Sparks Fly

Chapter Twenty-Four: Guilty Memories and a Rainy Day

I'm a little late from when I promised to update, but better late than never right?

Thanks for the climbing number of views on this story, it means a lot! So, enjoy, and comment/vote if you liked it!
-VIVKELLER23
——————————

Rain

They said the guilt lessened over time, and the pain became little more than a memory as the years kept going. That the intention was worth more than the actual action, though the outcome always remained the same.

Her mother died because of her.

The cool stone of her grave's marker proved that. No matter what she'd meant to do, the truth was that she'd failed her mother when it most counted. One mistake or a thousand, she couldn't remember now, had taken place that night. And her poor, brave mother had been the one to pay the ultimate price.

It happened like it always did. Everything was bright and well that morning, and Rain had no reason to suspect the day would turn into the worst nightmare of her existence.

It was her freshman year in college. She was wild eyed, hungry for the sense of freedom that came with finally being regarded as an adult who was capable of choosing a career path. And while she'd never been one to attract that much attention from boys, she found she was immediately invited to a football game by one of the players in her sociology course.

Life was good.

Until it wasn't.

Her first mistake that night was choosing to go even after her mother had told her not to. Rain went through all the motions of finishing homework, eating dinner, cleaning up after herself, and going to bed early. Her mother had no reason to believe her only daughter would disobey her.

And when the events of that night unfolded, when she finally managed to return to some sense of time and space to see what a little alcohol and trying to have fun had cost her, Rain learned to live within a shell.

All this time, and she still struggled with replaying the events of that night.

By the time she worked up the courage to explain herself, she figured Teagan would have bolted.

Cause who could blame him for running scared after what she'd admitted?

But Teagan stayed.

Patient, observant, kind green orbs with grey flecks watched her face intently. Seeing more than even she would have liked to show.

Surely that was a sign that he wasn't entirely right in the head.

Rain sighed and let some of the past go. "I went to a party. One I happened to actually be invited to during my first semester at college." She caught the little smirk that last remark brought to his face as he remembered the party she'd recently crashed. "Since I'd never been part of the popular crowd, the attention that came with finally being someone people noticed went to my head."

She couldn't bring herself to admit what occurred at that party while she clung to some sense of time and space. Not yet. While she knew she'd been a victim, the shame and hurt she'd endured still overshadowed the truth of it.

Swallowing past the lump in her throat as she fast forwarded a bit of the events of that night, Rain continued. "A few drinks and some pitiful tears later, I found myself stranded outside in the middle of the night, without a clue of where to go next. And the worst thing was that no one knew where I was, at least not my parents. I'd been prohibited from going to that party, but I went anyway."