The Boy From Everywhere

Ch. 12: The Rain

The rainy season sure is starting already, isn't it?

I pursed my lips as I looked out the window from my room, pen tapping on my journal and my chin resting on my palms... and lightning crackling outside followed by a loud thunder.

I'm definitely worried, but it isn't exactly about the rain getting worse and possibly turning into a typhoon. It's about the wet weather getting worse and lessening my opportunities for my midnight escapes.

I don't think I'm ready to face that yet. As much as I hated summer because of the unbearable heat and the insects, unfortunately, I feel like I've started to hate rainy days...

What would I do, being trapped all day in this house with my aunt?

Another thunder boomed outside, and I turned my gaze towards my journal, the half-empty page staring back at me. The upper half, however, lay already filled by the last part of my last log. Surprisingly, it was written well, but I'm sure it's all because of that one name that stood out among all the other words in that paragraph.

Eli.

Right. I don't think I want to stop seeing him all of a sudden just because of the rain, too.

To think that our first meeting was in the rain, but now here I was, hating on that same weather because it might just end up being what keeps me from seeing him again... I should probably be more careful now, too, when I sneak out, especially when it starts raining at night.

Well, at least... there's lesser chances of a fire happening during the rainy season.

~•~

"I saw in your resume that your birthday is in August. That's next month already! Shall we prepare something for that?"

When Eli said those words shortly after my arrival to the convenience store he works at, I almost shot him a glare in response. Now what was he doing reading my resume without my permission?

"I-I-I didn't see anything else, though! I just saw it by accident!" He quickly defended himself after that stare I gave him, shaking his palms and stuttering like I just pointed a gun at him or something. When he did, I quickly looked away, freeing him from the threat that was my glare, apparently. Rather comically, I heard him sigh with relief as I turned back to my assignment on the table.

Not that that lasted long. He knew my birthday, already, but I don't know his? How is that fair?

"When's your birthday?" I asked somewhat out of nowhere, my back still to him and pretending to not really care whether or not he replied.

But he did.

"The fourth of December."

And he even gave the exact day. Feeling rather flabbergasted by his proper answer, I turned back to him with my brows furrowed, just in time to see him shrug and smile as he looked back, and then his eyes widened as he seemed to come to a realization.

"Hey! This is starting to feel like a blind date–!"

"Don't even start!"

He flinched before quickly falling quiet, and then he jumped again and yelped in the next second when a loud thunder resounded from outside. We both turned at the same time, and, just as I feared, it started raining.

"Wow, it really is raining a lot these days, huh?" Eli asked, as I noticed him rubbing his arm nervously through my peripheral vision.

I couldn't really look away from the rain, though, as much as I wanted to. My thoughts were too... troubled. I didn't really know what to think about this. I had an umbrella, sure, but...

"Hah... I hope it stops soon, though," I mumbled under my breath, before I turned to Eli for some reason, only to suddenly see him looking at me curiously. "... What?"

"You do have an umbrella, don't you?" he asked, all of a sudden.

I turned my gaze to the side, supposedly to my backpack where his purple umbrella was in, and I turned back to him a second later to reply. I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, another thought came to my mind. Maybe it really wasn't the best time to ask it, but... I was curious.

"I just wanna know. The first time we met... what were you doing out in the rain like that?"

Another lighting strike, but Eli didn't even flinch this time as he just looked at me, frozen with wide eyes.

Did I... really say something so wrong? He seemed so uneasy now, too. What's with those eyes?

"Uhm, I..." His words dragged, and I couldn't help but notice his hands curling up uncomfortably on the counter. Another lightning strike, and I flinched, while Eli just blinked. He just blinked, and his body stiffened up, as he seemed completely lost and confused.

"Hey... Hey!" I called out to him, trying to snap him out of it, but it was of no use. I might just have to go to him to deal with this.

"I... I..."

"Eli, hey!" I shouted as I ran to him, reaching out and grabbing his arm and pulling on it to get his attention. He turned to me, and I flinched at the sudden eye contact and the sight of tears forming in his eyes.

And then the power went out.

For a moment, I don't know how long, everything fell silent except for the rain outside. I gripped Eli's arm at one point to make sure he was still there, and then I heard a click, quickly followed by the emergency light turning on, providing a dim light over the counter, between me and him.

As if a switch had been flipped inside him, too, suddenly Eli's usual demeanor returned, and he smiled awkwardly as he spoke, the slight shake in his voice being the only remnant of the strange occurence that had happened just seconds ago. "Woah, that was scary... Good thing I had you here."

Eli... What secrets could he be hiding?