Ficool

Chapter 3 - The Rain

Annalise's POV

I passed the bridge and continue to walk down the road. I made a left turn and looked up again, the dark clouds sitting in the sky seemed to have grown darker almost like my hidden thoughts.

I felt my eyes burn from the trip I took down my pitiful past. "It's been a while since I cried".

I couldn't remember the last time I did. I continued to walk and made another left turn.

After a few blocks, I finally reached the small grey building where I sold liquor to customers, my smile carefully tailored for each one.

The sting in my eyelids fade as I open the glass door at the entrance leaving behind the usual calm darkness inside me, accompanied by the familiar voices in my head.

I was greeted by the owner of the store Mr. Phillips. My eyes blur as he continued to talk, I barely paid any attention so his words brushed past me.

After Mr. Phillips's speech. I make my way to the room on the other side of the semi large building. I slip off my coat and get back to my shift.

It was the weekend which meant by six, more people than usual would start rolling in…college kids, couples, groups of guys basically everyone searching for something sweet, strong, or both.

Sometimes I was tempted to submerge myself into the intoxicating embrace of alcohol to escape my fate but I knew it was a rabbit hole I would struggle to crawl out of so I didn't…after all my mother was an alcoholic.

As I worked stealing glances at the sky from the window, I watched the day slowly disappear faster because of the rain that threatened.

The dark clouds now turn into strong winds racing in a direction. My stomach twisted as I heard the voices in my head mix with the cries of the wind. I look at the clock hanging at the entrance of the store. It was eight pm, I closed the doors and headed home.

Home…the small cramped space that I silently prayed everyday would collapse on top of me. I picked up my coat and continued to hope the winds remained winds till I got home.

I walked back the same direction I came and reach the mouth of the bridge again. My heartbeat spiked as my blood ran cold.

My body shivered from the icy wind as I threaded lightly on the hard ground of the bridge. I almost reached the end of the bridge and without warning the tears begin to fall, the tears of the sky.

Within a minute I was soaked in rain and my drenched coat grew more heavy as I continued to walk. I came to a halt, I couldn't walk anymore.

My legs, the coat, my heart…everything had become too heavy for me to carry.

I felt the pain that I had continued to press down for years begin to fight back.

A lump started to form in my throat as the water dripped down my face. "If I cried now, no one would know…My tears will blend perfectly with the rain melting me down" I thought to myself.

The pent up ache continued to spread all over my body as I felt myself slowly lose grasp of the remaining control I had over the voices.

I clenched my jaws tightly and took another step but my heart grew even heavier and I couldn't continue.

I needed to let something out. The first bead of tears spilled effortlessly and the rest follow. My eyes turned into a waterfall of suppressed bitterness.

Between my eyes or the sky I didn't know who was crying more. My heart continued to ache, the next minute worse than the last.

I clutched my chest and sunk to my knees. This was it, this was my final breaking point. "God please take me…I can't do this anymore" I clasped my hand in desperation, losing my breath. My lungs burned from the scraps of air it struggles to pull in.

I continued to cry letting everything out, coughing, wheezing, making noises that were drowned by the sound of the storm. I became one with the rain, my regrets and wishes mixing with the rain and slipping off my cheeks to the ground.

The cold weather started to seep inside my skin touching my bones. I had been under the storm for a while with cars zooming by occasionally.

I finally gathered enough strength and raised one leg up and then the other staggering as I continued to gasp for air amidst my cries for death.

While wiping my tears away, a sound pricked my ears… like a scream. I ignored it "maybe it's just me…I must be hearing things".

Now completely soaked and dripping, I forced myself to move. I walked a few steps and the sound came back again…it sounded like a cry…a wail.

I paused to look around and heard the sound again. I tried to stop my tears and looked around for where the sound was coming from.

I heard it again and it seemed to be coming from the side of the bridge where I stood. I moved closer to the railings shivering from the freezing rain pouring relentlessly that was starting to get to me.

I looked out beyond the railings into the water underneath it. It was dark with only a few streams of light from the tall street lights on the bridge illuminating the waves that formed from the storm.

I wiped my face again to see clearly and looked again, narrowing my vision to a line.

After a minute of scanning the area and the sound of the cries getting weaker, I spotted a young boy and a dog both trying to stay afloat in the river. The only thing keeping them on the surface was a black long object but the weight of the water was pulling them down regardless.

More Chapters