Here's the part 2 of Yume no Kawa.
I want to make it short but it went a little bit too long
If you want to review, part one is
hereHope you enjoy this story
YUME NO KAWA
Part Two of Two
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After that incident, we often meet at the riverside. We get to know each other for more. Her name is Maeda Atsuko and she is in the same age with me. She moved here and living together with her mother. She said that they often move from one place to another, avoiding her father. Her father is an alcoholic and often hits them when he gets drunk. Her mother can’t stand against him and divorced but her father still pestering them, burst into house and beat them brutally. They have been continuously moving from one place to another for years to avoid her father. This time is the longest they have stayed. They have stayed here for six months, which meant we have getting along for six months.
She said that her mother is busy working and rarely accompany her. She often takes a walk by herself to lessen the boring day. One day, she went to the woods in the middle of night and saw the spectacular Yume no Kawa. She came again the next day but there’s nothing just a plain river. That’s why she often gets here and sailing on the wooden boat, waiting for that scenery once again. She went to library and accidentally found a story book named Yume no Kawa, that’s where she believes that scenery will appear again in starry night.
“Atsuko, you know what? Two days later there will be a meteor shower”
“Really?” she claps her hands together in excitement.
“Since it is meteor shower, that means the sky will be full of stars~”
“Which means, it will be a starry night…”
“You will take me there, right?” I pointed the direction across the river, “Yume no Kawa”
“Sure, let’s meet here two days later”
Two days later… who knows what will happened… who knows…I was excited to think about that, to see that spectacular scenery of a life time. From what I heard from Atsuko, Yume no Kawa is really something amazing which makes you feel like you’re living in a fairy tale. When that night comes, everything turned like magical world where the water is glowing, the grass, flowers, fireflies and all the living around will dancing in harmonies.
Too much for coincidence, two days later is my grandpa’s birthday. I was planning to take him along to see the river. Right when I arrived in front of my house, it’s in mess. There are some police cars parked near my house and neighbors are gathering around. The fences are broken and my grandpa’s favorite plants were scattering on the ground. I pressed my mouth when I saw the officers bring out my grandpa’s body. His face is pale and I can see blood dropping on the ground from the cloth that covered his body. I rushed toward to hug my grandpa, I was crying and screaming at my grandpa hoping that he will open his eyes. I keep holding his hand when the officer trying to pull me away from my grandpa.
“NO! Grandpa! Grandpa! Open your eyes and look at me, I am Minami! Grandpa!”
Why is this happening… WHY?!Grandpa is fine when I left, he said we’ll eat katsudon tonight. He will cook katsudon for me… I am home, Grandpa… I am home now. Where are you going?
One of the officers calmed me down and brought me into the house. We sat on the sofa and he told me what happened. There’s a criminal in escape from neighborhood town. Coincidentally, he was snatching a woman’s pouch right in front of my house. Grandpa saw it and went to help the women but that criminal has knife. They have a fight, he stabbed my grandpa and pushed him inside the house, taking all the valuable things and ran away.
“Minami!”
I turned to see my mother is running toward me and hugging me tightly. I hugged back and burying my face on her shoulder, crying out as loud as I can. My mother strokes my head gently and whispers at me that everything is gonna be okay. She is here for me, don’t be afraid… I cry and cry until I fall asleep in my mother’s embrace.
The next morning when I opened my eyes, I was in a different place. This is not Grandpa’s house. The door knocked and I saw my mother walks in. She sat next to me and kissed my forehead.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine…” I leaned back and looked at my surroundings, “Where are we?”
“We’re in hotel. I finished you grandpa’s burial yesterday” she put an urn on the table. It must be grandpa’s ashes urn. “Hurry and change your clothes, I don’t want to miss the schedule”
“Where are we going?”
“Tokyo. You’re going to live with me now…”
“Where’s father? He’s not here?”
There was a silent filled the room. I can see tear begins to form in mother’s eyes. She wiped it and smiled at me. The same gentle smile she always shows me but I can feel sadness in her eyes. She didn’t answer my question and told me to change quickly. She said the next train will arrive in fifteen minutes and she’ll be waiting at the reception. I changed my clothes quickly, took the urn and went to reception. I saw my mother is talking on the phone emotionally and her eyes are red. Before I could reach her, I heard their conversation.
