plenty of reasons why I would want to come back, but I wanted to hear something from her own words.

  “Oh! I have one!”

  “What is it?”

  She jumped off the rock, standing right in front of my view of the ocean, the waves moving as if it was giving a push to share her words.

  “Here.”

  She took off the neckce she was wearing and presented it to me.

  “This is a neckce my father gave to me…I really love it…”

  She looked up towards the sky, silently reminiscing the memories of her father.

  “That’s why, no matter what, you have to return it to me!”

  “Eh!? What now??”

  She grabbed my hands and forcibly pced the neckce in it as she closed it herself.

  “Why do you look so surprised?”

  “I mean…!”

  I looked at her face, still hidden from the blinding rays of the sun.

  “Isn’t it important to you? You know me right!? What if I lose it o-or…”

  “If you’re that worried then return it to me by then. I’ll be waiting.”

  She lets go of my hands and turned her back against me.

  "I realllllyyy trust you. That's why I know you'll come back to me. Okay?"

  Her white dress fluttered in the wind as she held back her hair.

  “Ken…!! Where are you!? We’re about to leave soon!”

  The voice of a woman echoes through the woods behind me. The voice of my mother.

  “Come on, they’re looking for you.”

  “Why now…!?”'

  Irritated, I turn to face where the voice came from.

  The calls of my mom grew louder and louder.

  Eventually, she came right out of the forest.

  “Mmmhm! I already told you kids to not come here right? It’s really dangerous here.”

  “Mo…ther?”

  “Hmm? What’s the matter Ken? Come on, let’s leave already.”

  I stood frozen as I saw her figure.

  She looked older than what I know, but it was a sight that I have seen before.

  Ah...that's right.

  “H–Hghk!”

  “Wh-what’s the matter Ken!? Are you alright??”

  My head started to ache at the sight of her.

  There was something out of pce here, no.

  Somebody was out of pce here.

  “A-Ah!?”

  The ground below us started to shake, I could her the girl yelp right behind me,

  “Oh no..!” Mom gasped, “What are you standing around for!? Hurry up and grab her, Ken!!”

  “Hgghk..!”

  I fell to my knees and clenched my head, it felt like somebody was pricking my head with hundreds of tiny needles.

  “Ken!!”

  “Ah.”

  Both of them called me at once.

  I was finally reminded why I was here. I enjoyed too much of my time staying being here.

  “Mom…!”

  I raised my head up and she wasn’t even there anymore.

  That’s how it was supposed to be. She wasn't meant to be here when it happened.

  It was just a reminder for me to wake up once again.

  I stood up, and lunged right towards the girl as the ground crumbled beneath us.

  “Aaaaaaahh!!”

  “Hck!”

  We were falling, a few hundred feet off the water.

  The sight of the steep cliff walls raced at the edge of my vision.

  I extended my arm, as much as I could, trying to reach the hand of the girl in front of me.

  “Aaaah!!”

  I yelled, a helpless howl. As I would never reach her hand.

  Just like always, once again. It wouldn’t.

  “Hgggghk!?”

  As I blinked, my head hit something solid.

  It sounded more of a thunk than a spsh.

  Another sound kept growing louder in my ears, the sound of a car’s horn.

  Opening my eyes, I noticed that my head hit the gss of a car window.

  “Phew! That was a close one!”

  A gruff, yet jovial tone of an old man echoed inside the car.

  Oh, I’m in a car.

  This is where I was supposed to be.

  Lifting my head up, I opened my mouth.

  “Would it kill you to drive more carefully!”

  I barked at the person in the driver's seat. It was my Dad.

  “Sorry! Sorry! A cat suddenly ran across the road, you know? Did I wake you up?”

  “....”

  Do I even need to answer?

  “Don’t go back to sleep again! Mom is waiting for us, you wouldn't want to talk to her sleepy like that, right?"

  “....It’s ok.”

  I straightened my back and nestled in the soft back seat of our car.

  The seat beside my Dad was empty, it has been that way for a long time now.

  A space left for someone who isn't in this world anymore.

  “Besides, I don’t wanna sleep again."

  I turned to the window beside me. The familiar view of the ocean greeted me with its splendor, I can't help but clench the neckce I had on my chest to point of bleeding.

  The st thing that remained from her.

  “I had a shitty dream.”