Page 17 of As the Rain Falls
“No, no, no, no!”
Rain starts pouring down, the sky lighting up with thunder.
I get on my knees over the bed and close the windows shut to keep the water away from my bedroom. It falls over the beige-colored houses and the fancy luxury cars parked near the sidewalks, and the wind becomes so violent that it even makes the coconut trees shake from one side to the other.
I bite my lower lip, unsure of what to do next.
I mean, how am I going to get to school today if it won’t stop raining? Soon, my parents’ backyard will become a blurry sight!
BROTHER'S BLACKOUT
Cassandra
OCTOBER, 2016
“Nathaniel? Are you here?”
The house is empty and quiet. I can even hear the sounds of the birds chirping angrily outside, annoyed that the rain is ruining their nesting. I walk to the kitchen, listening as my pink flip-flops steadily clap against the cold marbled floor.
I don’t like the silence.It makes me oddly nervous.
Mentally considering my options, I bite my lower lip until it starts to hurt. I could drive my father’s car if only I knew how to actually do it. It’s parked in our garage, catching dust.
Dad is traveling for a conference overseas, and my mother had to move back to Spain a couple of weeks ago to look after my dying grandmother. Leukemia is a bitch.
“Fuck my life,” I curse out loud, rubbing my hands together for warmth before I take the stairs and knock on my brother’s door. “Are you up?”
Silence.
“Nathaniel?”
Nothing.
I push the door and step into his office.
The candlelight is still burning, piles and piles of documents and books both old and new are scattered everywhere, and his used cigarettes rest over our family portraits. Beer cans, snacks, leftovers of a burger he didn’t get to finish last night, and soggy fries on the floor. The windows are locked shut, and the sound of the raindrops falling against the ceiling is almost soothing.
“Ew!” I turn my nose up, raising a half-rotten apple and letting it fall to the ground. “Disgusting!”
I stare at him, my throat closing with nerves.
My brother sits on the leather chair. His sleeping face is smashed against the keyboards of our father’s old computer, wide forehead gleaming under the light that is still turned on. Sweat slides down the sides of his face and disappears in the curve of his neck, saliva dripping down his mouth.
“Nathaniel?”
I tentatively shake him.
He groans in response.
“Wake up!” I shake him again, harder this time. “I need your help… Wake up, you ogre!”
I shake him again. He pushes my hands off him before his left eye pops open. A slow smile stretches across his lips.
“What’s up?”
“You have to drive me to school.”
I tell him more quietly, spinning around to walk out of the room and finish getting ready. His hand closes around my wrist, pulling me back. I almost trip and fall on his lap then, but manage to steady myself by holding the corner of the table.