“I’ve signed the divorce statement. I’ll give it to you as soon as Minami and I arrived in Tokyo”
I can’t bear to hear that and run away from the hotel. Why are they getting divorce? Is that father doesn’t love me anymore? Why are they leaving me? I ran away from the hotel back to grandpa’s house. When I arrived there, it’s nothing but an empty room. I bit my lips and walking around to recall the memories I spent with grandpa. Tears can’t stop flowing from my eyes. Hugging my grandpa’s ashes urn in my arms, I recalled the last day being with him.
“You seem excited to see meteor shower” grandpa is laughing at me while I’m arranging my painting tools. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna do painting when the event happens”
“Of course, I want to capture that moment”
He is laughing at me and stopped my hand, “Minami, painting is just transferring what’s in your heart on the piece of paper. You should enjoy it, keep that in your heart and it’ll last forever”
I sighed and moving out the tools from my bag, accidentally I dropped my sketch book and it flipped on the pages where I drew the imagination of Yume no Kawa. I drew it based on what I heard from Atsuko. Grandpa seemed to startle a bit to see that drawing and picked it up. While staring at it, he asked me about the drawing.
“Where did you get this drawing?” he asked.
“That is Yume no Kawa, I drew it based on what my friend told me. She saw it once in the middle of starry night. I’ll go with her to see this scenery three days later when the meteor shower is happening. Do you want to tag along?”
Grandpa just smiled at me and guided me to sit on the sofa, “I saw it once when I was about your age”
“You saw it once?!” I am surprise to hear that.
Grandpa went to his room and came out with a story book in his hands. He handed me the book and I looked at the cover, “Yume no Kawa…”
“It’s a story book I got from my grandpa, your great grandpa. He loves telling me this story… it’s about a young man who never stops pursuing her dream to be an artist, he loves painting and travelling around the world to be an artist. Sadly, there’s a rival who jealous at his achievement and killed him in the middle of the night. That guy throws young man’s body into the river and left” he flipped the pages and showing me a literature of Yume no Kawa.
“He died on the middle of the night where the sky is full of stars. Natural is calling his name, trees, flowers, stars were crying and the river starts to glowing blue in grief for the young man. Since then, when the night sky is full of stars the river will be glowing blue. People called that river, Yume no Kawa – River of Dream to reminisce the young man”
Grandpa continued, “At first, I thought it’s just a bedtime story for kids. Then, one day, I saw this scenery, exactly like what it was told about. This is why I start to like painting and I even built a workshop in the woods. But I never see that scenery ever again”
“Won’t you come with me, grandpa” I stand up and give him a thumb, “I’ll take you there~ Let’s see that Yume no Kawa together!”
I’ll take you there, grandpa… definitely…“Minami!”
I snapped back to reality when I heard someone is calling my name. My mother is calling me from afar and I can hear her voice is coming closer. I don’t want to go with her, I don’t want to go to Tokyo… I don’t want my parents get divorce. Holding my grandpa’s ashes urn tightly in my arms, I ran away from the window. I keep running and running until my tears dried, until my shoes tore… until I feel hard to breath… until my legs are sore and falling to the ground. I lay on the ground and crying out loud. I can’t really accept the fact that my grandpa is leaving me and my parents is going to divorce. Don’t they love each other? Don’t they love me?
“Minami…” someone tapped on my shoulder.
I lifted my head and saw Atsuko’s face. I immediately wrapped my arms around her neck the moment I saw her. I pulled her and hugged her tightly, crying on her shoulder. I cried and told her everything, how I fell at this moment. How they are leaving me… She strokes my back gently and let me to cry until I feel better. All I want now is just being by her side.
“Minami…” she whispered beside my ear and withdrawing herself from my hug. “I’m sorry…”
I have a bad feeling when she said sorry. I put my hand on my chest, waiting for her to continue.
“My father came yesterday… my mother and I can’t stay here any longer, I have to leave this town…” she pulled me in her embrace, “I come here to bid you farewell”
“Can’t you stay more longer? We’re going to see the river tonight, right?”
“I’m sorry, Minami. I have to go…”
Overwhelmed by the sadness and the anger inside my heart, I pushed her away.
