Scary Stories For Rainy Children

Gardenia

It was another rainy day due to it being a rainy season once again. I had always loved the rainy season though I have recently grown to dislike it now, it reminds me too much of her...

The wind was beating against my umbrella, threatening to whip it out of my white-knuckled hands. The rain was falling fairly lightly; it was my type of afternoon because she was in front of me. She, like me, had her umbrella up, hers was a dark navy blue with little white flowers scattered all over it. It seemed like a fairly old umbrella, nothing remarkable about it besides the fact that it looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment. Though the umbrella was nothing special the girl underneath was something to behold. She had short curly dark brown hair that blew beautifully in the wind like the stars in 'The Starry Night' painting by Vincent van Gogh, she had pale white skin and dark dead eyes. Every time a car passed her along the street we walked she'd bow her umbrella and the driver would bow their head back. Didn't matter who they were, everyone bowed back to the young girl who walked before me.

The adults knew who she was but never told their children till they came of age, either to protect them or to make sure they took what their parents said seriously. I didn't know... however, I would soon... too soon.

As the two of us walked, the girl was standing in front of me. She turned back to face me, the big goofy smile that danced along her face becoming infectious once again. I smiled back at her. Though her dark chocolate brown eyes have no light inside them besides that grey that reflects off the clouds, it never dulled the infectious edge of her smile, so I smiled back as I always did, and then she turned away, bowing her umbrella at the next passing car however the blonde driver of the car didn't bow her head in the slightest instead she flipped the young girl off and continued driving. My stomach dropped as the car went past me and as the girl turned to follow the car, though her face was still as pretty as ever however instead of the normal smile that usually lights up her dim face, there was nothing but cold and malice as her lightless eyes trailed the car.

As I came to the front door of my house I looked back at the girl with the dark umbrella, she waved a small light-hearted gesture to most. I waved back before walking inside my stomach felt leaden as I walked over to the sitting room where my parents were seated. They both turned to face me.
"What's wrong darling you look awfully pale"
My mother's shrill yet soothing voice rang out only to then be followed by my father's gruff but soft voice,
"Out with it boy you're giving your mother a fright"
Sighing I looked down and up to the roof as if I could see the face of the woman that disregarded the warnings of the girl with the white-flowered umbrella.
"Maire..."
They both paled as they both became ramrod straight up on the couch
"...She's broken the rule"

After that my fathers and mother went upstairs as quickly as they could to talk to Maire, to try and get her to apologise to the girl I knew she wouldn't and I had the feeling that deep down they knew it wouldn't do any good to yell and scream at Maire, she would never apologies for what she had done. So I walked upstairs, opened the door to my room, stepped in and threw my bag down at the end of my bed then flopped down onto the soft welcoming covers and stared at the ceiling and let the bitter-sweet darkness sweep me up and carry me away for as long as it dared.

I was loosely woken from sleep by the feel of a small cold hand and a soft hum. Then hum held no emotions but was sweet nonetheless and soon I fell back into sleep. I dreamt of the girl with the white-flowered umbrella but not as I saw her every time it rained, no. This time her eyes held the blinding light of someone who was always smiling. Her hair was the same length but held a sheen to it that made it more, she wore a winter dress that bellowed behind her as she ran through the snow that was still falling, dragging me along with her. For what felt like hours we played in the snow, her appearance never dimming in the slightest but as time wore on the snow turned from a soft fluffy white to a compact red, though it never stopped falling gracefully from the sky. Then a thud from somewhere other than the field we played in and she smiled, this one meeting her eyes and making them light up in the soft red glow of the snow underfoot. Then we were falling into the snow and I sat up to see the morning light streaming through the windows but instead of the birds singing their merry morning songs, I was greeted by my mother's heart-wrenching screams accompanied by my father's gruff sobs as they stood in my doorway, staring at the floor.