The Rain

Its raining and there is chaos

Chapter 01 �" The Rain

 

The sky was crying off her weights. Heavy drops of water fell simultaneously hitting the higher surfaces and playing various notes to create its own melody for the splattering rain. The cold air blew stronger and the weighty water curtain danced to its swing. The road dotted with octagonal patches of umbrellas rushing in the flooding streets. It was beautiful for a poet admiring the nature but not for Midaya below.

She had to endure the frantic horns of the impatient drivers and was in a complete mess with her own belongings inside the heating school bus. Children were mesmerized by the ferocity of the weather and were making fictional plans of getting through the bustle. Midaya too was deeply into the matter as she knew that she would have to at some point find a way through. The excitement was soon butter with frustrations. Pluwis was by her side.

“So what happens” Midaya inquired the usual actions in such situations. It was has only been two years since she joined Eastbridge Academy and the first violent storm that swept the region. Pluwis had been her earliest friend and their ties were ever strong.

“Most of the time we’d be allowed. WHOA!”

Half the population of the bus flounced to the left as the bus took an unexpected turn too strong. Midaya hauled over Pluwis and they landed laid on the seat with several others topping them in the most awkward manner. Like a pile of dead bodies arranged after a brutal massacre. Ear and minds were only open to any sound of injury and were soon filled with insults. Panic was only helped; bellowing laughs preceded students throwing preposterous accusations at the driver and back. Midaya brought her hands to her ears after regaining balance. She had her own anger kindling inside but she restrained already ashamed of her behavior in comparison to her comrade. Pluwis was completely holding her dignity with a straight face as she restored order.

“I might as well get a drunkard to drive it!” Midaya finally muttered to herself.

The bus came to an instant stop and people jolted at the suddenness.

“WELL THEN, GET OUT YOU IMPS!” yelled the aggravated man.

Imprudently, the imps rather impulsively jumped out to the pandemonium of cars, vans and motorbikes swamping the campus outskirts.

Midaya gave a pathetic look at the chaos and to think of all the helpless kids that had to be victims of this was grievous. She thought of trying to flatter the driver into getting the vehicle into the premises but he didn’t seem negotiable, after all, most of them were already out. She turned around to grab her friend’s expression and was desperate to find her gone. Pluwis was a school prefect and perfectly busy with getting the younger ones through the fuss.

“Hey Kiddo, haven’t you got an umbrella?” she called out to a younger girl by the door. The girl nodded timidly.

“For heaven’s sake, get out!” screamed the driver again.

Midaya gave a scornful look and pulled the youngster �" Swista closer so that they could fall under an umbrella together. A sarcastic comment stuck her mind but she put it aside before jumping to an underestimated mud puddle.

Outside and out of mud they were directly exposed to the circumstances. She pulled the 7-year-old even closer. Anonymous men and women bumped into her randomly. The rain veiled her vision. Certain dormant vehicles were knocked in utter confusion and some with the engines still hot. Her shoes were sopping and she could hear the jiggle of water when she was on the rare smooth surfaces. The little girl was exclaiming at every wrong turn and it helped in keeping Midaya calm as she gave a polite laugh to each comment remaining bright.

Swista cried OUCH! When Midaya excused another man, slipped down the road, supported by a stranger’s hand to keep balance. She thanked him nonchalantly.

“This is so hectic!”

“We’ll soon get out of it” Midaya replied assured though she was discouraged by Swista’s give away to the confusion. In fact, the school main gate was at sight and in just another hundred they’ll be in the hostility of a building. The thought cheered her a little and she pushed Swista to a secure corner. On a knee she spoke audibly;

“After we get through the gate, take the umbrella and walk back slowly to the building. Keep closer to safer ground and no jumping on or over puddles and don’t run. Understood? When the rain ceases you can bring the umbrella back.” 

“What about you?”

“I’ll make it back to the building” 

Telling her exactly how she would make it to the building would include running the distance, jumping over puddles and crossing the area the place in a proper diagonal which were all the things she had ordered the younger of not doing.

“But it is your umbrella”

Midaya sighed and raised the light girl from the ground. In a few occasions before of lesser rains, she had seen the school front being deeply flooded so she considered this small offer. Swista gave a laugh at the act and made herself comfortable and held the umbrella over their heads. Thus, they plunged into the wildness at the gate.

They followed the plan suite and Midaya stretched her feet to sprinter the distance. She closed her eyes as the population decreased and her smile tugged her lips. This was fun! Out here with nature in its fury! Restless yet tranquil she thought. She crashed against the glass doors of the main building and got in dripping wet. She flung her back to one shoulder and noticed a woman.

“And where do you think you put your umbrella, young lady” called a shrill voice from in front of her.

Midaya slowly took the form of their sectional headmistress and backed off only to be pushed forward. A great weight smashed on her back and her body slammed against a nearby wall. Several hands were holding her to retain her balance and the squeal of the headmistress echoed in her ears.

“That was epic” cried a panting voice near her other ear, she registered the speaker.

“ASPENA and MICHELLE! You too PLUWIS!” the headmistress was angered very well.

“Madam, I’m sorry. We were not expecting you here. The rain was so blinding that we ran too recklessly.” Aspen stammered standing straight. No word was a lie nor was an explanation.

“Too recklessly!!” she bawled louder “Make it to your classes and get into drier clothes! I am thoroughly ashamed of you. And where did your common sense go to? Did you not bring umbrellas?”

Midaya from the corner of her eye saw Michelle quickly hide a baton in her bag. She looked at Pluwis who had a pool of water forming at her feet. Aspen was getting the real shouting from the headmistress although it was evident that anyone can be drenched in such calm weather.