“Why everyone is leaving?! Why everyone is leaving me?! Fine, I will go by myself. I don’t need your help, I will find the river by myself”
Picking up my grandpa’s ashes urn, I start to run into the woods. I can hear Atsuko is calling at me far behind but I ignored her. She promised me… she promised me to watch that scenery together but she broke it. I don’t want to see her anymore, I don’t want to see anyone… I want to be alone… I want to be alone…
I ran inside the woods and stopped by grandpa’s workshop, a small hut built by wood. The workshop is near the entrance, you’ll only have to walk in ten minutes. Inside the workshop is full of dust and leaves scattered on the ground. It’s been a long time since the last time I came here. Grandpa’s paintings are placed neatly at the edge of the room, carving tolls were placed neatly on the table. Walking to the centre of this room, I placed the urn on the ground and lay beside it. Looking at the transparent roof above me, I can see the sun is setting down. Crimson clouds are slowly disappeared, replaced by the raven cloud. I close my eyes and waiting for the moon to come out.
When the night comes, I took a flashlight from the drawer and went further inside the woods. It was chill and cold in the night. It’s dark here… All of the sudden, there’s thunder and lightning appeared on the sky. A lightning struck straight at the trees few steps in front of me. I was thrown on the ground, far by the pressure and one of the branches dropped on my right leg. I scream out loud as the pain going through my body. I used all my strength to push away the branches but the pain is killing me. Just by moving my leg a little, the pain become heavier.
Drop…Drop…SHAAAASSHHHH…It’s raining… the sky is raining… the rain is pouring down on my face, my body like they are crying for me or they are pulling leg on me? Today is gonna have meteor shower, why do you have to rain? The stars won’t come out if you keep pour down the water behind clouds. Tears and the raindrop are mixing on my face. Lost in my thought, suddenly I heard some weird sound coming from the bushes not far from me. The bushes began to shake heavily when the sound comes nearer. It is so dark here since I’ve lost my flashlight. I am scared… I don’t want to be alone… I wish to have someone by my side. I look round to search for grandpa’s urn and reached it when I spotted it. Placing my forehead on top of the urn, I am calling my grandpa, telling him I was so scared and being alone here… in the dark…
“Minami! What are you doing there?!”
I turned my face and saw Atsuko is running to me. She is soaking wet in the rain too… is she looking for me? Is she coming for me? Is my wishing got answered? I feel relieve to see her here. I do nothing but sobbing hard at her. She saw my leg is pinned down by the branch and come over to move it. She tried to make a room between the branch and my leg. I saw her face becomes red as she put all her strength to move the branch.
“Minami, can you move your leg?”
I didn’t reply her and gritted my teeth, trying to move my wounded leg. It’s really hurt when I try to move a bit. Using both my hands, I tried to pull it away from the branch that Atsuko holds. She growled as she reached her limit. “Minami, hurry! I can’t hold it!”
Just when I move my leg away, her hand loose and dropped the branch.. luckily, the branch dropped just an inch beside my wounded leg. I let out a heavy breath and get up to thank her. Before I can mutter a word, she slapped me. I look directly to her and saw her red eyes, don’t know it were red after crying or angry about me. I can’t tell if they were tears or raindrop running down on her face. She raised her hand like she is about to give me another slap, but she stopped before her hand touch my cheek.
“Because of you I am soaking wet in this dark moist place, because of you my shoes were torn, because of you my hands are sore of pulling that stupid branch, because of you I left my mother alone and missed the train, because of you, your mother is crying all day searching for you!” she holds my hand and dragged me along, “Let’s go home”
“NO!” I shook of her hand and fell to the ground because my leg can’t stand to walk, “I don’t want to go home. She will take me to Tokyo and they will divorce! I don’t want it happen!”
“Don’t you care about your mother? Please think about her, don’t be naïve!” she pulled me again, forced me to walk with her.
“Not until I see the river!” I pushed her away.
“It’s raining! No stars! No river! Go home!” she came to pulled me again.
I am struggling against her while holding my grandpa’s urn. “I promised! I promised grandpa to take him along to see the river… to day is his birthday… I promised…”
After hearing this, I feel her grip on me loosen. She kneeled in front of me and cupped my face, murmured “I’m sorry” before pulled me in her embrace. We stayed like that for a while then she pulled back and offering her hands to me.
“Can you walk?”
I was hesitantly lifted up my hand. Suddenly the rains stopped and moon shows herself between the clouds, the shimmering light fell on her beauty. All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow. I hold her hand and took one step closer to her. Her smile is showing me confident which I can’t tell.
