Rainy Nights

Rainy Nights: part 5

"Hey- is everything alright?" Jay must have noticed her sudden change of attitude.

"O-oh, um, yeah," Elaine quickly tucked her phone into her purse. "I'm fine."

She was very obviously not fine.

The rain was coming down harder now.

"Hey you're getting all wet,"Jay said, slipping off his jacket. "Here, take my-"

Before he could get it over Elaine's shoulders she blocked him. "I'm fine." she repeated. "The ride's almost over anyway."

As soon as they were let of the Ferris Wheel Elaine practically ran away, leaving Jay standing there.

"Bye... I guess." he said to himself as she left his sight.

Elaine made her way to the entrance of the park. It was starting to really feel alive. The lights seemed brighter now that it was dark and the sounds were intensified despite the rain. She pushed through crowds of colorful umbrellas.

She was panting when she finally reached the ticket booth. Her heart pounded in her chest. She sights and sounds around her were all muffled by the throbbing in her head. Her eyes focused on her mother's figure in front of her, everything else seemed distorted.

"Get in the car." her mother said with tight lips.

She was waiting until they were alone to let out all her rage.

Elaine didn't say anything as she quietly got into the back seat.

For a few minutes everything was silent, like the moment after a lightning strike where the sky is quiet before the loud roar of the thunder.

Elaine kept her hands in her lap and her head down. She didn't dare look up at her mother.

"Elaine," her mom's voice was strangely calm. "Have you lost your mind?"

Elaine winced. There it was. Elaine didn't dare say anything, she knew better.

"First you leave the house at absurd hours of the night and now you're going into town without permission?"

"But you wouldn't ever give me permission." Elaine thought.

"You never behaved like this when you were younger, I don't know what's gotten into you!"

"When I was younger my parent's didn't hate each other." Elaine wanted to say.

"I don't know what I have to do to to get you to behave anymore!"

"And I don't know what I have to do to get you to not treat me like a baby anymore."

"Don't you understand the stress I'm going though right now? I don't need a delinquent child on top of it!"

"You poor thing, the stress must be unbearable, what about me? I have to hear you and Dad at each other's throats all the time."

Elaine bit her tongue. There were so many things she wished she could say.

Her mother took a deep breath. She seemed to be done.

"You've been acting up too much recently." she said.

Elaine finally looked up. Whenever her mother used that tone it meant that some form of punishment was coming, except she never called it that. "It's not a punishment, it's consequences." she would say.

"Since you decided to go out and have fun tonight, you'll be skipping prom."

The words came in slow motion. Elaine's eyes filled with tears. She had been preparing for the prom since the very start of the year. She was even on the planning committee.