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01. The Girl in the Rain

Allie sat on a cold wooden bench, the sleeves of her black hoodie pushed up to just below her elbows, fingers knotted together and her head hanging. She’d been sitting there for hours, just like that. Ignoring the goosebumps that built up on her arms where the fabric didn’t cover them, ignoring the wind that blew her light brown hair over her face. Ignoring the cold that hit her legs and got her bouncing her foot. She felt numb, and it wasn’t because of the cold. It was because everything was just so messed up; there was no reason to feel anymore, if she felt, all she would feel would be hurt, abandonment, regret, hate, anger, loneliness. None of the good emotions, none of the exciting exhilarating feelings she would have felt sitting there a few months ago.

Everything was so wrong. It had been fine, everything had been going wonderfully, she’d finally won over the boy she’d been crushing on for months, she’d passed all her midyear exams, she had been doing well, feeling better, losing weight and enjoying every mintue. Everything was beyond good. All it took was one stupid red light, one stupid idiot to get drunk and still sit themselves behind the wheel. That’s all it took for everything to fall out of place, for her whole world to turn upside down. Three months had passed, and nothing was any better, and in the last week, everything had somehow managed to get even worse.

A quick glance at her surroundings made Allie feel so lost. It wasn’t home, it wasn’t familiar, and it wasn’t even close. The sky was grey where it should have been blue, there was an apartment complex where there should have been a house, and there was a paved square where there should have been a lawn. Grey skies, wet streets and over all depressing weather. She still hadn’t gotten used to it, coming from the warm weather in Australia to the gross cold there. London could be beautiful and wonderful, but it wasn’t home. Home was thousands of miles away, and even there, Allie’s home would be empty, broken and cold if she ever decided to go back.

Clouds moved through the sky, getting threateningly darker, and before long, rain began to fall. Allie didn’t move. She sat there, staring at the pavement in front of her, not even bothering to lift her hood. It didn’t matter if she got wet; it would make no difference to how she felt.  

The rain got heavier, but she barely noticed the pressure of it landing on her skin.

A car pulled up on the side of the road out the front of the complex. Two boys jumped out, racing towards the apartment closest to where Allie sat. She glanced up at them briefly, quickly taking them in.

One was madly trying to cover his dark, styled hair from the rain as he ran. He had a dark complexion compared to the boy beside him, looking uncoordinated running through the rain in his oversized shoes. Something about them seemed vaguely familiar to Allie, probably because they were neighbour's of hers.

“Hey!” someone shouted in a strong Italian accent.

Allie didn’t look up; she didn’t know anyone, so the shout couldn’t be for her.

“Yo! Girl in the hoddie!” that one was an English accent.

Allie looked up this time, turning her head to the voices. The two boys had stopped under cover outside a door, and they were now watching her curiously.

“What?” She asked flatly, but loud enough that they could hear her over the rain. What did they want? Couldn’t she just be left alone?

“Why are you letting the rain ruin your hair!?” the dark one yelled out.

Allie frowned, absently touching her soaking hair.

“Come out of the rain! You’ll get sick!” the Italian boy yelled.

Allie’s frown deepened, slowly she stood up and walked over to them

“How long have you been sitting there?!” The British one asked her incrediously.