PROLOGUE
I LOVE Rain. Do you know why? Because I hate it. The kind of hatred
where my soul wants to rip it apart and my heart wants to shout how incredulous of a thing it is when it starts pouring down from the sad skies to the ground.
It simply reminds me of sadness. When you look at the window and you see the dark skies covering the world from above, and then the tiny drop of water touches the glass, making you feel like you can touch it yet you can never feel it in your hands—it makes me sad. It makes me feel like it’s reachable. But it’s not. It will never be.
And I hate it.
It reminds me of someone who wanted to be my friend, who wanted to be the one hugging me tight during cold lonely nights, who wanted to smile when my face puts up a frown, who wanted to lay with me in the darkness when I don’t see the need to shine a light and he simply becomes the light for me. But instead help, like the rain, it hurts.
“Vina, okay ka lang?”
Tumingin siya kay Shie na may bahid ng pag-aalala ang tinig. Tipid siyang ngumiti at nagkibit ng balikat. “Simply nauseous is all.”
Nakaunawa ang mata ng dalaga. “Ah. November rain?”
Ngumiti lamang siya at hindi na nagsalita.
I hate the rain as it touches my face, caressing my skin gently but as it does, it leaves all the way down. And all that will remain was the trace and the feel when it touches you before it left.
“Do you know what they say?”
She looked at Shie na katabi niya sa bench ng playground na malapit sa Academy. “No, what about?”
“Why they called the school Black Blood Academy.”
Ano namang malay niya roon? Baka kasi itim ang dugo ng may-ari no’ng school. O kaya naman trip-trip lang. Makapanakot lang. O ‘di naman kaya’y napulot nila sa google. “Malay mo naman, otaku ‘yong may-ari.”
Naningkit ang mata ni Shie at napangiwi sa kanyang sagot. “Napaka-creative ng imagination mo, noh?”
Mapang-asar siyang ngumisi. “S’yempre naman. Matalino ako, eh. Gano’n talaga.”
“Seryoso nga kasi.”
“Oh ano nga kasi? Bakit daw ba?”
“Sabi nila hindi raw kasi kulay pula ang dugo ng mga extra-ordinary. Itim. Itim raw ang dugo nila at hindi pula.”
Umarko ang kanyang kilay. “So?”
“So why would they call an academy a Black Blood kung hindi mga beasts ang nand’yan?”
Tinawanan niya ng malakas si Shie. Who believes in beasts anyway? Yeah, human beasts. Iyong tipo ng mga tao na pumapatay o kaya eh iyong mga manyak. Iyong mga taong sinisisi ang biktima ng r**e kaysa iyong mga nang-r**e. Iyong mga taong binabato ng pula iyong mga suicidal at may clinical depression. Iyong mga taong walang puso.
That’s beasts are. That’s beasts are to her.
Plock. Plock. Plock.
“Dammit, it’s raining again!”
Why I hate rain is a matter of a million reasons. I couldn’t even count why I hate rain. It’s been the usual feeling for me when I see the clouds dim. I instantly think that it will begin to cry.
Like it did when I lost the people I love.
“Miss?”
But why I love rain is another matter of discussion…
“Rain! What the hell are you doing? You’ll run in the middle of the heavy rain just because you simply want to grab a girl?”
“Shut up! Stop being annoying, Spade.”
What the rain makes me love about it is that it sends electricity throughout my whole body by just the mere touch. Like it explodes sparks and it flies all around my stomach when I see it fall from above down to the ground.
I feel gratified when it falls to my face like it’s kissing me. I feel giddy when I looked at the window and I see it begging for me to reach it and touch it and feel it in my own hands.
“May… I help you, Mister?”
Tinitigan lamang siya ng lalaki. Hindi niya ma-isplika ang titig nito. Minsan natatakot siya pero… pero sa palagay niya naman ay walang dapat ikatakot sa taong ito. He had beautiful eyes. Mesmerizing… hypnotizing. Pakiramdam nga niya’y kahit buong araw siyang tumitig sa mga mata nito’y walang kaso.
“What’s your name?”
“V-Vina. Vina Ray Castalia.”
I hate rain so much that it cracks me to the core. Yet I love Rain the same manner as I hate the mere fascination about it.
