Puddles

Chapter 1

At first, I started to run home from school in hopes of avoiding as much of the falling water as I could. Obviously, once the hood of my hoodie was soaked through completely, I realized there was no staying dry. Besides, it was rainy days like these when I began to notice the mysterious, tranquil beauty that followed you throughout town, which was surrounded by a forest of massive redwood guardians. Some of these had wandered astray directly into the yards of people's houses, towering high over the roofs; some watched over Red-Squirrel Lake, the heart of this spacious town; all were silent wardens keeping an eye on all of the creatures under their branches and sometimes, I imagined, spread gossip about the residents of the town, messages carried on the wind.

Deep puddles began to join together on the sidewalk and street as the rain grew more intense, perfect for splashing in. I pulled down my hood and ran into a puddle, laughing silently to myself. I splashed in every foggy pool that I came across and dragged my feet through the overflowing gutters as I walked along the road towards home. When I turned the corner onto my street I spotted a marshy patch in someone's side yard. There were no fences and each building was fairly far apart so there wasn't much of a line of personal space for the houses, meaning that as long as you didn't stroll up to someone's back door you could basically go into anyone's backyard. I dropped my backpack and hastily slipped off my mushy Vans and socks. I rolled up the bottom of my jeans, discarded the hoodie, revealing the white tank top underneath, and pounced into the center of the squishy, muddy ground with a broad, mischievous smile on my face. I stopped jumping up and down for a second to squish mud between my toes and when the rain began to fall harder, accompanied by booming thunder, I turned my face to they sky, cringing at the heavy drops, but the smile remaining on my face. I couldn't see anything. I raised my arms into the air and laughed out loud.

Now, I thought that I might've heard the sound of feet coming towards me, but between the sounds of the storm and my rainy bliss, I decided not to even look. Just as I squeezed my eyes shut and opened my mouth to taste the rain, thunder crashed overhead, and I was smacked to the ground by another body. Cold water and mud surrounded my entire back half. I squinted through the thick rainfall and looked up to see a pretty strawberry-blonde girl on top of me... giggling?

"You looked really funny doing that," she said, not seeming to have a desire to get off of me.

"Uh... get... off?" I guess I didn't want to sound rude.

"Oh, right. Sorry." She rose to her feet, a soggy, struggling me still laying between her legs in the marsh. She offered a hand, which I gratefully took. When I got up I shook my head a little then peered up at her through the dripping hair that hung over my face as the harsh rain let up a little. I had some crazy version of a stylish pixie cut, with the front longer than any other side. The girl giggled again.
"What were you doing?" She laughed.

"Playing in the rain," I said as if I was answering a math question in class. I turned around and started towards my abandoned belongings now wishing I had left my hood on my head and kept walking like a normal person. People just made me so angry, besides the ones that I somewhat enjoyed on occasion... which was, like, two.

Again. A giggle. "I've never seen anyone our age do that. It was adorable, like a little girl."

"Oh. Thanks. I'm glad I remind you of a little girl." I picked up my shoes, socks and hoodie and slung one strap of my bag over my shoulder. I started walking away, without even a glance back at the girl.

"Hey! Just a minute!" She stomped over to me and grabbed my shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Doesn't matter. We aren't friends or anything."

"Weeeeeell we could be. We live on the same street, after all."

"How do you know?"

"I see you walking home pretty much every day." She put her hands on her hips and turned her head to the side as I squinted my eyes at her. She shrugged at the look I was giving and asked, "What?" I shook my head and decided it'd be better to just give her what she wants. I sighed.

"Katherine. Kat's fine too, I guess."

"I'm Casey." She smiled way more cheerfully than I thought necessary. "You know, maybe we will be friends, Kittycat." With that, and another giggle, she spun around and ran off into the rain. Oh dear lord... what kind of human did I just get myself involved with?

Inside my house I dropped my things on the wooden floor by the door. I approached my mom who was passed out on the couch surrounded by empty beer cans. I gave her a kiss on the forehead before disposing of all the empty cans and all other traces of alcohol in the house. I knew it was in vain, though. Tomorrow while I'm at school she'll just buy more. I went upstairs and changed. Through the crack in the curtains that covered the giant window I saw rain still falling. Once dressed I pulled back the curtains and saw the girl from earlier... Casey?... running down the street through the rain. She looked uncharacteristically serious, at lleast, the character that it seemed she was based on that first encounter. She was holding something... wait. What the hell? Was that a sword? Glowing?! I leaned in close to the window to see but she fled out of sight. She was also wearing a weird leather glove on left hand decorated in gems or something and one on the right that was much smaller and looked like it was probably there to stop wear and tear on her hand from using the sword. The rest of her oufit had changed from a flowery shirt, shoes and shorts to... well lots of leather. Leather jeans, high leather boots and the leather glove. She had a thin white shirt with sleeves that stopped at the elbows. Not very flowery. And the thing in her right hand was long, silver and definitely sword-shaped. It looked like it had a white glow around the blade that pushed away the rain. Yeah. Shoulda' just kept my hood up.

A moment after Casey escaped my field of vision and still had me craning to catch a glimpse that would tell me what I actually saw, I heard a thud downstairs. My heart jumped, afraid mom had fallen down the stairs drunk. I ran downstairs and saw my mom, completely undisturbed on the couch. Suddenly I felt uneasy. Then I heard a thud in the bathroom in the hall to the right. I darted into the kitchen and pulled out a large cutting knife and ran back out into the living room to protect my incapacitated mother. I stared down the hall waiting for some lunatic to stumble out of the bathroom and run after me. But that didn't quite happen. Well, the lunatic didn't come from the hall, anyways.