“Let’s go to see Yume no Kawa”
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We were holding hand and walking further into the woods. It’s strange but somehow the moonlight is guiding us the way. It was all dark here but there’s a ray forming road in front of us. Don’t know how long we’re walking on this endless road but I’m not afraid as long as she is next to me, as long as I’m still holding her hand. It feels so warm with her around me. Not long after I heard sound of water flowing. A small wooden boat slightly showed itself not far ahead from us.
Me and Atsuko start running toward that wooden boat. As we run to the boat, our surroundings begin to change. I saw the trees were not gloomy in dark but they are glowing in cheer, even the flowers and grasses seem like they are dancing within the breeze and the fireflies were dancing around us. Just before of our eyes, a broadly, darkly and deeply river is flowing. Once we reached the boat, we glance at each other with smiling face and jumped onto it, driving the boat to the centre of the river. I lifted up my head and see the sky is filled with beautiful stars. Those stars are line up, forming a road like it is the way to heaven.
We were still holding hand and enjoying the sight from the centre of this river. Not long after, the river is glowing brightly continue by a rainbow appeared in the night sky. I was amazed by these spectacular views and shed my tears. “Grandpa, we’re here. Look, this is Yume no Kawa”
“Happy birthday grandpa” I opened the urn and took some ashes and threw it to the river, “You must be longing for this. I will leave you here… to live within this river… hope you can find your way to heaven”
After the urn is empty, I sat back and sobbing. Atsuko put her hands on top of mine and wipes my tears with the other hand. “Don’t cry anymore. Let’s continue to see this beautiful moment”
“Un…”
We lay on the boat side by side, let it flows along with the river, enjoying this peaceful moment.
“It would be nice if I never get back to the shore” I sighed. “If I back to the shore, I will have to leave this town”
“Then… don’t” Atsuko simply smiled at me, “I will have to leave this town too if I get back to the shore. I wish we can stay like this forever~”
“Atsuko, I–”
Before I can continue, I feel dizzy, my head is turning upside down and my eyelids are heavy. I can feel Atsuko is placing her palm on my forehead then moved to my neck. With my blurry vision, I can still see her worried face.
“Minami, your body is hot… you’re having fever. Let’s get back to the shore”
She drives the boat back to the shore but I stopped her. I hold her hands with my weak body and shaking my head in disapproval. She is insisting to bring me home and we nearly have a fight. Suddenly, like a lightning struck in my head, I lose control of my body and fell down to the water. The water calmed me down, but it also pulled me down… I feel like I was being pulled into the deep and dark place.
“Minami!”
When I woke up, I am in Tokyo. My parents divorced and I live with mother. Years passed, I still love paintings. Everyday I put my efforts in paintings, drawing all the memories we’ve shared, all the sunsets we’ve seen, all the things we’ve gone through together. Every subjects in my paintings will always be you… and the river you took me to… Yume no Kawa… if you ever see the paintings I made for you, please find me… I just want to know how have you been, I miss you…
Flashback EndThus who couple seeing Yume no Kawa together will be gifted eternal bond to live happily together…Minami sighed, “I guess the ending is not happening to me…”
She looked at her watch which showing 7 in the evening. It’s time for her to close the museum. This paintings museum is owned by Minami after years of her achievement. Almost all of the paintings showing in this museum are made by her. Other than that are made by other famous artist or even by her friends. She carefully checks inside the museum one more time to make sure all visitors have gone.
When she traveled the place where her famous painting was, she saw a person standing there. "I'm sorry, we're closing..."
The woman has shoulder length black hair and is wearing white dress, resembles the girl in her painting. As she walks closer, her heart is beating in anxious. She is familiar with this feeling, she is familiar with her scent… slowly reached out her hand to call the girl, Minami paused at the moment when the girl turned back to face Minami.
"Is that me? Which you drew in this painting"
Both girls are staring at each other with smile on their face…
I guess the ending of the story happens to me…
That's the end of Yume no Kawa.
For Atsumina (Acchan's graduation)
Just like this story, although they have different views and got separated. In the end, I hope they will meet each other again and be together
Hope you like this story~
How do you think about it?
Topic: ✰Ichikawa の short stories✰ -- My First You (Read 55966 times)