Freedom Rain

Oh, how she wished to feel the rain. To feels it's cool kisses litter her skin and drenching her clothes. To taste the sweetness of the droplets as they lay on her lips. She had a dream that she was dancing in the rain with the boy she liked just spinning and laughing without a care in the world. She craved that feeling so desperately.

The only glimpses of rain she witnessed were its final moments alive where it hit the ground and disbursed like fireworks, yet those glimpses weren't enough. She got off her little stool that made her tall enough to peer out the tiny little window that was just above ground level so she could see when the rain landed. Disappointment and longing filled her heart as she watched the rain fall. It wasn't a strange feeling for her when she saw the rain because the rain was free. It was free to go where it wanted and wasn't trapped. Whereas she was trapped. Trapped in some old man's basement. She had been here for weeks, and no one had found her yet so all hope for feeling the rain on her skin was lost.

She listened to the floor above her as his footsteps grew nearer to the door. Fear replaced disappointment and dread replaced longing. Creeeeeeek. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

"Have you calmed down yet from your little episode last night Michelle?" He asked with a sly grin on his wrinkled face. His crooked teeth that had yellow and black covering them, protruded from out between his lips in all different directions. He had thin grey hair that showed his scalp due to the balding, and dirt stuck to his sickly white skin

"Let me go. Please," she said whimpered. A chill went down her spine when she saw the look in his eyes. It was a look she hated more than being trapped. Her hands formed fists by her side and her heartbeat quickened. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead into the hairs of her eyebrow and tears swelled in her green eyes.

"You want to be free huh?" He smirked, "the only way you're going to be free is if you're in a body bag." Her heart sunk. Was she going to die? She couldn't, not yet.

"Please don't I'm sorry." She begged, dropping to her knees. He took a step closer and placed a dog bowl infront of her bent over body, filled with what seemed to be scraps from his dinner.

"I'm not killing you yet. Now eat." With that, he turned around and walked back up the stairs. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and disappeared until the next day at dinner time to feed her.

Michelle looked at the food in disgust and picked through it, looking for something that seemed edible and not mangled. She managed to find a few vegetables and ate those cautiously in case they were rotten or poisoned. Nothing happened after she ate so shelet out a sigh of relief and went back to her window to stare at the rain a little longer before going to sleep. The rain was still powerful and beautiful, from what she could see at least. She was at the window for another five minutes before she decided she was tired enough to sleep, so she went over to the little mattress he had left down there. It was covered in what she discerned to be grime and mold and possibly hints of urine but she couldn't be sure as the mattress was covered in an assortment of disgusting things. Seeing all this mess made her wonder if there had been other girls down here before her and if they had gone through the same things she had. Her thinking led her to create new characters and made backstories and of course a happy ending. The freedom of those three characters gave her a sense of hope, but also jealousy. She wished she would be like those girls, free from having spotted skin and matted hair of sweat, dirty and grease,free from sleepless nights in fear she would have her life taken, free like rain.

Michelle laid her head down on the jumper she had balled up as a pillow and looked at the stone wall with the window. From this angle she couldn't see the ground, only the sky and the clouds. She learnt by now that she was in the middle of nowhere as there were never any sounds of cars or people walking by, and she could tell by the surroundings too. When she looked at the right angle, she could see a thick green forest off in the distance. It was the kind of forest you'd see in a horror movie where the girl is being chased by the serial killer. Michelle fell asleep to the thoughts and fantasies of being free like rain, but then her dreams were filled with being chased and stabbed repetitively.

The door slammed open hitting the wall with a loud BANG, waking Michelle up with a fright. Her body jolted upwards to a sitting position, and she glared at the stairs and saw him stalking towards her with a needle in his dirty hand.

"Good morning," he said calmly with his raspy voice, "Wanna go for a run outside?" her stomach dropped, and she scrambled to her feet, but it was too late, the needle was in her arm. Everything went black.