"I like the rain."

“You’re such a freak, you know!”
“You probably aren’t even human!”
Elle was pushed around, eyes down, guarded, waiting for the other kids to get bored and leave her alone. They did, eventually, and she picked herself up and dusted off the back of her jeans. She was different to the other kids; she was suited to World; they weren’t. Only she wasn’t jealous of them, they were jealous of her, her difference, though they hated to let it show.
World was constantly under the cover of clouds and rain, the sun only shining through one day per year. Thick, green, impenetrable rainforest covered over ninety percent of the small planet’s surface, the rest taken up with tiny villages, populated with one thousand to maybe up to five thousand people. Rocky Valley was the one exception, with only 450, roughly, and Elle was one of them, though half the kids there didn’t count her as a person. The other kids were deathly pale, sickly, with lank hair and eyes that were flat and dull, shockingly lifeless. They weren’t built for the rain, and lived for the sun. Elle had pale skin too, but it looked vibrant, glowing in the cool surroundings. Her hair was very thick and shiny, falling to her waist in healthy black waves, and her eyes were as black as her hair, shining with joy. She was beautiful; the others just looked unhealthy. Elle was the only one who ventured into the ever-expanding forests, apart from farmers and hunters. She spent as much time as she could outside, dreading the one day when the rain would stop. That day did eventually come, and the night before, Elle sat alone in the trees, relishing in the cold and the presence of other small animals.
That morning, the clouds still layered the sky, but were far thinner than usual, and no-one counted on them lasting very long. The children had dressed for warmer weather, and shivered in the slight breeze, sitting out in the field, staring up at the sky, waiting for the sun to break through. Gaps started to appear between the clouds, and light blue sky began to peek through. A small blonde child laughed; one tiny ray of gold reflected of her hair, making it shine, bringing out streaks of colours that no-one ever saw in the perpetual darkness. The sun squeezed itself through the remainder of the clouds and smiled down upon every-one in Rocky Valley. Except for Elle.
She sat alone in the densest part of the forest she could find, desperately hiding from the heat, but the sun’s harsh and merciless rays always found her, pushing through the thick foliage and dappling the ground in yellow-green spots of light. It burned Elle’s eyes, and she began to sweat, feeling itchy and ill. A fern far above her head swayed in the breeze, allowing the sun to shine directly down on her. She shielded her eyes, now stinging with tears. One of the other boys, eyes sparkling with life so rarely seen, found her cowering in the soft light. He saw her tears and paused, confused.
“Why do you cry?”
Elle looked up, and then simply covered her head with her hands, deciding to ignore him, and waited for it all to be over. The boy frowned, still confused and curious. He sat down next to her, and used his hat to get the sun off her face.
“Why do you cry?" he persisted.
“I like the rain.”
“I know that." Eyes roll, the obvious blatantly stated annoying him. "Doesn’t mean you have to hate the sun.”
Elle paused, stumped, and frowned at the boy. He pushed at her again.
“Why do you cry?”
She thought over her answer a little more, then replied, “The sky won’t rain for me, so I make raindrops of my own.”
He thought over that, and started to look at the rain from a different perspective. It wasn’t all that bad, really; calming, cool, soothing as it was.
“So...the rain’s not bad. Ok. Why do you hate the sun?”
“It burns my eyes. It’s too hot, it’s unnatural. I’m so used to the rain, it’s a shock to suddenly be thrust into the sun.” Elle looked at him more closely – he looked pretty deep in thought.
“So wouldn’t the rest of us be used to the rain by now, and be like you?”
“Maybe you don’t want to. I accepted the rain. You can't let go of the sun.”
The boy blinked, realising the truth of her words. If they attempted to like the rain, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t love it. Clinging desperately to sunlight in a world darkness and wet was silly, almost to the point of being pathetic, really. The more he thought about it, the less he could believe in his old hatred, how he could have longed for the sun all year round. In particular, he couldn’t believe how he didn’t see the beauty in it. As he pondered in the sun, he found he actually missed it. The sunlight began to fade in to darkness, and the other children cried and hung on to the last rays of the sun. When small drops of water again began to fall from the sky, plopping on to the rainforest leaves, for the very first time in the history of World, two smiles lit up two small, beautiful, healthy faces instead of only one, as it began to rain.