Rain at the Railway

Secret in the Mist

Rain's heart was silent and crushed as she watched Bradley in his car reading some sort of magazine. She now realized that what she has done was a terrible mistake, but it was a mistake she didn't think would ever get solved.

As soon as her parents came out of the taxi to embrace her, Bradley left. He didn't even want to see the parents.

"Rain!" Rain's mom embraced. "Why did you run away? Don't you ever, ever do that! Do you hear me Rain?" Rain's mom said in a panicked state and embraced Rain once more. "I thought I would lose you. I can't lose my daughters Rain, please! Don't ever do this." She cried bitterly. Rain's heart ached inside. She was happy to see her parents, but she saw Bradley drive away when her parents came.

"Rain!" Rain's father took a firm grip on her. "You can't run away without telling us. We thought we lost you or that something terrible has happened. We searched the whole village, no one saw you, and we were going to do a search party. Why didn't you answer your calls? Rain this is highly unappropriated!" Scorned her dad. Her dad was frightened and resulting was his angry reaction. Rain kept quiet and a tear fell from her eyes as she went into the taxi. She knew that her parents was disappointed in her, and she knew that Bradley was too.

When Rain got home, her parents locked her inside her room. "You're grounded Rain, for as long as we say. What you did was wrong and I am sorry I have to do this, but you have to learn from your mistakes." Rain's dad closed Rain's door. They wanted to open up to hear and actually hear why she ran away, but they first need to comprehend and recover before they could say anything more to her.

Bradley went back home and slammed the kitchen door and went straight to his room. He closed his eyes and punched his fists on his pillow. He felt extremely angry and frustrated. How could she? After all that she did for him. How could she still lie?

It wasn't long afterwards, that Bradley's frustration turned into sheer curiosity. If she lied about this whole thing, what kept her from lying more? Her parents on the phone said that they 'chose' her because they loved her and that they couldn't lose another daughter. Could it have been even slightly possible that Rain was adopted?

Bradley knew the Crossford family as customer to his dad's shop, so he knew their details. Bradley didn't want to feel like a stalker, but he needed to know the truth.

He researched Stacy Crossford on the internet. Of course the first page that opened up was them being the mayor the Carniment Valley. But when he scrolled lower, some article caught his eyes.

"Just earlier this year, the family of the Crossford had suffered tragic as their daughter Cheryl died with the age of 16. Our prayers and thought are with the Crossford family." The short script said.

"The family of the Crossford are extremely happy as they move to their new home in Carniment Valley as the official mayor along with their daughter Rain Cornelis Crossford." Said the other article. Bradley tried search up the name Rain Cornelis Crossford, but no results came up. As Bradley read, his eager heart somehow got calmer. Yet, one article would state the death of Cheryl and then then next would be about Rain. There was something missing, but the information that Bradley got was enough to ease his heart from his frustration. He wanted to know more and find out exactly what happened, but he couldn't find it anywhere whether Rain was adopted or not.

In the meantime, Rain was sitting at her window bed hugging a pillow starring outside at the valley below. Rain felt like a failure. All she wanted to do was to sing and do something new, but now it felt like her parents would forever remember her for running away. The situation and atmosphere felt so intense that she was for sure that her parents would give her up because she ran away.

Rain made a promise to herself when she got adopted to be the best daughter she could be, now she broke her promise and now, she feared that she would lose her parents...the only people that made her feel welcomed and loved.

That fear, that terror and that feeling of being a complete failure and betrayer was grinding her heart so much, that she felt like a useless fool that couldn't do anything right.

Just then, her dad opened her door quietly and saw her sitting on the window bed. "Rain." Her dad whispered. Rain immediately jumped up and stood to her feet waiting to see what her dad was going to do. Give her up? Tell her she is going back to Willemsville?

"Rain, what you did was wrong." Said the father. "But there is always another side of a story, so I want to know your side...why did you leave?" He asked patiently. Tears streamed forth in her eyes as she hesitated to answer.

"I just wanted to sing and try something new. I wanted to go to university like everyone else." Answered Rain.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Asked her dad.

"Because when I asked you and mom, you said I didn't have to go to university...but I want to." Rain brokenly answered.

"If you told us that you wanted to sing, we wouldn't have stopped you Rain." Said her father patting Rain's back.

"I am a terrible daughter." Rain just broke down into tears. Her father picked up her chin with gentleness in his eyes.

"Rain, everyone makes mistakes, but the biggest way to solve them, is to apologize for your mistakes and learn from them. I wasn't mad at you for running away, I shouted at you because I was scared of losing you." He said. "You really scared your mother and me." He whispered to her.

"I'm sorry dad." Tears streamed through her eyes.

"There, there. It's okay. But whenever you feel something, Rain you have to tell us." Said the dad. "Your mom is still trying to recover, but I think apologizing is a way to start."

Rain nodded and agreed to go to her mom and apologize. And when Rain entered the room, her mom hugged her once more. "Oh Rain!" She exclaimed and held her tighter.

"I am sorry mom, I didn't mean to hurt you." She said softly. Rain's mother was still comprehending the fact that Rain was safe and couldn't actually care less.

"All is forgiven Rain...just don't scare me like that again." She said. Rain nodded and gave her mom a kiss. Although it was resolved in her family, it wasn't resolved in her heart. She still felt guilty and most of all, she felt unloved.