RAINSTORM

Ch. 8

Achoo! Rachel sneezes. It's been two days since she caught the cold. Her school had declared a week long holiday due to the unprecedented amount of rainfall.

Rachel is angry at her school for not doing so two days ago itself. Then she wouldn't have gone to school. She wouldn't have given a lift to Hector. She wouldn't have gotten drenched trying to return his jacket. She wouldn't have let out her secret. She wouldn't have called him a cat lover.

But she's too tired to keep up her anger or embarrassment.

"Go rest in your room!" her mother says.

But Rachel doesn't want to move from the living room couch. The couch is warm. And she's bored from sleeping all day in her room yesterday.

Rachel needed a little change of scenery, even if it's just from her bedroom walls to their large television. She's not in a mood to watch anything though so she just stares at the black screen.

A message pops up in her phone. It's from Agatha. Her sister doesn't know she's sick but knows she's not in school because of the nationwide holidays.

Agatha wants Rachel to pick up some files at Agatha's apartment and bring it to her to the studio. Rachel gets up.

"I'm heading out," she says.

"What?!" Her mom shouts, "You're sick. Go to your bed."

"I'm fine," Rachel says, pulling over her a hoodie, "I'm bored here. I'm going to watch a movie at Annie's."

"Ask your friends to come here," her mom says.

Rachel ignores her mother's angry objections and heads out to her car. Rachel knows she's going to get sicker. And that she'll have to hear her mom's scoldings later.

But she also knows Agatha wouldn't ask her if it wasn't important.

AT THE STUDIO'S parking lot, Rachel hands over the files through the open car window to Agatha's assistant, CeCe.

CeCe quickly thanks Rachel and runs back into the studio, her rain coat barely staying on top of her.

Rachel thinks CeCe probably isn't running because of the rain but because she has no time to spare.

That's how everyone at the studio looked like when Rachel visited this place once. It was busier than a beehive.

Rachel starts the car and drives to a nearby fast-food joint she knows. She doesn't want to go to her friends' place, but she also can't return home right away because of her lie.

She decides to kill some time at the joint, eating some spicy food she has been dying to eat since she got sick. She's sure she's going to get sicker anyway, so she might as well become so because of some tasty snacks. She's tired of the porridge.

Soon, Rachel parks the car in front of the store and walks in. She orders herself some tortillas and spicy chicken at the counter.

After the staff leaves to prepare her order, Rachel touches her forehead. Suddenly she feels strange. When the skin on her forehead is hot to touch she swears inwardly.

Rachel has a high fever. And she's also getting a little dizzy. She decides to sit down first and turns around. In that instant all the lights go out.

WHEN RACHEL OPENS her eyes, she sees perforated white panels on the ceiling. Some flat white lights. The air smells like iodine.