Raindrops

• Emily Koens, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2022

The rain was a beautiful phenomenon. The fascinating sound of tiny droplets, falling from their haven to the earth, where it is cherished and loved by it. It is a cleansing somehow. They clean the earth, leaving a fresh aroma of life and growth.
Then the earth is the happy. Rivers run with graceful leaps. Oceans dance in joy. Trees sway with gladness. Animals shake with amusement.
It’s a fascinating show to watch. Very peaceful. Quiet.
I sat contempt with the rain outside my window. Droplets, full and round, ran down in a lazy procession on the cold glass. They were numerous, surrounding each other so much that they formed together to become one. They raced each other towards the bottom of the glass, where they disappear into the drop of oblivion. My fingertips trace the small rivers, and I feel my lips twitch with small satisfaction as the droplet I followed won its race.
But I sighed in defeat.
A heavy burden settled over me, the feeling all too familiar. It was a taint, so very hard to get rid of.
Loneliness.
I was told it was normal to feel that when you come to the orphanage for the first time, and it would go away once you had made some friends. But that never happened. Apparently, people like me were strange and not… normal. I was too white. Long white hair. Too pale skin. Blue eyes made me look creepy. Too thin.
I was different. And I get punished for it. I had never been cherished like the earth cherishes the water. I remember, once, I saw a mother kiss and hug her small child. The child laughed and told her mother she loved her. The mother beamed and kissed her again, repeating the words in a voice that sounded kind and loving. It sounded foreign to me.
So, seventeen years I endured this loneliness with nothing and no one.
Until I met him.
He was also white like me. At first, I thought I had been dreaming because, he was wearing clean working clothes of a worker. He was carrying a sack of wheat onto a truck. Even stranger, he was doing it with a happiness that even a normal worker didn’t have. I had to be dreaming because I had never seen anyone as white as me look happy.
He saw me and smiled. Introduced himself as Nick. Shook my hand with kindness and respect, while my mouth hung in shock.
I smiled once more as I followed the rain drops on the glass. Nick. I met him five years ago, and still meet him every time when he comes to town for deliveries for the farm. He was my hope and brought me a dream of freedom. He had given me promises. Promised to take me away to a place of our own to start our life.
I sighed again, but this time in happiness watching the beautiful raindrops run their free course.