Unattainable

Rain

Rain

This is a world in which society has evolved to such a high level (of any skill and intelligence) that the leaders now enforce something called "White Noise", an undying frequency that produces unnatural sound that is supposed to block out unwanted noise or thought.

The civilians all want to keep thinking and changing and evolving, however, but the leaders force the white noise upon them because they do not like being powerless to the human mind.

"White noise" is played nonstop into the people's ear, right into their minds, with the exception of a two minute break every hour. The problem with this, however, is that everybody's two minutes are at different times; the leaders have made sure no one can confer or group together. Because there are so many civilians, the peoples whose two minutes are at the same time have been made sure to never meet or cross paths...

Five.

The rain seemed to...

Four.

The rain created a certain...

Three.

The rain bounced evenly on the...

Two.

The rain plundered down to the...

One.

Rain fell from the sky in a reckless manner, hopefully washing away the lingering scent of bleach. I embraced the moment of silence (save for the rain plonking heavily onto the white streets and white umbrellas) and heaved a sigh of relief. No background noise to distract me, no one to stop me from thinking.

It's amazing what I once took for granted.

What we all once took for granted.

I lean my head out the window on the top floor and look down to the streets below me. This is what I lived for; the relief, the liberation as you felt the burden lifting off your chest. For this small wedge of time each hour, the weight of the world was placed on someone else's shoulders, and I could breathe.

And I did.

Instead of watching the white ants scurrying across the road, I look up to the vast canvas above me, not yet touched by our poison. The hazy blue stretched out for miles, dotted with grey clouds, signalling the rains return.

If there was one thing they couldn't control, it was the nature that couldn't be made motionless, that couldn't be beaten with bleach and machines.

I sneak a glance at the watch on my wrist, a stolen time device I relied heavily on. I then place my elbow on the window sill and rest my chin on my palm, using my last few moments to just watch the aimless, wandering human race go about their senseless routine.

The rain petered out gracefully and unceasingly from the clouds, silver drops of hope that hit the umbrellas with force, as though daring the people to look up.

None of them did.

But as soon the thought enters my mind, one of the white umbrellas stops moving while all the others dash around it. I frown slightly and tilt my head.

A face looks up, and although I am too high up to surely notice anything, I feel like our eyes are on each other, watching and waiting.

I hold out both of my hands and catch the rain before throwing it back down to that one frozen umbrella, a signal that I can think for this short period of -

One.

The rain plundered down to the...

Two.

The rain bounced evenly on the...

Three.

The rain created a certain...

Four.

The rain seemed to...

Five.