Echoing Silence

A Chance of Happiness Chapter 14: Echoing Silence

The forest chirped with life as the wind carried the scents of nature all around. The open blue sky was covered by the overhanging trees, creating a pattern from the sunlight piercing through them. The constant flow of water from a nearby stream echoed as a young girl ran along the trail with a young boy following behind her. The girl's beautiful light brown hair and hazel eyes demanded the attention of everything in the area. The boy following her was out of breath, his dark blue hair covering his bright blue eyes.

“Keep up slowpoke!” The girl walked further down the trail, approaching the stream just off the trail. “It’s over here!”

The girl looked around to see a tree that had fallen over, reaching all the way across the gap to the other side of the stream.

“We can cross here! Come on!” The girl climbed onto the tree, waving the boy over.

“Wait!” The boy ran up to the tree, resting on its side as he caught his breath. “It’s dangerous… we really shouldn’t…”

“Don’t be such a wimp! We’re not even that far above the stream!”

“It’s still dangerous!”

“It’s fine!” The girl took a couple steps back on the tree. “See?”

“Fujimura! Please!”

“If you want me to get down then just come up here and get me!” she taunted as she continued further across the tree. “Stop being a baby and get over here Ver–” Ayaka turned around to see that the boy was no longer there. “non…” She took a couple steps back towards the side she came from. “Hey… stop playing games… where’d you go–”

A few pieces of bark broke off the tree where she was standing, throwing off her balance. The water splashed, drenching her head to toe as she fell into the water below. The trees blocked out the sun entirely, and the stream’s cold water was already starting to numb her toes. She gripped her now reddened ankle as she looked around. The boy was nowhere to be found. Her eyes flooded with water from a source other than the stream as her breathing rapidly increased.

“Please… don’t go…” The girl called, but only silence echoed back at her.

Ayaka sat in her bed, face buried in her pillow.

“Stupid, idiot, moron, dork…” Ayaka continued spouting insults as she stamped her feet repeatedly on her mattress.

“Is saying all these things… really making you feel better?” Midori’s voice came from her side.

Ayaka turned to her side, picking up her phone. “No! It isn’t! I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

“Maybe you should–”

“Maybe it’s not me!”

“What?”

“Maybe it’s him! He’s the problem!”

“I don’t think–”

“It MUST be him! He said all that stupid crap after not talking to me for months!”

“But you said he apologized…”

“In the most annoying way possible! He nearly got both of us in trouble on the first day!”

“Maybe it wasn’t his intention to upset you. He even said so himself.”

“Then why would he say all those things in the first place?!”

“I… I don’t know…”

Ayaka turned to her side, showing a solemn expression. “I’m sorry, Midori. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“I know. You’re just upset. You knew this boy growing up didn’t you?”

“Well… yeah…”

“And you two would go places together a lot right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you like this boy right?”

“Well… yea– No! Nononono!” Ayaka quickly corrected herself, sitting up straight on her bed. Midori held the phone away from her ear from the sudden volume change. “Wh– Wh– What makes you think I like him?!”

“Well, he’s all you’ve been talking about, even earlier today at lunch. You’ve also brought him up a bunch before now.”

“T-That's not true… I–I don’t talk about him a lot…” Ayaka raised her knees and wrapped her arms around them, her cheeks and ears showing faint redness. “B-Besides… he stopped hanging around me around the end of junior high. He didn’t even give me a reason and just started avoiding me. We really… haven’t talked since.”

“Why would he just start avoiding you?”

“I… I don’t know…” Ayaka pulled her legs closer to her chest, thinking to herself as a depressed expression crept across her face. “I do know. I’ve just been lying to myself to make myself feel better.” She looked up to see a photo of the two of them in the corner of her room, grinning like idiots. “I’m selfish, self-absorbed, and arrogant. I’d always make him do things he wasn’t always comfortable with, but he’d always play along. I’d haphazardly make sarcastic remarks at him that he clearly didn’t like. I never considered his feelings or wants, I just stuck to my own agenda. It was me… it was always… me.” Ayaka buried her head in her knees, tears starting to stream down her face. “I was always the problem.” she whispered.

“What did you say?”

“N-Nothing. I was just thinking to myself.” Ayaka spoke softly.

“Oh… ok…” Midori held the phone away from her face, looking at it in concern. “Are you–”

Ayaka wiped some of the tears from her eyes. “Sorry, Midori. It… It’s getting late. I think I’m gonna go to bed now… y’know with school in the morning and all. Thanks for talking to me tonight…” Ayaka turned, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“Su– Sure… but Ayaka…”

“Hm?”

“If you don’t know why he started avoiding you…”

“Then why don’t you just ask?” Jin and Midori spoke together on their separate calls.

Vernon and Ayaka smiled the same, empty smile, looking at the same photo of them in each of their rooms. “Why bother? I think the answer’s pretty clear already…” Both of them thought to themselves. “He(She) hates me.”

The eerie silence from the forest was the girl's only response to her calls. But only for a moment. A series of rapid splashes approached her from behind. As she turned, she saw the boy running towards her at full speed.

“Stupid, idiot, moron, dork… what were you thinking!” The boy yelled at her as she stared at him, speechless. “You could’ve seriously gotten hurt!” He looked her up and down and pulled her out of the stream. “Don’t move your ankle, you might sprain it even more… and you’re freezing! Why are you just sitting there?!”

The boy continued to spout insults at her while she simply continued to stare. Almost as if she were in a trance.

“Are you even listening–”

“You’re still here?” she finally managed to speak.

“Of course I am! And don’t ever call me a wimp again!” The boy got to his feet and began to help her to her feet. “Now get on my back and hold on, I’ll carry you back to town.”

The girl wrapped herself and stabilized her position on the boys back as they began to walk towards the town in the distance.

“I’m not going anywhere.” The boy grinned, glancing back at the girl. “After all… you’re hopeless without me.” He paused, facing forward. “And I’m… hopeless without you…”

Vernon and Ayaka laid face up in their beds, surrounded by complete silence and darkness aside from the faint glow of the moon. They covered their mouths and wiped the tears as they overflowed from their eyes. The silence remained, but even so, to them, it was deafening.