The Way You Loved Me [Under Edit]

"It's raining on Sunday, storming like crazy..."

Cahlan Asher.

    I came home on a Sunday. Bright and early, around five o' clock, our SUV pulled into one of the four ways in Hazelwood. A drizzle had just begun, the streets becoming wet for the first time in a while. Mom had been telling me about a mild drought that hit the town a few weeks ago.

   "It's like it was waiting for you," Mom mentioned, reaching the stoplight beside the old gas station that Mr. O'Neill owned. He would always come outside when a car pulled up, ready to pump their gas. He would come out no mattter what. Rain or shine, he was there; even if there was a blizzard, he'd drive fromt he far reaches of Hazelwood and open the ole station. Sometimes if conditions got too bad, he'd allow people to come in and stay for awhile. Everybody loved that little old man.

   "What was waiting?" I asked, scooting my reading glasses further up my nose.

   "The rain. It knew the town was waiting for you, so it went into a drought. It was holding out on us. Then you come, and it's about to downpour." I shook my head and laughed, my mother was so silly sometimes. The rain, waiting? Yeah, right?

   "I doubt that, it was a strange coincidence."

   "Whatever you say," She smiled.

    I watched as we passed Gretta's diner, the interior lights glowing brightly as the servers began to lift the shades. "I remember going there," Lifting a finger, I smiled slightly. That seemed like ages ago. The old Cahlan used to go there all the time with Spenser Cristoffe and Mara Lange. Sighing, I leaned back in my seat. Oh how I missd those two.

   "I remember when y ou, Mara, Spenser, and Givanni used to wake up bright early just so you could go and eat. None of us ever understood why." Mom chuckled, her voice echoing through the car's interior.

   "What do you mean?"

   "Madelie, Benjamin, your father, and I always found it amusing that you guys preferred to wake up extra early just so you could go and eat before church. Every single Sunday."

    "It was a ritual, mom." I laughed. "The single day we didn't go and eat there, was the day of..." Trailing off, I sighed. The day of The Accident, I added mentally. The one day we didn't go to Gretta's diner for our routine pancakes and sausage, we got into the most horrid wreck...

    "Well, you guys can start going there again if you'd like. I'm sure the others would like that." She mentioned quickly, her voice pitch raising.

   Shaking my head, I glanced at her. "I don't know about that."

   "Why not? You all loved it so much."

   "We haven't seen each other in ages," I replied. "Circumstances changed."

The rest of the way home, I remained silent. Partly because I didn't want to slip up ad say something that made an inference to The Acident and make mom all sad again. The other reason? I didn't want her to see the tears or hear them in my voice when she mentioned Spenser.

    Did anyone even know that I was coming home, besides my family of course? As if on cue, we passed Hazelwood High School, my alma mater for the last four years. "Look," My mother hceered, her index finger pointing at something. I squinted as I tried to see through all the rain; finally, I saw it: "Welcome Home Cahlan!" The marqui setting out front flowed as the words lit up across the screen. Tears rimmed my eyes, they did miss me...

    "It's been a long hard ride, and I did lose hope." My fingers glided over my cell phone keys. "Sending..." The phone read. "Message sent: Dr. Pearson." She said I could text her about anything and she'd be there to talk whenever she had the time. We were ten minutes from home, and I could already feel my stomach beginning to knot.

   "You're home now Cahlan, be happy. :)" Dr. Pearson replied. Sliding my phone into the messenger bag at my feet, I sighed once more. Dr. Pearson was right, I needed to be happy. I waited a year for this. It was time to face my fear, new Cahlan and all.

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So, I'm not quite sure when to update next.. Guess I'll have to see how many people like this story so far! If you want an update soon, feel free to comment and I'll get back to you! :)