𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐧 ❘❘ 𝒌.𝒕𝒉

5- 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒚 𝑹𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍

𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 18𝒕𝒉٫ 8:50 𝒑𝒎

Here I was, sitting on the edge of my bed, with a fresh, worn-out copy of Rebecca in my hands. It was a very, very old copy of it, the pages were golden yellow, and it looked so fragile in my hands. I read the date when the book was published. 1938.

I had a longs ways to go, it seemed. Before I started, I turned to the end of the book and counted how many pages were there, and old habit I had when I read any book. The book was exactly four hundred and fifty-seven pages long in totals.

Well, I must get started, shouldn't I? My fingers traced the spine of the book, which was the color of dusty red. Rebecca was a movie I saw a while ago as a child, I believe 8 years old when I was with my father. I was fascinated very deeply by the storyline and the setting from the era it came from, and it was one of my father's favorites. I saw a lot of my father in the man I've become acquainted with.

I turned to the first page.

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...."

𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 19𝒕𝒉٫ 10:50 𝒂𝒎

"Did you start reading it?"

Today was a party cloudy day, with hints of the blue sky peeking through the clouds. The man today, wore the same outfit from when I first saw him. As I waited for the bus to pick me up and away from him, his curious eyes shifted to me, wanting an answer of whether or not I started reading the book he had been pestering me about.

"Yes, I did." I said, and he sighed in relief. "I'm on chapter 6, to let you know."

"Ah, so the story's just getting started." He grinned. "You know, the author of the book never tells us what the main's characters name is. It's quite intriguing to me, have you ever thought about it?"

"Yes," I blinked. "It is quite fascinating."

"Did you ever come up with a name for her? When I read this, back when I was a little boy, I named her 'Becca' because the first wife of the main character's love interest was Rebecca. It was always quite humorous when I thought of it."

"I liked the idea of her being nameless, though." I said shyly. "It just gives me more of a mysterious feeling, more than it already portrays throughout in the novel."

"Correct." He said to me, passing off a smile. "Miss, I must say, you are incredibly intelligent with words."

What a weirdo, I thought.

—-

𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 21𝒏𝒅٫ 2:45 𝒑𝒎

"So you finished it?!"

I nodded, and he leaped for joy, quite literally.

"Finally, now you some sense of respectable literature." He reached out to me and patted my head suddenly, and I felt a rush of something come through me like an electric shock. Maybe it was romantic feelings, but then the sense of familiarity hit me. I was experiencing something different.

The sun was now shinning brightly today, on this Winter day.

"Just for that incredible accomplishment, here." I was handed the black notebook again, with a fresh new page indented with his handwriting.

Gathering the pieces of the moonlight one by one, it will make alight,

so just like the look of yesterday, please come in front of me

"I see you need an explanation." He said to me.

"You write so in-depth, sometimes I can't understand." I laughed. "My brain feels so small compared to yours."

"No it's not. You gave me a heart-felt analysis of Rebecca." He frowned. "And besides, why would I be talking to you, miss, if you were so simple-minded?"

Thanks for the 'compliment.'

"And besides, I feel like I can talk to you being myself. Most of my friends don't get to see that side in me, so you're pretty lucky." He smiled. "And about those words I wrote, they are about my daughter again. Sometimes I feel like our relationship is drifting farther and farther apart..." he looked away, shameful. "It's apart trying to collect her broken heart, and once I put it together, it'll be alight."

"Why is her heart broken?"

"It's just....me." He said, and his voice cracked.

That's when I knew I shouldn't interrogate further. I reached out my hand, touching his shoulder softly and rubbing it gently with my fingertips.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled. "You don't have to tell me about it."

"Thank you."

11:55 𝒑𝒎

Almost midnight. I couldn't sleep, for my mind seemed alive right now.

I got up and started writing, expressing my feelings as the rain came down the windowsill. I heard it's pat-pat-pat against the ground. I expressed my feelings, like he did when it rained.

You're so familiar to me, but I don't know you

The past is coming alive in the sleepy rainfall

Who are you?