Amor

Dancing in the Rain

It's the middle of the fall season, and rainstorms were becoming pretty normal for the people who lived in the small town of Kenning. I made my way to my car, closing the library doors behind me and getting my umbrella out of my bag. The dark skies set a melancholy vibe to the surrounding area. I took my keys out and got in, and started the car just as the rain started pouring. I left the parking space and drove home, the rain making it a little hard to see. Suddenly, out of the torrential raindrops, I saw a figure of a person in the middle of the road. I slammed my foot on the brakes and almost hit it. The person fell and stood up, brushing himself/herself. I still couldn't see how he/she looked like. I immediately grabbed my umbrella and went out of the car, checking to see if the person was hurt.

It was a boy, he had a dark gray hoodie and ripped jeans. He didn't look hurt, but I had to ask. "I'm sorry! Are you hurt?" He looked me and I saw his face clearly for the first time. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. They were blue, like a clear sky. His cheeks were pink, and so were his lips. He had dimples that appeared whenever his mouth moved, and his brown hair was curly but not too much.

"No, I wasn't hurt. Want to join me?" He smiled.

"Join you where? And what were you doing in the middle of a freaking road anyway? I could've hit you!"

"But you didn't" he smiled at me again.

"I was just dancing. Have you ever tried that? Dancing in the rain? It is the best thing you'll ever experience, trust me." When he said those words I thought he might be a little crazy, so I excused myself after asking him again if he was alright, then went home. I put the incident in the back of my mind and sure enough, a few days later, I forgot all about the guy who danced in the rain.

Maybe around a month later, I saw him again. I just came from work and I stopped by a convenience store because of the torrential downpour. I bought a steaming cup of coffee and sat by the glass pane to look outside. There was someone in the middle of the road again. After squinting to see more clearly, I realize that it's the same guy, but this time he had a raincoat on. His movements were graceful, each step measured but at the same time free. One minute he'll be soaring over puddles, the next he'll be twisting and moving from side to side. I waited until he left, which was when the rain stopped before I went back to work. Like before, I pushed the incident to the back of my mind.

It happened again though, and another, and another. Whenever it rained, I would see him dancing in the rain. It happened so frequently that I worried he might get sick and decided to approach him. "Hey, um, I was that girl who almost hit you before. My name is Carrie. Why do you keep on dancing in the rain? Don't you get sick?" When he looked at me, I realized how stupid my question was. He LOOKED sick. His eyes had dark bags under them. He was thinner, and his cheekbones were more pronounced.

"I just want to enjoy the rain while it lasts. Don't you? Come here, drop that umbrella and dance with me.

"But I don't dance!" I countered.

"That's silly," he said. "Anyone can dance. You just have to trust your gut and let it out. " He held his hand out to me and before I could do anything, he pulled me and I dropped my umbrella. I tried to follow his advice and started twirling. I pranced around spinning, then I closed my eyes and just let it all out. All the tension, all the stress. I was drenched, but it didn't matter anymore. I got so lost in my dancing that I didn't notice the rain stopping. When I opened my eyes again, he was gone.

The next time I saw him, he was dancing again. This time, I didn't ask, and just dropped my umbrella and danced with him. A few times, we would bump into each other and just laugh it off, sometimes he would hold out his hand and I would take it and he would twirl me around. When the rain ended, He introduced himself properly. His name was Stephen and he lived just around the corner from where I work. We parted ways happy at that time.

The rainstorms increased, and so did the times we met and danced. There were days once of us got too sick to dance, and we would inform the other through the numbers we exchanged that we couldn't go. We grew closer and closer and one day he just asked me if I was free to go on a date, one without the dancing. I agreed, and we saw each other quite often. I started falling in love with Stephen. I kept it to myself at first, but one day, while we were dancing, he told me he loved me, I told him that I kind of did too, and it was official. We saw each other every day, and on our free days, we would dance, even though it wasn't raining anymore. It was already around march. I noticed that he was getting thinner again, and urged him to eat more and try to exercise. Little did I know that we had so little time left.

A week after I told him to eat more, he collapsed. I called an ambulance and we rushed Steven to the hospital. I didn't know what happened, just that we were eating lunch at the veranda of his house when he suddenly fell down and was unconscious. The doctors told me what exactly happened an hour later. Steven had leukemia, and he didn't tell me. I was horrified, and I immediately went to him to see if he was okay. He was sleeping, and the doctors told me he would wake up in a few hours. I stayed by his side the whole time. When he opened his eyes, and when I saw his clear blue eyes again, I couldn't help it. I cried, and I hugged him, sobbing to his shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me? You weren't even going to your doctor's appointments!" I sobbed into his shoulder again, not caring that his shirt was already wet.

"I didn't want you to worry, and not only that, I wanted us to enjoy what time we had. " He kissed my forehead then ruffled my hair. I just kept on crying into his shoulder until we both fell asleep. I woke up beside his bed, and he was sleeping again. I was about to go out and let him rest, maybe buy a drink from a vending machine, when he started convulsing. I rushed to his side, panicking.

"What do I do? STEPHEN! SOMEBODY HELP!" I yelled hysterically.

Nurses and doctors went into the room and one of them pushed me outside. I didn't see what happened to him inside. A doctor went out, and I could see it in his eyes. He didn't need to tell me. Stephen was gone. The boy who taught me how to dance, how to enjoy life, how to love. "I'm sorry, he's gone now," The doctor looked at me with pity evident in his eyes. I just couldn't take it, I ran. I ran outside, maybe if I escaped this it wouldn't be real. My heart felt like it shattered into pieces. When I got out, it was raining again. It was as if the sky was crying with me. It hadn't rained in a long time, and it reminded me of all those times. The day we first met, with me almost running him over. The day we confessed to each other. Most of all, the way we danced happily in the rain. I didn't stop myself, and I just danced, the rain mixing with my tears. My dance turned erratic, sharp. Whatever. I'll dance, for him. For Stephen.