captivated in the rain

{~*Chapter one*~]

"I speak of a clinical depression that is a background for your entire life, a background of anguish and anxiety, a sense that nothing goes well, that pleasure is unavailable and all your strategies collapse."~ Leonard Cohen.

Everyone is like a blank page as you pass by and only dip the ink into the well once they meet you.

{~*chapter 1*~}

Erika stood at the oak door of a two bedroomed flat that she would be living in for the next year and maybe even longer. Had she always wanted so badly to turn around and be whisked back into the town she once flourished?Probably she hated meeting new people or anything new at all. The change was dangerous and she would rather swim in the same pool than dive into an unknown pool. She didn't have a choice as she was going to a university a few hours away from her home town so she was forced to scavenge for a small flat. That is until she found the room-mate finder site that her university had created for those in need of a little helping hand. She stumbled upon a place that matched her needs and only held one person. It was two bedroomed, one bathroom, one kitchen, a dining room, living room, a veranda, soundproof walls. It was even allowed up to three pets! Really it was far too perfect but she took the bait and now here she was too scared to knock the door or even open the door.

The door swung open as a bright girl with peach coloured hair stood there smiling happily. That must have been the girl mentioned. Was Poppy it? She never cared for remembering names but she had tried on this occasion since she would be living with this girl for a year.

"Hello, Miss Schuyler!" She had a thick German accent as she spoke.

"Good morning, Poppy was it?" Erika had never been one for talking formally or calling people by their surname.

"First names already! I see you're a forward person." She giggled to herself smiling.

"Sorry!" Erika cried out.

"What for?" She seemed genuinely confused.

"Sorry, just instinct I guess..." Erika was majorily embarrassed now.

"It's fine, come in! Let's get you settled in before anything else." she ushered the girl in with a smile.

They hurried in as rain began to come down in a drizzle. Erika sighed as she held her bags close to her chest protectively. Poppy only laughed as she guided her to the room at the end of the hallway. Poppy pushed the door open quickly. Her room was a sight to behold, neat and tidy with a homely feel. Walls were a pale baby blue, the floor covered in a light brown carpet. The bed was built with birch wood while the mattress was covered in blue silk sheets that went well with similar pillows and a large duvet nestled on top. The side table was made from birch wood though it had a small bed light perched on top. There were two sets of drawers made of the same wood with gold handles. A large window flooded the room with natural light as a large bookcase tucked into the corner of the back wall.

"Amazing...." She gasped loudly as she glanced around.

"Hmm, I took a while to design this. You said your favourite colour was blue so I presumed you would feel more at home if I painted the walls baby blue. How is it?" she turned to face the bewildered girl already knowing how she felt.

"It is so... perfect! No flaw just beautiful, calming. Thank you, Poppy." She smiled giving her a small smile.

"I enjoyed positioning the furniture, painting and carpeting were done by professionals I hired." Poppy gave her some insight into the room. 

"You didn't need to go through all that trouble for me, thank you though." She looked down for a moment but smiled once more.

"Nah no worries. Wanted to give you a good first impression." Poppy sighed walking around the room her hands gliding over the wood.

"Impressions change though," Erika added as she sat on the bed shoving her bags underneath.

"Yes but first impressions leave a mark. If I had given you a trashy room it would make me look uncaring and lazy." Poppy contradicted.

"Very true, but if the rest of the house was left tidy I would have brushed it off as you were giving me a responsibility to make the room look good," she smirked.

"I think little miss 'stand at the front door for five minutes' has better ways to spend her time." She teased the girl.

"Ok, you win." Erika buried her face into the nearest pillow as her face burst into a bright red.

Both girls enjoyed the silence for a few minutes. Poppy frowned slightly as she sat on the window's ledge.

"Erika.... So what are you majoring in?" She wasn't used to the silence so she was quick to try breaking it.

"Medicine, it's a course that lasts I think 5 years?" She answered willingly.

"I'm in a computing course, mums suggestion. Thinks I need to start working towards an actual goal rather than helping with the family business." She closed her eyes leaning on the glass.

"What types of things does your family do?" Erika questioned.

"A type of farming." Poppy left it vague as she stood up placing her feet on the carpet.

"I'm goin' out later tonight so I'll have to skip helping you unpack, foods in the fridge. I'm sure you know how to cook? Ok and stay away from my room and I'll stay away from yours. Don't answer the door either, some stupid salesman or something like that." She smiled as she walked out leaving Erika in the room alone.

She sighed yawning as she started to unzip her clothes bag, filled with dark greys and blues. Not much colour since she was still in her emo faze though she was growing out of it.

depression was still holding on strongly. I doubt you want to hear about that right? Anyway back to the story.

She started to place them into the smaller chest of drawers as her mind wandered slightly back to home. She missed the never-ending fields but she didn't miss the orphanage she had grown up in.She still lay awake a night wondering who her parents were and what happened to them. Nobody told her so she never asked afraid that they might not be as far away as she had first imagined. She sighed as she shook her head grinding her teeth in an attempt to stop her mind from delving into things that had always made her feel negative.

Erika placed her clothes neatly into the drawers. It didn't take very long which left her with storing her personal belongs. Most importantly, her vast collection of books, comics,manga and even a few figures. The large bookshelf was soon filled with colour and seemed to add to the homely feel. She dusted herself off smiling at her handy work.

"Done and dusted now time to...," she looked around slightly confused at what her next task was." Let's do some reading," she declared as she took a random book and headed for the veranda.

"Oh hey Erika what are you doing?" Poppy stood at the unopened door watching her room-mate carefully.

"Doing some reading, do you know where the veranda is by any chance?" she asked politely not completely sure about the layout of the house.

"oh over here, through the kitchen you should find a door. Open it and the veranda should be there unless it decided to fly away!"Poppy joked slightly smiling at Erika.

"Thank you, have a nice day." She walked off as she headed for the veranda for some reading and rain watching.

Erika thought the rain was marvellous, a gift that was shared between continents. She enjoyed the fresh smell of rain so calming as it fell. She walked out to the veranda seeing a small table with two chairs and a few candles. She laughed at her self as she marvelled at the rain with the look of a child who had been handed a present.

She took a seat and laid her book on the table as she turned to the rain. Droplets splashed on the ground below as she stuck her hand out from the protection of the flat and let the water roll of her hand. She felt herself lose the anxiety that had built inside.

"Thank you."

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First chapter of my new book i hope you enjoyed!

Lets hope that this isn't a so bad!

edit; fixed the weird A's