DIARY of the depressed

Three

"Are you sure you don't want a ride home?"

Mark offered as Ren pulled his umbrella out of his locker. He politely declined. The thought of having to hold a conversation in his mood, made the decision for him.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

Mark shrugged, "Alrighty then. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, try not to be late."

He nudged him playfully and made a dash for his car. Ren pulled his backpack over his shoulder and waited a few moments to see if the rain would let up. When it didn't, he sighed heavily, opened up the umbrella and started walking.

He moved slowly and casually, with his one hand in his pocket, and his eyes glued to the pavement. The events of the day played over in his mind, without realizing it, he'd taken the wrong turn.

After a while, he looked around and he scolded himself;

"Shit,"

He turned back and took a short cut through the park. As he did, the rain worsened, giving him little time to run to the small, park gazebo that was besides the park stream. He closed his umbrella, leaned it against the rail along with his bag and rested his shoulder against the gazebo entrance.

"What is going on with me today..."

He held out his hand and felt the icy drops sting his palm as they pelted down, and then scanned his surroundings. The normally calm stream was overflowing, it climbed up double the usual water level.

An image flashed through his head; it was of a time many years back, of his mother, father and Ren himself, sailing a small model boat on the stream. He had built a craft yacht with his father. It was only the length of a ruler but it stayed afloat the whole day. He pushed this image aside and took a closer look at the rushing water.

That's when he saw someone struggling in the middle of the stream. They appeared to be holding something up in the air, out of the water, and clinging to some drift wood. He jumped into action without thought, ran straight for the bank and slid down into the rushing water in one move. He was surprised by the strength of the current as he swam towards the smaller figure and wondered how the other person could still hold on with one hand. Once he was close enough, he recognized her and immediately fought harder to get to her.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, for the first time in his life, touching someone had made him nervous. He pulled her to land as quickly and gently as possible. Once they were safely on the land slope, Ren lay on his back, panting. He looked over to Rose, who was kneeling and seemed unperturbed by almost drowning. She looked down at a small, black kitten, curled up in her lap, this was what she had tried to keep above the water. Her hair stuck to the sides of her face and hung in dripping tendrils. The little cat shivered and meowed softly, much to Rose's relief. The rain softened.

She tilted her head to the side and smiled when she looked at Ren. When she spoke, her voice was so easing and showed no signs of trauma or shock;

"Thank you very much."

Her smile was etched into his mind, he knew it was too beautiful for him to forget. It took a few moments for him to return the situation at hand, but when he did, he was furious. He stood up and stared down at her;

"Are you insane? How the hell did you get into the stream?"

She willed herself up on unsteady legs, cradling the kitten in her arms and explained;

"I'm lost, actually. I was walking home and somehow ended up here. I saw something in the creek... And it's a good thing I did,"

She held the kittens face up to her own before continuing;

"Otherwise, this little guy might have drowned."

"And if I hadn't shown up, you would have drowned, and for what? A stray."

Ren's words came out sharper than he intended, but She didn't flinch, or look taken aback. Instead, she continued to smile,

"You're probably right, so thank you. I guess we both owe you."

She cradled the kitten again and shivered slightly. Ren stared at her, too shocked by her casual demeanor to say anything. Her uniform clung to her small frame, just as it had when he saw her earlier at the school, but this time she was soaked to the bone. He was soaked too.

"Follow me."

He walked up the bank and back to his bag in the gazebo, and she followed, calling out from behind;

"Hey, so, uh- what was your name?"

"Ren."

He grabbed his clean gym towel and tossed it to her. She dried off the cat first and then wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Well, I'm Rose."

Ren threw on his tracksuit jacket and nodded his response. He got straight to the point, not wanting to allow his day to get any more eventful than it had already been;

"Where do you live?"

"19 Farringdon drive. Do you know it?"

"Yes, it's about 10 minutes from here. I'll walk you home."

Ren could hardly believe the words that came out of his mouth. He was the least likely person to offer help to anyone, never mind some borderline insane girl he'd just met, but here he was.

"Thank you."

They waited quietly for a few
minutes to dye off before they began the walk once the rain stopped entirely. Rose seemed to become increasingly nervous the closer they were to her house. She broke the silence;

"Have you lived here for long?"

He answered with one of his usual short sentenced answers out of habit;

"Yeah, most of my life."

She nodded her response and didn't push the conversation any further. Perhaps sensing his discomfort with talking to her. Ren felt disappointed when she didn't respond. He cleared his throat and spoke uneasily;

"And... what about you? It's July, seems like a strange time to transfer schools...?"

"Well, my dad and I used to live in Mount Albert, a few towns away actually. It was just him and I since I was a little girl... but my dad died a few weeks ago,"

Ren stopped in his tracks. Rose's face was expressionless, so much so that it seemed unnatural, even by Ren's standards. She continued;

"So I came to live with my uncle..."

He followed behind her,

"I'm so sorry... "

"That's okay. He was sick for a long time."

She looked at the street ahead and they both slowed to a hault. She spoke again;

"This is it."

"Yeah..."

"Do you live far from here? I hope I didn't take you too far out of the way."

"Not really... I stay at the Marewell apartments 3 blocks from here."

"Oh, good... Well, then I better not keep you..."

"Uh, yeah, okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

They started walking in opposite directions before she called back to him,

"Thank you again, Ren."

His name had never sounded better than when she said it. He thought;

What the hell are you getting yourself into?