Rain

• Maya Houston, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

The rain is my best friend. As it cascades down from the blackened sky outside my window, lively little raindrops racing each other down the misty glass pane, I can’t help but feel at ease. The light pitter-patter of rainfall as it plummets to the ground just has a way of soothing me, like a baby falling asleep to white noise.
As the rain gets heavier, scattered showers turning into a roaring downpour, the rest of the world fades away entirely. The hammering noise of the torrent outside resonates throughout this dimly lit room, filling my ears and drowning out all the screams, gunshots and blaring sirens. The sudden claps of thunder flood my brain and allow me to forget everything. The sorry smiles. The distant voices. The looks I was given as I was left here. Looks of false reassurance, lying without words. Looks that said, ‘You’ll be okay’, but eyes that held only defeat. Dull, lifeless eyes…
The memories fade to black, my mind consisting only of grey clouds and pelting rainfall. The flood washes away the pain, the anger, the grief, until there is nothing else left. Just the rain.
The only times I ever truly feel at peace are when it’s raining. Rainy days are my safe place. My sanctuary. They’ve kept me company while I’ve been stuck lying helplessly on this old, scrappy mattress. I can tell the rain anything. Even my deepest, darkest, most horrifying secrets, and I can trust that not a soul in the world will hear a thing. Sometimes it’s almost like the rain talks to me too, whispering sweet nothings in my ear. I don’t think I’ll ever be sure if it’s truly speaking to me, or if I’m simply going crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if I am. Honestly, I think I’d be more surprised if I wasn’t. Either way, I’ll just believe that the rain does talk to me, if only to convince myself that I’m not completely alone here.
Today, it seems, the rain is the heaviest it’s ever been. It’s bucketing down so fast, you’d think a single drop would hold the strength of a bullet. Despite that, I have never felt more peaceful in my life. In fact, I feel completely weightless, as if I could float away like a cloud at any moment. I can feel the lingering pain in my chest slowly vanish like it never existed. My vision is blurring, the bland colours of this empty room blending together and becoming a smudged mess. I can hear the rain calling me like an angel that has come to take me away from this forsaken world. This blissful feeling is consuming me, flooding my senses and ridding me of all my worries. I want to fully welcome this feeling. I want to let it rescue me from here. So that’s what I'll do.
And just like that, I'll finally reach the calm in the midst of the storm.