Velocity

Part one

September 2008, Madrid, Spain

The rain is pouring down my face, dripping into my T-shirt. Rain is not something that bothered me much. I like the smell of the water falling onto the concrete and how it made the nature around us come to life.

Walking home from school, the clouds came out of nowhere. I look up and see the whole sky covered in grey clouds. My socks were already getting wet, I considered it a lost cause. I'm already shivering from the cold water streaming down my skin. The Madrid air had cooled down a few degrees in the past few minutes.

My heart pounds in my chest when I see a flash. Lightning. No. No, this is not happening right now. I take a deep breath trying to calm myself down. We have talked about this. I am safe. I'm not in England. There is nobody going to hurt me. I repeat the sentence in my head as a mantra.

Then the thunder comes. The hard sound of the thunder echoes through the streets, bouncing against the walls of the houses further down. My hands shake, just as my legs. Trying my best to not fall down and spiral within my own panic.

I clasp my hands around the bands of my backpack in front of my shoulders. Hoping it gives me some sort of grip. Just as I think I am going to lose this battle; I hear a voice. "Hey." I cover my forehead with my hand, keeping the water from coming into my eyes. And I look for the owner of the voice.

"Hey?" It sounds again, now closer. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I turn around. Behind me stands a boy with wet black hair. "Come with me!" He shouts to drown out the rain. He takes my hand in his and pulls me after him towards one of the gates.

The thunders sounds again and my hands tenses against his. I think he looks back at me with a worried look on his face, but the rain is coming down so hard I can't tell for sure. He opens the gate and starts running down the field, still holding my hand.

The lightning and thunder are now so hard they must me directly above us. The grass is soaking wet underneath my feet, the water is streaming inside my sneakers. "Here!" the boys shouts while pulling me to a greenhouse of some sorts a few meters away from us.

I don't know why I'm running away with this complete stranger for the rain. But trusting this boy, seemed to be a better option than laying onto the ground shivering in the pouring rain while feeling sorry for myself.

He pulls us inside and closes the door behind us, so the winds stop me from freezing to death. I look around in the greenhouse. Its in a hexagonal shape and all the walls are made from glass. Everywhere I look are beautiful plants and flowers. Some hanging from the beams, some displayed on shelves and others placed on the ground.

He sees my admiring look and says: "My mom likes gardening." I turn around to take a better look at him. He is taller than me, probably he few years older. He has black hair that is covering his ears and forehead. But that is likely a result of the rain. I don't even want to know what my hair looks like right now.

He has brown puppy eyes and a smile that makes me melt even though I'm freezing. I think his sneakers were white once. But now they are covered in dirt from funning through the wet grass. His baggy pants are a little small and doesn't come all the way to his ankles.

"I can see that." I say to him. He seems nice. I think by myself, knowing very well that I shouldn't trust everyone I meet. I'm just like my mother. She always seems to see the best in people. Unlike dad who wouldn't trust me to the fullest even though I'm his daughter.

The boys swipes his hands over his face, removing the drops of water that were still laying on his skin. He shakes his head, trying to get the water out of his hair. I laugh a little because it makes him look like a dog.