The Essence of Water

OLD VERSION Chapter 14

***I feel much better about the flow of this chapter, hopefully from here on out it will stay that way, also, thank you for all the comments, seriously. You guys are getting me through this!***

I discard my hoodie and shoes under a random tree and keep moving. The chicken has made me realize my true hunger but I want to be far away when that family finally wakes up. I'm not sure how long it will take them to notice things missing, but I want to be safe. Handlers will be searching for reports of theft.They know I'll be in need of supplies. Any tip off could send them in my direction.

The rain comes not long after, it spits down from the clouds in a steady sheet. The large trees do well to keep me from it, but soon everything is touched. I let the rain hit my head and my skin. I pause a moment to breathe it in and feel it. How long has it been since I've felt the rain? Hello friend. I say and the rain kisses my cheeks. I smile, it's small, but I feel my lips curve and I know it's real. I'm back.

I'm an hour into my hike when I realize that I forgot to search for a map. I stop mid stride and curse loudly, "You're such an idiot Adie." I say and then I shake my head and laugh angrily.

"Yes you really are." I spin the hood of the jacket falls back away from my face. My vision flips and water pools around my fingers.

Aiden steps out from under a tree. He's still wearing his clothes and jacket but I see the straps of a bag on his back and there is a black beanie pulled over his head pushing his hair along the tips of his eyes.

"Shit." I let the water fall away from my fingers. Aiden steps closer and I see that he's completely dry. The rain falls steadily around us, but it's as though he's in a bubble, the rain curves away from his body and falls the earth.

"Thought you'd given me the slip?" he steps closer, our bodies only a foot apart.

"I was hoping, yes."

"You forget," he whispers, "I can see you in the rain." He closes his eyes and I feel a pulse in the water, a tugging. Aiden's lips curve and then he opens his eyes to see me for himself. I shiver and the rain pulls away, as though someone has just put an umbrella over my head. "Is that better?" He whispers.

"How'd you do that?"

"I simply focus my desire to be dry." His voice is still quiet, "And the water responds." He blinks and the rain pours onto us. It beads onto the fabric of his hoodie and slips down his cheeks. "Now you try."

I lick the water off my lips and swallow. Dry, I want to be dry. The rain lessens, but doesn't deflect away. I look at Aiden. He's still watching. "It's not working." I say. And why should it? The water is a part of me and I'm a part of it, we're connected.

"You're trying too hard. "

"Maybe the rain is just being stubborn."

The rain pushes away from us, like parting curtains, it flows away from our bodies. "The rain isn't stubborn, it's not anything, and it's not a living creature Adie. Because our power comes from our minds, our emotions are weaved into that power. Whatever we're feeling at the time increases when we use our power, we push our emotion into our connection. If we're scared then we might perceive water to being angry to try and put a reason to our fear. If we're angry, we might perceive the water to be eager, or angry along with us. The water doesn't have emotion, but we give it emotion."

"That's not true." I say remembering the river and the rain the night I saved Henry.

"Yes it is, trust me..." He says and then the rain falls upon us again.

"I don't want to trust you."

The rain continues to fall upon us and Aiden sighs, and lowers his gaze "And you don't have to..."