The Walls Caved In

Five minutes after Isabelle and her mother left, it started to rain.

Rain that pounded on the asphalt, giving me an instant headache. Rain that made me climb back into my car and watch it fall. Rain that made me think of the first day we met. Rain that made me cry.

I hate crying. I hate the feeling it gives you, in the moment. I know it is supposed to make you feel good afterward, because of your endorphins and what not, but to me its not about the afterward. Its about the now, and in this moment, my chest is aching as I sob, my throat is tight and hot, and my eyes are drowning in salty liquid that pours down my face and onto my shirt without any sign of stopping. I don't like it at all, and I want it to stop.

It doesn't stop for five, ten, fifteen minutes, but by the twenty minute mark it isn't as painful, and the tears are swimming in the pools of water that always form on my lids, dropping out every few seconds.

I felt the urge to get out again. To go. I revved up mom's car and pulled out of the parking lot faster than I should have, but it didn't matter - everyone else had left the park long ago, because it was obvious that this rain wasn't going to stop.

Neither was I. So, I had told mom that I would be home, but maybe I wouldn't be. I had closeted myself in the house for too long, and I needed to be out. Around town wasn't cutting it, either. She could use my car to get around for a few days, which was fair enough since I didn't plan on going back for my own. I was just going to drive, in this horrible rain, and keep driving until it felt right and I didn't feel the need to drive anymore.

Or until the car didn't want to drive anymore. It died. It coughed, wheezed, sneezed, making horrible noises and everything and died, just as I had time to pull to the side of the road.

In my hurry to get out (that plan went so well) I had forgotten my phone. I had no way to call for help, it was raining like crazy, and I was in the middle of town near all of the early bird diners that closed super early. I was screwed.

I looked out the passenger side window, toward the sidewalk, for one store light on, one car on the road, one stranger walking. There were no lights, so I almost didn't see the one walker, hood up head down, walking in the direction of my car. My only chance.

"Hey!" I called, opening my car door and gripping the door frame for support. "Hey!"

The walker looked toward me, their face invisible in my view. I had nothing to lose, right? Except maybe the money in my wallet, my virginity, my life.

"Do you have a phone I can borrow?" I yelled. Rain drenched my hair, the back of my shirt. The person nodded, slowly, but didn't move. I sighed, thankful for a moment, before getting back in the car to open the passenger side door from the inside. The stranger settled inside beside me, handing me the phone.

"Thank you so much," I told the person, taking the phone from their hand. Then I realized that this wasn't a stranger at all.

"You have no idea how happy I am that it was me out there, and not some creep." His voice was low.

"You know I wouldn't normally do this," I murmured, holding the phone in both of my hands without dialing. I looked at my lap.

"I also know that you wouldn't normally be crying," Eric said, his voice still soft and low.

"These aren't normal circumstances, now, are they?"

I hated that it was Eric that was my stranger/rescuer. I hate that he could see the tears still on my cheeks, the red of my eyes. I hated how he was the reason..

"Why are you out here, in the rain?"

"I was walking," he said, "I've been doing it a lot lately. Just walking around. My mom's had to use my car and I wrecked my bike."

I nodded, my fingers finally dialing my house number. No one answered. My mom won't answer the phone if she doesn't recognize the number, especially if my dad isn't home. I know Alli wouldn't answer, wouldn't care if she did, and that dad wasn't in reach at all.

"Nobody will answer," I whispered, handing the phone back to Eric. I avoided touching him as I did so, daintily holding the phone.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Walk, I guess."

It was quiet, as we sat.

"Do you mind if I wa.. Do you have an umbrella?"

"I think so. In the trunk." We both got out of the car, and I locked the doors, tucking the keys in my pocket. There was an umbrella in the trunk. Eric grabbed it, opening it up and holding it out for me. I had to wrap part of my hand around his to grab it, before he let it go.

"Be careful," he said, quietly, and I almost didn't hear him over the rain. He turned in the opposite direction he had originally been going, and I knew that it was away from his house. I didn't understand this.

I started home, the umbrella held over my head, but I was still soaked when I entered my neighborhood.

"Joyce!" I looked to the car that had just come in front of me, seeing my dad practically hanging out the window, and I ran to the passenger side.

"How did you know?" I asked, as he started to turn around.

"Some boy has been calling the house over and over again, and I finally answered, and he said that your car had broken down and that you had decided to walk home when we never answered. I'm sorry, Joyce. Are you okay?"

I looked behind us, seeing a hooded figure standing beside the sign introducing our neighborhood, beginning to walk away.

"Yea," I said, choking over the familiar ache in my throat, the burning in my eyes, "I'm okay."