When Rain Rises

Chapter 10

"What is all this?" Aunt Leith asked Rain as she looked over the dozen stacks of money he laid out on the table for her. It was somewhat early in the morning and Cloud was still asleep. They were speaking in hushed tones so as not to wake her.

"Money, obviously," Rain replied, studying her face carefully to try and extract some sort of information on how she was taking this, but she had a drab expression on her face that he couldn't read. She knew him far too well.

"And I'm guessing this money is where you got those clothes, too?" Once he and Aiden had parted ways yesterday, Rain started feeling upset about Peter again and began doing some emotional spending. He outfitted himself with fresh-looking denim jeans, new black sneakers and, since purple was his favorite color, a purple T-shirt with spiral designs on it.

"Yep, and now we have plenty for everything we need." Rain titled his head and furrowed his brow. "And yet, you don't seem happy."

"I'm trying my best not to be furious, actually. You won't tell me where this came from, will you?"

"I can't."

Aunt Leith chuckled dryly to herself. "I don't talk much about my past, Rain. But I can tell you now that there was a time when a close friend of mine suddenly got a large sum of money and wouldn't tell anyone why. Do you know what happened to her?"

"What?"

"She was found brutally murdered a week later."

"Well, this is different," Rain frowned. "I'm not into anything shady at all."

Aunt Leith finally turned her focus away from the money and looked Rain deep in the eyes, almost probing into his very soul. "Just be careful, Rain. We've struggled for a very long time, but we did it together. I don't want to lose you. We've already lost so much."

"I know, but I'm going to make things better." Her final words triggered a question in his mind. "Hey, Aunt Leith—you said before I lost my memory because of some disease, right?" Aunt Leith's attitude seemed to subtly shift as the question was raised, but Rain couldn't quite tell how.

"Yes," she confirmed. "When your parents were killed before your very eyes, you fell into a coma and grew very sick even after we moved here. When you came out of your coma, you had no memories of anything before."

"Right, it's just you'd think I'd have remembered something by now. You think maybe it's because I don't want to remember or something?"

"I'm not sure, dear. There are some things in this world we just don't understand. Maybe as you grow older you'll find out."

"Maybe," Rain agreed. He then sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I'm off to Peter's again." Rain didn't much care for how ungrateful and accusatory Peter had been yesterday, but he also wasn't about to let his best friend go just like that. There was far too much history between them.

"Again? Don't you have to go to your new job?"

"Not that I know of," Rain replied honestly. "Besides, me and Peter have some things to talk about. Tell Cloud I said hi, okay?"

"Alright," Aunt Leith smiled softly. "Well, take care. And remember what I said."

"I will," Rain nodded before heading out the door.

That didn't go so bad, Rain thought to himself. It was a somewhat cloudy day, but still fairly warm. He was about to step off towards Peter's apartment when he heard a feminine voice.

"Hey, you," Rain looked to see a woman motioning him towards her from across the street. "Come over here." Curiosity prompted Rain to oblige, and he walked over the cracked paved road to meet her.