Perpetual Rain ✓

My Encounter

You had no destination in mind, no goal of what to do or what time you needed to get there. Since high school had ended, life had all just been one endless blur with no objective.

But part of you enjoyed that. There were no early mornings - no more exhaustion from the lack of sleep brought on by the fact that you were never able to go to bed on time for your routine life. For the past thirteen years, you had felt perpetually exhausted five days a week, though it was less so when you were a child jam packed full of energy and the highly processed sugary foods that were fed to you. Maybe it was more like five exhausting years to be more realistic.

You were a night owl at heart. You had always found the most peace in the dead hours of the night when no one else was awake. No sounds of your mother wandering the house in her endless mission to keep everything clean or the sounds of your father sitting in front of the louder than necessary TV after a long shift at work.

You still held true to your nature, never really going to bed at an appropriate time of night, but the only difference now was that you had nothing to wake up for. For the first time in years you felt rested, at least physically.

No matter the amount of sleep you got or how long your body remained composed, your mentality always seemed strained. These days seemed worse than others.

You had ventured from the park and began to wander through the neighborhood, eyes remaining on your feet though your focus was off in the deepest parts of space.

The sidewalk traveled along a winding wet road. Water pooled in the indented grooves along the roadside, rushing toward the gutters. To the left, a large lake that the town surrounded had started to flood. How many summers had you spent at the water's edge? Memories of splashing in the shallow shore with your mother trickled to the front of your mind as you spotted the lake from the corner of your dazed eyes.

A nearby fishing port which normally laid barren during the daylight hours was now stocked full of anchored boats that didn't dare venture out into the unforgiving waters that rocked more violently due to the weather.

Your eyes rolled across the water and to the boats as you broke your gaze from your feet, noticing the algae glued to the old vessels. The smell of the mossy water was amplified by the falling rain. Such strong scents brought on your nostalgia, and you didn't even hear the sound of a car whipping around the corner on which you stood.

The sound of wet tires desperately trying to gain traction on the asphalt escaped you. It wasn't until you heard a deep voice boom near your frame that you woke from your slightly conscious daydream.

"Watch it!" The man's voice cried out. Large hands grabbed you from behind, wrapping firmly around your biceps as you were yanked hard - back the way you came - just in time to see a wave of water crash into the area in which you just stood.

Surely that large of a splash would have drenched you to the bone, maybe even sent you falling back into the metal railing that prevented people and cars alike from plunging into the dark blue liquid that was Hollow Lake.

The shock causing your eyes to round, ice cold fear radiated from your heart and exploded through your body as the beating of your heart increased tenfold. Involuntarily, your body shook in reaction as you were paralyzed by that fear.

It wasn't as if the car was going to hit you, it was just a wave of water that doused the sidewalk where you stood, so... why did you feel as though you had just evaded Death himself? Your eyes, though wide, could only see the headlights of the traveling car piercing through the hazy fog, heading toward you in its attempt to round the corner.

You were blinded, like a deer in headlights - quite literally. Your brain tried desperately to calm your heart rate and bring you back to reality.

Though it wasn't until you felt two large palms engulf your face, so strong they seemed as though they could carry the weight of the world within them, that you were brought back down to Earth.

Blinking, those headlights were replaced with the sight of dark brown eyes that were so deep they almost seemed to reflect the wonders of the abyss of outer space.

"Are you okay?" His voice asked, your hearing being the third sense to return to you. The low tone of his voice, though it reflected heavily the concern this stranger held for you, still seemed melodic.

"Y-Yes..." You stuttered, your voice breaking through the fear that was starting to melt away, trickling down your body like a water pressure that was being released slowly through the tips of your toes.

The strange man released your face and took a step away from you. The absence of his warmth brought back the wet chill of the air. Swallowing the lump in your throat you were finally able to size the man up.

He was tall, taller than you at the very least, having a good five to six inches on your own height. He was clad in a black zip up hoodie with the hood raised to help protect his dark chocolate hair from the rain. It laid flat against his forehead, shadowing those almost obsidian eyes. Pink lips were painted slightly darker by the cold air of the daunting evening and a small speck that you suspected to be dirt that had found its way to his face was just above his left nostril.

He wore a leather jacket over that black hoodie, helping to protect the cloth material. Both shades were dark but the stark color that laid against his chest made the leather seem a bit lighter, or perhaps it was the glistening of the water on the cow hide.

Dark jeans stretched over his long legs as his body ended with deep brown boots wet and faintly muddied as if he had been walking off the paved path.

"I'm sorry. I should have been paying attention." You said, effectively breaking the silence and letting your eyes flash back up to his face.

Though he was clearly around your age there was something almost childlike and innocent about the look he gave you. "Thank you." You added soon after as you forced a smile through the overwhelming introverted skin you constantly bared.

"Are you sure you are okay? You seemed pretty out of it." He questioned as his brows curled downward in his concern, barely seen by the shadow of his matching colored locks.

"Yeah. Yeah." Raising your hands you waved them back and forth nonchalantly to try and convince the stranger that you were indeed alright. The strained smile that curled your lips was becoming more stretched in your attempts to deceive the man. The soft droplets of rain that splashed against your cheek helping to sooth your cheeks from getting sore from your plastered, fake smile. 

You didn't want to admit to a complete stranger that your muscles still felt taut, that your heart rate still felt elevated making you feel a heavy sense of unease that was crushing. You were unsure as to why the surprise was so hard to shake.

"Anyway, thanks for your h--"

"My name is Taehyung." He interrupted...