It Beats For You

Concrete Angel

When I went back into Rain’s room, she was sitting on the floor still, but she looked up at me. “Hey, wanna check out this music video with me?”

“Yeah, sure. What is it?”

“Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. You ever heard of it?”

“Nope. Have you?”

“No. Devine, one of my old friends, sent it to me.”

I sat down next to her and looked at her laptop as it loaded the song.

I heard piano music first, watching a woman smoking and a little girl walking to school.

“She walks to school with the lunch she packed,

Nobody knows what she’s holding back.

Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday,

She hides the bruises with the linen and lace.

The teacher wonders, but she doesn’t ask.

It’s hard to see the pain behind the mask.

Bearing the burden of a secret storm,

Sometimes she wishes she was never born.”

I swallowed. I knew where this was going. Looking over at Rain, I saw tears starting to form in her eyes. It hurt my heart. She lived this. This was mainly her life story in a music video. Biting my lip, hoping she wouldn’t push me away, I moved behind her and wrapped my arms around her.

She just leaned back, and by the time the song had reached almost three minutes, she was sobbing silently, shaking softly in my arms.

“The statue stands in a shadowed place,

An angel girl with an upturned face.

Her name is written on a polished rock;

A broken heart that the world forgot.”

I let her cry, holding her tightly, wishing her sorrow away.

I closed her laptop when the song finished, and turned her around to face me.

“You’re safe from that now. I won’t let your mom or her boyfriends or your dad or anybody hurt you anymore. I promise.” That promise…is a hard one to keep. But I was determined to follow through with it.

“I’m sorry I’m crying.” She said.

“No, please don’t apologize. The video was emotional, and for you especially…You shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

She didn’t respond.

“Rain?”

“I hate crying.”

I hugged her and she buried her face in my neck. The tears were becoming fewer, but neither of us made any effort to move apart.

“There’s a bright side to it all, now…” I said.

“What’s that?”

“You have a bunch of people here who love you and want you to succeed and be happy; you have a new apartment; you’re on your way to reaching your dreams. So…cheer up, because if you don’t, I swear I will tickle you again.”

I felt her smile. “You’re right. All of that’s in the past. There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

“Exactly. Now, be happy. Dante is awake and the people with the couch will be here any minute.”

Rain’s POV

That song made me think of my past and…nevermind. I should just forget about it. He probably doesn’t even remember me now. But I think about him everyday.

It’s been five years since I saw him, anyway. And she’s probably erased everything that had to do with me from his memory. I didn’t even know if he was still here. If she was continuing the way she did with him when I was there…he most likely wasn’t.

But, I need to forget it, no matter how hard it was to do so. I had to focus on my career now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

O.O What's Rain hiding??? Guesses anyone?