“No more! To the bathrooms and into a more presentable form” she concluded with one finger pointing down the hallway.

They sighed and went to the lockers to pick their spare clothes. A jest grew among them as they tried to figure how the headmistress was waterless. The suggestion brought up laughter and each of them narrated the run to the building. 

“I bet the clouds have moved away from her head when she was walking in. Not even they would bear a lecture.” 

“Or she must have taken her cane and smacked them till the water was gone then hurried across during the clearing”

“Yea, in her chicken dance” said Aspena and then began to walk down the locker room imitating their headmistress

 “Aspena Tyler who do you think you are running round leaving mud? Get yourself into a better form before I scrub you myself!”

The girls broke into another laugh. Making jokes of their headmistress was a common occurrence supported by the fact she acted detestable in many situations. Midaya used to doubt why she was given the position during her first year but after their lawsuit with Mrs.Rerdern the previous May she began to understand her better although the mocking never stopped. In fact, she admired her for her rigidity despite the hate-mail and accusations from parents. That endowment she saw was one she wished for herself in a world full of back-stabbers.

She went through the memories of the last year. She had forgotten her file in the school bus and went running back to the bus to fetch it but by the time she grabbed the portfolio from the moving vehicle and run back to the gates she was too late. The guards had locked the framework and retreated to the vanishing point. Disappointed by her recklessness she knelt there cursing everything that came across her mind. There was no way back or any contact with the administrations. She knew that it would only be a little longer before she is called from that dirty pavement but only humiliation would have awaited her so she chose the graver.

With a sudden blast of energy and craze she decided to climb the school fences and get in. She recalled Vladmir mentioning a weather-worn brick wall in the left wing of the school and how they once trod that way to pick a ball which lost its way. Aspen considered that option, she was not a real climber but she had a handful of experience and tips inherited from her cousin. She’d try it said the burning sensation. So she had walked to the left and found the precise location which was for her further advantage decorated by a pile of bricks neatly gathered. The barrier had been only 9 feet high as she recalled.  Aspen had first searched the place for snakes and pressed her ears to the wall to detect any presence of spectators. Coming to the conclusion that she was alone she has hauled her bag pack over the fence and begun her ascend. The bricks had tumbled to and fro against her will but with a feline grace she summoned in dire events she reached the midrib and studied the other side of the wall. Forty years of weathering had not made such a path but she made advantage of the deeper tracks and prayed to the Lord that this was not a stairway to hell. Her bravery failed her then regretted it. She has struggled to hold a tear back and spilled an apology to the stones that listened in stern quietude. Down she had gone and been successful in the first 3 steps. She was ignorant about the three-point contact or in any other gymnastic principle after all where would she learn gymnastics from. An inch not higher from the third foot her foot lost hold dragging her grip. Midaya had given up and cried bitterly. Out of the blue an object suspended her fall but a person it had been she had registered spontaneously. The soft pink velvet and artificial rose aroma had confirmed it. 

“Hey Midaya, how did you make to the building?” Abrupt the flow of thoughts had been hindered!

“Eh? Oh, I ran through it.”

“Your umbrella?” continued Pluwis while buttoning up her jacket.

“Gave it to Swista” 

“Wanted to get wet like everybody else” was it told by Mrs.Rerdern it would have been blame but Pluwis said it out of humor and a slightly frustrated by her danger-heading friends.

“You should feel the rain if you love it, Plu. After all, that’s what your name is supposed to mean” acted Aspen in the walking back.

“And die of pneumonia! No way. Yes, but that rain is a rain that’s adorns the hope of the people”

“Don’t be taunted.”

They exchanged smiles.

�"�"�"�"�"

Soon they were back in the class barefoot and started to pull the books from their bags. Some of them were nearly tearing apart and it was disheartening. Everything was soaked and damp but by the least, it was warmer inside the classroom. Midaya turned to see how Pluwis was getting on but she has disappeared �" it was her duty.

“Everything is soaked!” cried Michelle. 

Author's Note

Same rules applied to all chapters as presented intially.

Reviews

[Felicity's Eve]

I really liked this. The characters, the plot.
I also loved the metaphors you used and you were very detailed in your description of the rainy, chaotic day. I loved that. :)
When they were making fun of the Headmistress I laughed a little. ^^
Great story and please continue! :)

[Dinali Sathma]

Thanks a lot. I'm doing my best in continuing it. But keeping the characters honest is kind of tricky so don't mind if I'm late.

[Felicity's Eve]

Take your time and be satisfied with what you write. Don't rush :)

[Imelda Blackheart]

Hi there!
Let me just start off by saying how impressed I am at the story itself. You had a very good beginning that drew my attention to the writing, and kept on adding onto that and making me want to read more and more throughout the story! I was very disappointed whenever it ended!
Now, I understand that you want a review on things like the grammar, yes? Well, here is another good thing for you. I could barely find anything! You had impeccable spelling, just a few places where I would've added a comma, and only one or two places where I would elaborate or change to make a little more sense. I still can, if you want, edit and send it to you, but to be honest there isn't very much I would need to edit!
So congratulations! Your writing has passed my nit-picky editing! I will still, like I said, edit if you want me to, but there would just be a few small changes. Anyway, I can't wait for more!!!

[Dinali Sathma]

Thanks for the review. It was encouraging but sadly you will have to wait longer for another chapter because even I haven't found the answers to the questions in the introduction. I checked through it several times to get the grammar correct but if you still spot the mistakes you can send me a list - I mean its easier for you.
Stay Tuned!