Skies Do Fall

I had somehow managed to slip away from Brendon’s close contact, and then sprint out of the hospital without bumping into a single patient. It was still pouring gallons of droplets at a time outside, but I continued to dart through the parking lot, to the end of the street where the sidewalk met the road.

Hauling a cab was easy enough. I just stuck my thumb out, and a brief minute or so passed before a yellow vehicle lurched to a stop before me.

I slipped inside gratefully, slamming the door against the turbulent winds and constant raindrops. Shivering, I peered up and briefly scanned over my cabdriver.

It was a she, which was rare. You never seem to see female cab drivers. It just didn’t happen often.

“Hi,” she greeted me with a sympathetic smile. Was my morbid mood that apparent?

My breath was still coming out in pants due to the rush of adrenaline the tremendous pouring of rain had caused. “Hi--I need to--go to--North Marylyn Road--please.”

“No problem,” replied the taxi driver, giving a slight nod which caused her wild, red curls to bob from side-to-side. Without another word, she spun the wheel to the right and started the drive home.

I let my head fall against the leather seat of the cab, running my fingers through my soaked hair a couple of times.

Why was he doing this to me? Why was Brendon trying to put me in such a difficult position? Why couldn’t we just be friends like we used to be?

I inwardly groaned, earning a concerned glance from the cabdriver, but I ignored her and the embarrassed blush blooming onto my face. Instead, I decided to just focus all of my thought and concentration onto the passing scenery zipping by out of the taxi’s window.

They say it is really rare that it rains in Vegas. I should have been basking in this phenomenal downpour, savoring the unordinary precipitation. After all, who knew when it was going to happen again?

The city passed me by. Cars turned to giant blotches of dark gray, blue, and red while the lights of buildings morphed into a blur of bright yellow, orange, and white. Fog began to condense itself against the edges of the window while rain drops raced from one side of the glass frame to the other, eating the smaller ones along the journey.

Was I one of those dominant raindrops? Am I devouring the vulnerable like Ram and Brendon’s relationship, as if it were up for the taking? Or was I the fog, slowly spreading like a disease into Brendon’s life? Maybe I was neither. Maybe I was a passing light or car, there one glorious moment and then gone within the next.

Before I realized it, the cab sped to a stop on the corner of my street. I blinked twice before it came to me that I was staring at my neighborhood.

The cab driver was waiting patiently for my notice. Her emerald eyes were peering at me through the reflection of the mirror hanging off the roof of the car. She was casting me a sad smile; her thin lips trying to give me hope.

I tried not to let it get to me that I was receiving sympathy from complete strangers. It shouldn’t be in her place to try and give me compassion. What if I had just murdered an innocent person for no reason at all? If that were true and she knew it, would she keep trying to send me warmth for that? The way I saw it: it was just another way of judging.

Muttering a thank you, I threw a twenty dollar bill at her and swept out into the rain. I didn’t even bother asking her to pull up to my house. I needed a chance to enjoy the rain anyways. It was only a few steps more, anyways.

The water immediately soaked through to my skin, shunning out any sense of warmth or feeling from my body. My damp hair became drenched with the rain, clinging to my neck and shoulders. My clothes were seethed and also clasped to my limbs. Tilting my head upward, my eyes stung with the impelling raindrops that had landed squarely onto my eye sockets.

Despite all of the issues haunting me: Brendon, my father, Ram’s happiness, my entire family’s happiness, I allowed my lips to curl upward. It felt so cliché, but I honestly didn’t care. I began to laugh at the sensation of inducing rain pounding against my body.

Everything just felt so…right, for once.

And just as suddenly as my unexplainable jubilance came, it vanished. I was set back to reality, and rationality drew my lips back down to a set expression.

Without another thought, I jogged the remaining steps to my house and hurriedly let myself in, eager to escape the rain before I haphazardly broke into song and dance.