Practice Writings

Today Was Different

I wasn’t feeling so great. It wasn’t that the day had gone wrong. It wasn’t that the world was ending. It wasn’t that my girlfriend had broken up with me, heck, I didn’t even care about girls. For some reason this particular day, everything just felt empty.  I felt like a cup of water, a cup of water that someone had poured out all of the water until nothing was left except for the air. Classes got out on time as usual, normally I looked forward to going to play practice after school, but not today. Today didn’t feel like other days. Today I was not really there. Today was different. After packing up my bag in history class, I slung the heavy backpack over my shoulder and left the room without so much as a glance towards my friends. 
The crowded hallway couldn’t have felt more uncomfortable to me, I wasn’t a fan of being around so many people. Least of all today, today was different. I pushed my way through the overburdened hallway, caring little for who happened to get in my way. I wasn’t exactly a big guy. If someone got trampled by me, it would be their fault entirely. The journey through the long narrow hallway took several minutes before I escaped to the school’s front doors. Without any hesitation in my mind, I pushed open the heavy steel doors, letting them crash shut behind me. The noise of the school being shut out by cold uncaring metal in an instant. 
Taking one look at the sky, it was sunny and it should have been warm outside. Still I felt cold. Even ice couldn’t understand this cold I felt. How could an element of nature understand my feelings? I pulled my hood up over my head, covering my face in shadow. Maybe shadows could understand this cold. Even in the brightest of light, feeling so dark, so empty. I took my first step on the walk that would take me to play practice. That heavy slap of cheap five dollar tennis shoe on pavement sounding the same as ever, but somehow not the same. Today was different.
    I walked across the school parking lot without another soul in sight. No children rushing off to their assigned bright yellow school buses. No middle schoolers sulking off to their homes to hide their shameful faces full of acne. No teachers leaving the school with sighs of relief after another hard day of teaching ungrateful students. No other highschoolers for that matter either. No, there was no one else, just me. Just me and my hood. Just me and my hood and my backpack that weighed heavy on my teenage shoulders. Today was different, no one else existed. 
    After crossing the empty parking lot, my feet crossed the border of two worlds. From the black void of cheap uneven pavement, to the dull gray of poorly poured concrete slabs. Each slab an unsatisfying imitation of what a proper square should look like. Though entering this world of dull gray did mean something to me. My walk had finally started, I was on my way to play practice. The place I looked forward to going to everyday after school. Not today though, today I couldn’t care less, today was different. I walked along the long narrow path of gray that ran along the road beside it. The road being in better condition than the sidewalk, if you considered drivable better than walkable at least. That didn’t matter to me though, even if the day wasn’t different, but it was. 
    I felt a small drop of warm water hit my shirt, which was rather odd. Wasn’t it sunny up there in the sky? Taking a glance skyward, my thoughts were confirmed. The sun was still there shining in the sky, mocking me with its warmth that would not reach me. There was not a cloud to be seen. Another drop, more water soaking into my shirt. Maybe the rain cloud was just too hard for me to see? Drip drip. More raindrops fell from nowhere, soaking into the fabric of my shirt until it was soaked. Where was the rain coming from? A few drops more was all it took, I ran the rest of the mile. I wasn’t some running finatic, no, the reason wasn’t so simple. Today was different. 
    The church doors swung open with force, my trembling form stumbling into the front room. Where wide eyes full of wonder all turned to me, in rows upon rows of indistinguishable pairs. I didn’t speak to anyone, instead I went to the back row of chairs and sat down. The odd thing was, even then, the raindrops continued to fall upon my shirt, as though I were cursed to drown. Raining inside? That didn’t make sense. That thought crossed my mind. I reached up and touched my cheeks and there it was, the rain. The rain that had followed me inside. Today was different and the reason was simple, I was the source of the rain.