Age:
High School
Reading Level: 4.2
Chapter 1
It was one of those days when the rain just wouldn't stop. It was cold and wet and the only sounds were the downpour and the occasional blasts of thunder. The sun was blotted out just enough so that it wasn't dark enough to be dark, but it also wasn't light enough to be light.
Truly, it was a somber landscape.
But Lucy wasn't running to get out of the rain.
She was just walking along her way, down some old road with cracks woven throughout and weeds lacing the shoulders.
Wasn't she worried about getting wet? No, her clothes and long, black hair were already soaked to the point where the water just rolled off of her in beads. Wasn't she cold? Yes, but it was something she could feel that didn't hurt. All she ever heard in her foster home were harsh, scathing words and orders.
"Lucy! Why don't you ever wear anything nice? You're an embarrassment!"
"Lucy! I thought I told you to do the dishes! I don't care what kind of homework you have! DO THE DISHES!"
"Lucy! Why are you so incompetent?"
Why was she? She didn't know. She didn't know why everyone hated her, but there must have been a reason. Her parents abandoned her and she had been bounced around from home to home as long as she could remember.
She was all alone.
The simple truth: she was running, no, walking away.
She was walking down that old, forgotten road simply so she didn't have to turn around and go back inside. Inside where her demons dwelt. Inside where no one cared. Inside where she was locked up, forgotten about, and no one bothered to care. Just the thought made her green eyes well up with tears.
Maybe she'd get lost. Lost would be nice. That way, she'd never have to go inside. No one would miss her, anyway. Maybe she'd die. While not the preferable option, at least she might get some peace that way. Maybe someone would finally notice her.
What she really wanted was someone who'd listen to her thoughts and feelings and legitimately care. Someone who'd let her get her two cents in without interrupting her. Someone who wouldn't put words in her mouth or accuse her of feeling things she didn't feel or thinking things she didn't think.
Her wishing was interrupted suddenly when a voice called out over the rain, "Looking for something?"
Chapter 2
A boy that looked to be about Lucy's age was sitting casually on a boulder with his legs crossed and his back leaning against an adjacent birch tree, which was partially covered with thick vines. The cover of the tree seemed to keep the boulder mostly dry.Chapter 3
Lucy recoiled from shock, nearly slipping off their stone perch. That was not what she expected.
She struggled to reply, "You... you what?"
"Relax," he chuckled. "I'm not a ghost or anything, if you believe in that kind of stuff. I got into a stupid fight and got the tar beaten out of me... and then I was shot.
"Anyway, someone called 911 and I ended up in a coma for three days, and then by sunset of day three, I died.
"I saw the light and everything. So I'm lying there, feeling like I'm slipping away as the doctors are trying to revive me, and I'm looking up at that light thinking 'It's a shame nothing in life was that beautiful.'"
"Then, like, I was slapped in the face by one of those angels. I... I don't know what the word is. Un-died? Anyway, that's what I did."
Despite herself, Lucy laughed at his inability to find the reverse of death. Then she asked, "What happened after that?"
"Enough about me, what about you?"
"Ah, no. That's not how I do things." Lucy hadn't been aware that she had a way of doing things. "Finish your story, then I'll tell you mine."
"Okay, then. Where was I?"
"Not dead."
"Right. So I had just un-died. I was in the hospital for four more days before my good-for-nothing parents found me. Those nights I couldn't get myself to sleep. This little girl came and talked to me every night. I never got a good look at that girl those nights, it was always so dark. I'm not sure why, but I told this little girl everything I was thinking and feeling. Finally, I told her about how the only good thing I'd ever seen was that light and you know what she said?"
"What?"
"'Sure you have, you just didn't look hard enough.' I realized that she was right. There was good stuff, but I was so caught up with all the bad things I didn't pay attention."
Lucy smiled. Her insides felt warm, hopeful, but it only served to make her skin feel colder.
"You look like you're freezing," Raphael observed accurately. He took off the raincoat he was wearing and handed it to her saying, "Here, no point in you getting any more soaked than you already are."
He handed it to her so casually, as if it wasn't the nicest thing anyone had ever done for Lucy.
Ever.
She took it with a thanks so soft it melted into the rain perfectly.
"It's getting late," Raphael pointed out. "You should head back."
Lucy didn't want to go. She didn't want to leave and never see him again.
In the rain-painted silence, a bird sang out.
"Funny," Raphael said as he stopped strumming on his guitar, "how that bird sings while all the others are silent. Like it's calling out even though no one will answer."
Lucy stared out in the direction of the song.
"Raphael," she began.
"Yeah?"
"You... you're not going to leave and forget about me, are you?"
He chuckled. "No, why would I do that?"
"That's what everyone else who ever pretended to care did."
"Well, I'm not everyone. And I'm not pretending. Besides, I still have to hear whatever it is you've got to say."
"But you still think I should go?"
"Not right now, but soon."
"Then when can we talk?"
"Why don't we meet here the next time it rains?"
She smiled again. She realized that she had smiled more in the past minutes than she had in a long time.
"All right," she agreed.
