The city was always bustling and music was always playing. The smoky blue mountain sat on the edge of the city. It blocked off our world from a different one. I hiked up the mountain one day to catch a glimpse of the town that it hid. The town was quiet and the air was crisp. Every person in the town was silent. There was no gossip. There was no music.
I hiked down the mountain to see this town. Each house was unique in design and similar in color. A young boy sat at the edge of the mountain on a rock. The boy's face was pale and ghostly.  I found it strange that this boy wasn't in a large group of people.
"What is your name?" I asked.
The boy looked up at me, confused.
I changed the question, "How old are you?"
The boy put up four fingers, still silent.
"Why are you all alone?" I asked.
The boy pointed to the mountain and he spoke, "My family is coming in a few years."
I looked over the mountain staring at a group of hikers that reached the peak. The boy sat still. "Where are they?" I asked.
"My family will come in a few years. They have to come, won't they?" The boy said.
"They should as long as they know where you are," I said to comfort the kid, then I asked, "Why did you come here?"
The boy stated sadly, "The river sent me here a year ago."
An eerie feel began to form in my gut. I asked the boy, "What river, there are no rivers here?"
"The river that I fell in," the boy said.
I looked over at the town once again. A few people began to form around us, all sharing the same ghostly look as the boy. I asked the boy, "Can you swim?"
The boy looked up at me with a strained look in his eyes. "No."
Nothing about this place felt right. The silence of the townspeople. The kid alone. The eerie death in the people's expression.

I took one last look at the boy told him, "I have to go, you can come with me if you want. We can find your parents."
"I can't," the boy said, "you are the first one to leave. No one else can. We are all here waiting. I will see you again someday. Goodbye."
"Goodbye kid."
I traveled back up the smoky blue mountain, never looking back until I was at the top. I saw the town, silent as ever. The kid was out of my view, blending into the rest of the lifeless town. I was never going back.