Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Return To Innocence ❯ The White Feather ( Chapter 5 )

She waited at the steps of their favorite little coffee shop, the aroma of freshly ground beans
wafted onto the street. She reveled in that smell. The increasingly cold October breeze suddenly
picked up and she pulled both her sweater and scarf a little closer to her body and took a sip of
her own cup of coffee. The scolding liquid burned down her throat, but she didn't care.

She looked at her watch, 09:15:27. Yukari was late. Or was it just that she herself was
uncharacteristically early. She had been at the small café since eight that morning. That meant
she was already a full hour early. But she had been right in her first statement. Yukari was late.
She stared off, looking at nothing in particular. The early morning crowd was milling around.
Businessmen and women were pushing in and out of the coffee shop and through the streets.
They obviously had somewhere important to be. Hitomi didn't.

The breeze came up again, cool but not bitter.

The breeze. This simple act of nature unwittingly brought up a forgotten image in Hitomi's
minnd. A flock of birds, a soft hail of white feathers. She thought on this. Must have been a
dream she had once had. Yes, that was it. She remembered now. She had been on a grassy cliff with a striking, albeit, savage looking young man. The breeze playing with their hair. There had been words, but they were lost to her now. There had been a sound, a song of some sort, then came the white. The birds, the shower of feathers. Yes, that dream, that young man. Both had haunted her for three years now.

She was still battling that all out in therapy. She had finally accepted that everything she had
thought she rememberd of that fateful week, was all an illusion. Some twisted trick of the mind.
She had been found in a park amongst the trees, and for the longest time she couldn't remember
anything. She didn't recognize her home, her family, even the world in general. All she talked
about or even thought about was this strange world she `thought' she had been transported to.
But eventually she had accepted that as just one long horrible dream. She had finally gotten over
it for the most part, except for those persistent dreams. The face of that young man wouldn't
leave her be. It was always close at hand, just to taunt her. Who was he?

"It was all just a dream." she whispered, trying to reassure herself.

"What was?"

Hitomi jumped at this. She turned to face the voice that had startled her.

"Yukari!" she squealed at her friend. Yukari laughed. So did Hitomi gradually, forgetting about
the man. After their bout of laughter, Yukari looked at her friend questioningly.

"I'm serious Hitomi. What was all just a dream?"

"Oh, nothing." Hitomi covered for herself. She didn't want to yet again bother her best friend
with mental problems. She waved her hand as if to physically dismiss the subject. Yukari
looked at her, disapprovingly.

"It's not those dreams again, is it? Man, Hitomi, I thought you'd worked that all out with your
shrink."

"No, it doesn't matter." she gave a weak smile, again trying to be subtle while changing the
subject. Yukari gave that look once again. Almost like that of a mother silently scolding a child
for dwelling on something bad. Then her mood changed altogether.

"So, what shall we do today?" she asked, full of spirit.

"Um, well, I thought that maybe we could back inside and get some more coffee." Hitomi shook
her now empty cardboard cup. Yukari giggled.

"You really are becoming a caffeine junking, aren't you." she continued to giggle.

"Yes, well, it's helping me stay awake." She was suddenly struck with images from the past. The
train. Yukari sitting beside her.

`I'm always so tired. Everyone is so full of energy but I'm not.'

Hitomi shook her head to rid herself of these memories. At least those ones where real, she
thought to herself.

"OK, let's go then." Yukari grabbed Hitomi's wrist and began to pull her into the café again.
"More caffeine please!" she yelled out as they entered.

********************************************************* **************

"Why so quiet, Hitomi?" Yukari asked. It was around supper time and she was walking Hitomi
home.

"I don't really know." Hitomi answered. "I guess I've run out of things to say." she smiled at her
friend. Yukari nodded, though Hitomi had the feeling that she didn't quite understand. They
walked for about another block in silence, the only sounds heard where those of the night. Their
shoes hitting the cracked pavement, an owl's wings rustling, the breeze making the leaves in the
trees dance. Finally they came upon Hitomi's house.

"Well, bye." She didn't really know what else to say. She waved to her friend, who looked a little hurt by her sudden departure and few words.

"O-okay then, I'll see you tomorrow then?" she responded softly. Hitomi nodded as she
slipped in the front door withuot answering.

What was wrong with her? Why so quiet and unsociable all of a sudden? She hated this feeling.
She had felt like this before. She thought that she had left this all behind.

"Hitomi? Is that you?" her mother's voice called from the other room.

"Ya mom." she called back.

"Oh, good. Dinner's ready."

"I'm not really hungry, I'm just going to go up to my room." She saw her mother emerge from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a tea towel, a questioning look on her face.

"Alright then. Good night honey." she smiled and went back into the kitchen.

Hitomi sighed. She was hungry. Why had she said she wasn't? I just don't want to be around
anyone right now, she answered herself. She slightly smiled to herself. Oh great. Now I'm
answering my own questions. Maybe I am crazy.

She walked up the stairs to her room. She walked around, changing into her pajamas and pulling her hair out of it's ponytail. It fell to just past her shoulders now. She didn't want it really long, but having it cut short had reminded her of things that weren't suppose to exist. So she had let it grow out a bit. Again she sighed, then turned out her lights. Walking through the relative
darkness, the moonlight coming in through the window.

She walked over to her bed, pulled back the covers and slid under them. Ah yes, a nice warm
bed. She lay there on her side, moon shining on her face, eyes closed. She was just on the verge of sleep when she heard something. A noise.

I wish that you'd come back to me Hitomi.

"Hello?" she asked of the darkness. "Is anyone there?"

I whish it with all my heart and soul.

She must be imagining this. She didn't just hear a voice call her name. No, it was all just a
dream, or a hallucination. She placed her hands on her ears and shook her head. She didn't hear anything. She hadn't heard that.

She took her hands away and heard nothing but the movements of the people down stairs. Her
parents. OK, everything's normal.

She fell back into her bed, her head hitting the pillow. There was something behind it. She
turned around, twisting her bed sheets and looked down at her pillow. There, revealed by the
light of the moon, was a beautiful white feather. Hitomi's eyes went wide. She felt like she
wanted to scream, but nothing came out. Then all went dark. Silence. Blissful silence.