Going Somewhere

Droplets of water cascaded onto the shining pavement with deafening shatters, splitting themselves into millions of nearly invisible fragments; separate, yet strangely unified. I could hear them pounding the street in unison even over the soft music playing in my ears. Beside me, the raindrops all collected together, moving as one mass of surging water as they poured over the edges of the sidewalk. They surrounded me, encompassed me. They pelted me from their home in the sky and refused to cease.

I glanced down at my CD player, smiling ironically at the song that was playing, which was quite fitting for the occasion. A song about floods blared through my headphones. The melody melted into the background, and for a few peaceful minutes, my life was calm and filled with music, almost as if I were in a movie. I wish I were. Suddenly, all was still and silent but the whipping winds and plummeting rain, and I was left in solitude to wallow in self-pity. I could identify with the song, rain had plagued my life for weeks on end, and I was done with it. In place of the sunny, joyful days that I should’ve been celebrating, I was stuck in a stormy sadness. It was so petulant and relentless, and it just never eased up. It was like I was living the same day over and over again; the sheer monotony of it was unbearable.

It wasn’t even as if I’d had an interesting life before all of this rain had come into it; I had always been a nobody. In school, I just lurked around the building, coming into class without a word. I’m nearly friendless, and almost completely positive that there are only a few people in the whole world who even know my name—family included. I guess I’d never made it easier on myself by actually trying to make friends, I just never felt the need to put in the effort—I’m a solitary person, and company isn’t necessary in the least. I’m not interesting or special, the only thing I’m good at is listening to music and thinking. I know, I’m being much too dramatic—it’s just what I do, and probably another contributor to my current state.

I looked down; I was seated on the wet sidewalk, dressed in clothing that was definitely not meant for this harsh weather, and listening to an electronic device with absolutely no protective case on it. I was so going to get sick— possibly a new CD player as well, God only knows just how much water I’ll have to drain out of the thing. I stood up, soaked to the core and freezing, and decided that I should probably get home before my mother flipped out and sent a search team after me. I love her, but she’s just so… insane. And overprotective. And paranoid. I understand that she’s my mother and should have a general idea of my whereabouts at the very least, but I’ve already graduated from high school, she really has to let me go a bit. Almost as if on cue, my cell phone began to ring. I looked down at the caller ID, it was my mother. I apprehensively flipped open my phone and held it up to my ear.

“Hello?” I said, bracing myself for yelling.

“Where are you?! I’ve been sitting here worried sick! You couldn’t have just called me and saved me a heart attack?!” she screamed directly into the receiver. There it was. I held the phone away from my ear and began walking in the direction my house, which I assumed was only a few blocks away.

“Mom, calm down. I’m—” I began timidly, but apparently my mom wasn’t done scolding me.

“Oh my goodness, Emma, are you standing in the rain without a jacket?! You must be; you didn’t leave this morning with a jacket and the bus didn’t drop you off—” she interrupted, talking a mile a minute.

“MOM. I’m only, like, two blocks away!” I cut her sentence off mid-rant, scoping the area for street signs.

“It only takes one block to catch pneumonia and die,” my mother said in all seriousness. I rolled my eyes, despite the fact that I knew she couldn’t see me.

“Come on, that is a complete myth. And it’s the twenty-first century; I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t die from something like that,” I corrected her, desperately searching for a way out of the conversation.

“You don’t know anything for sure,” my mom interjected.

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed, “I, um, have to go now. I’m coming onto our street,” I lied, as long as it got me off of the phone with her, I would try anything. Just as I snapped my phone shut, it slipped from my hands and crashed onto the pavement of the street. I frantically snatched it up and shoved it roughly into my pocket.

I had been walking for only five torturous minutes, rain piercing through my skin, shivering and cold. I was impressed that my mother hadn’t called yet, though, she usually called me back within at most three minutes (thirty seconds was her record.) I stared down the road, everything looked so unfamiliar, and I knew for a fact that I was nowhere near my home; I must’ve walked much further than I thought I had. I flipped open my phone and pressed the power button, soaked enough to be willing to let my mom drive me home and scold me. After staring down at the blank screen for a few moments, I felt that it didn’t have the battery cover on it, and then I saw it: the giant, gaping hole in my pocket. I slowly turned my phone over, crossing my fingers, praying that I hadn’t lost the actual batteries, and… I had.

“Fudge!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. It was then that I realized that I was lost, in the middle of nowhere, without any way of calling home. I couldn’t identify any of the houses, any of the street names, and especially either of the two people staring at me for yelling ‘fudge’ in public. Although I was slightly relieved at the fact that I wouldn’t have to live through yet another stuffy car-ride conversation whose main topic was how disappointing of a daughter I was, I would much rather have been in a heated car than the frigid rain.

I looked around at the people in the area, there were still the same two standing there, probably thinking that I was crazy. I knew I only had one option, although I truly did not want to take it.

I walked over to the nearest person. “Um, excuse me?” I asked nervously, standing in front of a man who was sitting under the scaffolding of a closed café and reading a book, “Do you know how to get to Piper Street from here?”

The man glanced up at me and grinned kindly, “I’m pretty sure that you just head to the end of this street and make a left. Sorry, I’m not so great with directions.”

“Oh, no, thank you so much,” I smiled as convincingly as possible. Now that I looked at him, he didn’t look much older than me.

His warm smile fell a bit, and his eyebrows knitted together, “You’re drenched, do you want my umbrella?” he inquired, gesturing toward the black umbrella that was propped against his chair.

I shook my head vigorously despite the fact that I was shivering, “No, I’d feel bad—”

“No, it’s yours. I shouldn’t be doing homework out in the rain anyway,” he closed his book and handed me the umbrella.

“Are you sure?” I questioned hesitantly, “I mean, you still have to walk home…”

“Nah, it’s no problem.” He interjected, waving it off, “I live in the dorms right up the road and, honestly, it’s my roommate’s umbrella, and I would do anything to piss him off.”

I fumbled with the button on the umbrella and nearly impaled him with it as it opened, but luckily, he had enough sense to duck to the side. I stood underneath the shelter of the umbrella, thankful not to feel the rain pelting me.

“He’s going to be sufficiently pissed off when he finds out that you gave this to me,” I attempted to joke, “I feel really bad, are you sure he won’t track me down and beat me up for this?”

The man smirked, “It’s not like I’m giving you anything important. As long as he’s not in some umbrella-worshipping mob, I think you’ll be fine.” He glanced down at his books; the rain was beginning to spatter across them, “I should probably get going before my books drown. But hey, I’ll catch you later, maybe?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I smiled, trying to compensate for my jumbled words. He grinned that warm grin once more, and was gone. And I don’t know exactly why, but as I walked home, an idea entered my mind; one that would eventually change my life forever.