Are You Here?

Chapter One

Rain was never lonely. As the Queen of Syre, she was always be busy. Not that she minded at all, though. In fact, Rain loved to do her duty more than anything else in the world. Her life was perfect, and she loved every second of it.

"Hey, Rainie!" came the deep voice of Rain's best friend, Mai. "You almost done?"

Of course, Rain was just finished with her work. Her life fell into place as if there was some force planning it. One event happened right after the previous one was finished. It was utter perfection.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, excited to spend the rest of her day with her absolutely favorite person in the entire world. "Let's go."

Mai and Rain headed to their go-to hang out place: a large willow tree with just enough shade to cover the two of them. It sat right on the outskirts of the main city and overlooked a smaller town. Right next to the tree was a quaint little house, close enough for them to look inside, but far enough away to not look suspicious when spying. That was the house where Christian lived.

The girls called him Christian the Cutie, and he was. With brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes and ears jutting out just so, Christian was the epitome of a girl's dream. Unlucky for Mai, but lucky for Rain, it seemed as if Christian was into Rain.

Christian was the two friends' favorite topic outside of Rain's constant responsibilities. The two spent hours planning their wedding: Mai's in a wooded forest, Rain's in the traditional flower garden. It was custom in Syre to be wed in a flower garden, and it just so happened that Rain loved the smell of flowers. It was as if it was destiny.

As if on cue, Christian the Cutie stuck his head out the window of his house nearest the tree and waved to Rain and Mai. Rain could feel her heart flutter fast, but she tried to put on a confident grin. Mai looked at her in amazement.

"How do you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Act so cool and calm around boys! You look completely casual!" Mai exclaimed. Rain shrugged nonchalantly at Mai, secretly proud of herself, and waved back at Christian. He held up one finger as if to say, Wait and ducked his head back into his house. A few minutes later, he appeared at the front of his house and began to walk towards her. Mai shrieked quietly and clamped a tight hand around Rain's arm.

Christian strode over confidently. He had almost reached the tree when all of a sudden, he disappeared.

Huh? Rain thought, looking around for him. She spotted him, back at his house, walking over to her again, as if nothing had happened. She glanced over at Mai who had her hand still clamped onto Rain's arm. Mai didn't seem to have noticed either. Christian strode back over to where the girls were sitting.

"Hey!" He said, grinning his bright, gleaming smile. Rain studied him closely. He gave no indication of the fact that he had taken his walk twice. In fact, neither did Mai. It was if it had never happened. Christian noticed Rain's confused expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking adorably concerned. Rain shook her head. She must be seeing things. That was weird. Probably the strangest thing that ever happened in her entire life, but it must not have happened if her friend didn't notice.

"Oh, it's really nothing." She said, shrugging it off. Christian brightened.

"Good. Because I wanted to talk to you," he said, putting his hands in his pockets, suddenly nervous. He glanced in Mai's direction. "Alone, please," he said politely. Mai nodded excitedly and stood up, giving her friend a encouraging squeeze before walking away. Rain looked at her friend walking away, then back at Christian the Cutie.

Oh boy.