To Love the Rain

Chapter Seven

I don't know how I got to Alex's house.

I must've crawled, or walked, or ran or something. I don't remember, to be perfectly honest. It was raining so hard I could barely see five feet in front of me. I was shivering from head to toe in the oppressing darkness, and it was honestly a miracle I even managed to find my way back.

Technically speaking, Alex's house was a modest, two-story house with a white picket fence and a pool that looked like it came out of a true American magazine. Compared to my shitty little apartment, however, her house was pretty much a mansion. She lived down the street from us, and I spent my childhood summers in her house for days on end, playing all sorts of games in her massive backyard. I lived at her house just as much as I did at my own; I knew practically every crook and cranny of the place from exploring the place with her when I was younger.

Staggering weakly to the side door that was always unlocked, I managed to glimpse a soft yellow light from one of the first-floor windows, where her room was. She was awake; I had a feeling she would be. Even in the icy, reddened haze that permeated my entire world, just the thought of her was enough to make me smile. It was a weak, brittle thing- but a smile nonetheless.

I silently knocked on her window with my forehead, feeling more faint with every dizzying movement. She looked up, and promptly fell backwards with a yelp that was audible even in the roar of the storm. I suppose, in hindsight, I must've looked pretty terrifying. Caked with mud, drenched to the bone and with unruly bangs hanging over my eyes, I probably resembled a hateful ghost, or a demon from the pits of Hell itself.

I certainly felt like one.

Alex must've realized it was me, because she scrambled to her feet in a hurry and ran out the room. Summoning up whatever shred of strength I had still held in my trembling legs, I managed to stumble over to the side door. I could barely feel the pinpricks of rain against my skin anymore as everything ebbed to a numbing halt, and my world slid from a reddish hue to a murky gray. I felt faint, as if I had already died and was on my way to heaven.

Instantly, another bout of fresh tears burned at the edge of my eyes.

In the cold, dreary storm, the painful sting of tears was almost welcome.

The glass doors slid open with a bang, and Alex rushed out with a clean towel in hand. Muddy, exhausted, and practically swaying on the spot, I collapsed into her arms almost lifelessly. She dragged me inside with a worried expression; her normally baby blue eyes darkening into a stormy sea.

"Hey Lex," I slurred sleepily into her shoulder.

Alex started drying my hair with the towel and dabbing at the muddy spots splattered across my clothes. She laid my head on her lap, and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep once or twice on the floor.

She smelled so damn good.

"Merci," she sounded terrified, worry and fear filling in the cracks in her voice. "What the hell happened to you?"

I shook my head blearily, and moaned incoherently. Her house was so warm, and she smelled so freaking good- I could even hear the light crackling of her firepit. Slowly, surely, the trembling that racked my bones for the longest time ebbed to the occasional shiver. I sighed in contentment, and almost passed out right there once again.

Somehow, someway, she managed to drag me into her room.

In my bleary, half-awake state of mind, I still managed to recognize the softness of her bed. I had spent the better part of my childhood playing hide and seek in her massive house, and one of my favorite hiding spots was under her bed. The baby blue comforters smelled just like her- a rosy blend of summer and spring, like somebody had dumped the seasons all over her sheets.