Page 1 of Rainstorm

Prologue

Chase

Have you ever been at the top of a hill?

Yes, the view can be spectacular and the feeling of having completed the climb even better. You enjoy the ache in your muscles, your agitated breaths, the sweat. All because of its worth.

The rest of the world fades, because you are the king.

The bad thing is when the ground at your feet suddenly crumbles and you fall down without warning, unable to avoid it. Falling breaks you, hurts you to the core, and you know that in order to keep alive the person that matters most to you, it’s imperative to let them go.

That is just a brief account of my life.

The day she said yes in front of the minister, dressed in white silk, was the day I touched heaven with the tips of my fingers.

Now, I have to let her go, in order for her to be happy. Without me. Far from me. I need to let her go, to allow her to find someone to help her enjoy life again, even knowing that someday another man will find what I saw in her. Knowing that someday another man will have what was mine once.

That breaks me from the inside out. It bares me, consumes me, eats me alive. But I don’t have the power to prevent it.

I must protect her and to do that I must send her away.

I’m being punished, I have to pay for my sins.

The storm is looming over the horizon and its arrival is imminent.

I’m not doing this because I don’t love her. I do. Madly. Truly. Wholly. Selflessly. Well, that’s not entirely true, I want her to be mine. Forever. But I want her to live and laugh, and I’m going down slowly and painfully in a spiral I can’t stop. It pulls me down to the bottom of the sea, to the eye of the hurricane in an attempt to kill my soul.

Some people say that without rain nothing can grow, but this is more than a few drops pouring down and I had no time to build an arc. The storm is here. It has come to devastate, destroy and take everything away.

Everything I had.

Including her.

This is our story; a love story with no happy ending.

The rainstorm took that away.

Chapter 1

Rose

Los Angeles, CA - Six years ago

“And remember, you own the sunshine.” I punched my signature quote, smiling to the camera while staring at the monitor just above it.

Behind me was an empty green screen, the people watching me through their televisions getting the full magic. The entire country map displayed in one corner while Los Angeles County occupied the rest of the screen. Big numbers showed the expected temperatures, while little sun silhouettes and cloud and wind signs adorned the map.

I worked on one of the most watched morning shows in California, and I was proud that we also had watchers around the globe thanks to the internet. We Californians love the land we were born in, and always want our daily fix of the Golden State.

And our eternal sunshine.

“Enjoy this long weekend,” I chirped. “Happy Presidents’ Day, folks.”

“Thanks, Roselynn,” greeted Angelique, one of the show’s hosts. “That was the weather report for the weekend, and after a brief message from our sponsor, the news all of you are waiting for...”

Weekend. A long one.

I was so, so ready for it.

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