Rain; Fallen Angel

Post-Nuclear Apocalyptic Love Story

“Carter, I’m sorry. I know how much she meant to you. I’m sorry. I really am.” All the words were lost to him. He was in his own world; a world where darkness enveloped everything, allowing naught to escape.

Some people say that stories start with a bang, or a button, depending on the point of view. This one simply started with a globe; a spinning globe held by two shaking hands, held in bewilderment and wonder. He stood there wondering how he could get away from the world. Looking at the globe, he thought of all the places he wished he could run to; he wished he could escape from this reality tearing his heart apart. Out of all the worlds I could be stuck in, out of all the realities and possibilities that could have been - I’m stuck in this one.

Setting the globe down, he walked around the room, looking at multiple maps posted around. He had never taken an interest in geography before, so why now? It’s funny how single events can change a person, seemingly random at first, but when put together, the impact could send a single soul deep into the pits of the doldrums. Memories can move mountains - they part waters, and most powerful of all: memories can break the human spirit. If memories could change a person so drastically, it’s disconcerting what a person can do.

He was Terabithia in a sense. She was the one who built the makeshift bridge. She worked day by day building a fragile bond between her world and his. In rain or wind she would continue to build, building the bridge even as it collapsed upon itself. There was seemingly nothing that could stop her. She had the hard part of the deal - the balance had chosen to tip to his side. All he had to do was open his gates. But when he did, it was too late.

Sometimes the cards you are dealt are perfect... but what if the dealer’s hand is better?

“Give me six hours on that, Mark. Work is getting pretty busy lately.” The man working with the biological mask, Mark, looked up, surprised.

“Did you hear me? Six hours.” The first man turned, letting his hands drop to his pockets.

“The sky looks exactly the same.” The two men stood in silence for a while, the only sound being the quiet ticking of the clock implanted within the mask.

“Here,” Mark finally said, handing the mask to him. “Good luck.”

The beeping of his mask was the only thing that reminded Carter of his existence. GPS locater; it was what the authorities used to keep track of the citizens in the city now. Along with it was the clock implanted in Carter’s bio-nuclear mask that kept Carter in track of how much time he had left outside of the safe zone. He walked quickly, the entire time systematically checking and rechecking his clothing. Bullet-proof HAZMAT suit. Synthetically made rubber boots. Air in his valves; enough for 6 hours. Everything he needed to protect himself from the biological agents that now roamed the environment. It had been like this for weeks.

The air lit up around him. Alarmed, Carter’s eyes flashed to the hills in the horizon. The plume of smoke was very, very visible. “What the hell...” Carter began to run.

Sirens of every kind flashed in all directions, ignoring the questions of “What happened” and “Who did it?”. They had one purpose only - get to the site of the explosion. Carter was with them.

Finally, the first truck, the one with Carter inside, arrived at the reactor. “K-24 Nuclear Power Plant”; the name was not visible anywhere. The entire reactor, once large and glamorous, had been reduced to rubble. “Gas masks up! Suits up! There’s biochemicals in the air.” Carter leapt out of the truck, equipment already set. He walked into the building, knowing full well there would be no survivors.

It hadn’t rained in weeks. Even a child could tell. Grey, dark skies promised rain but always lied. The ground; the environment - dry, dusty; acidic life. Trees? Greenery had died out long ago. This was hell. A hell without rain. His thoughts on the weather blanked completely when he saw the park. It no longer had the shiny, sleek, metal it once had. Most of the attractions were gone - the chains that held the swings up were broken; the slide was had a jagged break in the middle. The monkey bar missed two of its four bars, and the ladder wasn’t even there.

“Push me?” A girl was sitting on the swings, head turned behind her to look at Carter. He walked up beside her.

“You know, you really should just push yourself,” he said, with a hint of a smile. “I’ll push you anyways.”

It was evening; the stars had begun to set in but the night was clear. “I’ll bet I can get across faster.” Carter said, gesturing to the monkey bars.

The girl laughed; the sound ringing in the night. “I bet not.” With that, she took off at a run and propelled herself across the bars, quickly making it over. “Beat that.”

Carter smiled. Instead of taking the monkey bars, he simply closed the gap between them by walking. “That’s cheating.”

Carter chuckled. “I never said to take the monkey bars. Come on, let’s go look at the stars.”

The couple laid on the grass, arms wrapped around each other. "Everything is good, no?" the girl asked, sleepily.

Carter nodded, though it was barely visible in the night. "Everything is good. I’ll love you forever.” The girl only smiled.

Inhaling something that wasn’t oxygen brought Carter back to reality. His mask was off his face, held in his hands. He was coughing. Hastily, he placed it back on his face and inhaled a sweet breath of oxygen.

"What the hell happened there?" Carter shook it off. "I must be getting tired." He continued walking, all the while feeling sadder and sadder. He reached a worn down brown bench; sitting, he let his tears drop steadily across his face, welling up at the bottom of his mask. Two minutes, he thought to himself, hoping that it would be enough time to block the flood of emotion.

“Your eyes are cute. Like little moons, lighting up everything wherever you go.”  The two silhouettes were seated at a park bench, the fade of the sunset in the distance still visible.

“Stop it, Carter.” The girl smiled. “It’s the sun that lights things up; the moon only reflects. You’re my sun.”  She rested her head upon his shoulder, taking his hand in hers as she did so.

The sun had fallen, and the only thing that kept the pair out of utter darkness was the lamp post; shedding light onto them. “Kiss?” The girl closed her eyes and leaned up.

Carter chuckled. “Here.”

Carter found himself on the musty ground, struggling to breathe. Vision blurring with tears, he quickly located his chemical mask and jammed it back into the correct spot on his head. He leaned back against the rusting lamp post, breathing hard.

“F**k.” His head hurt like a truck. “I could almost hear her voice. Can't do that again,” he said to himself. “Come on, Carter, let’s get yourself to work.” He pushed himself off the ground, dusting the dirt and grime off of his body. He continued along the cracked road.

“Can we... be more than this?” They weren’t looking at each other. “I feel like we’re two parallel lines; so close together but never able to meet.”

The silence grew longer as the pair sat at the bench. “Raine? At least we’re not...  two nonparallel lines; meeting once and drifting apart forever. We... will be more. I know it. I feel it.” He smiled down at her; after a moment’s hesitation, she too smiled back.Carter put his hands on the keys of the piano. White keys for naturals; black keys for accidentals. “You see these black keys? I’m never going to play them; we weren’t an accident.”

The girl almost scoffed with laughter. “Funny.”  She wrapped her arms around him. “Play me something?” Carter only nods.

The melody was beautiful; a tune of sorrow mixed with moments of joy and happiness. Louder, softer, harmonies of octaves and thirds; hushed sounds of his fingers as they danced across the keyboard. His body swayed with his music, and she along with him. She looked into his eyes - dark brown eyes that showed years of anger, happiness, laughter and sadness. She gave a small, bitter smile of reproach. How sad.

Carter had been sitting at the piano bench for nearly five minutes. The piano itself was in a horrid state of decomposition. Ripped, broken wood and the cracks of ivory showed that nothing was immune to the sands that inhabited the land. Carter closed his eyes and began to play upon the broken piano. No sound came out.

The time was going down; there was only an hour’s worth of oxygen left. Still, Carter played the broken piano, creating melodies and tunes only he could hear. Over time, his hands started flying quicker and faster along the keyboard, keys pressed down with only the sounds of creaking to accompany them.

The lithe fingers of Carter finally lifted off the piano. In a slow, dramatic pause, his hands fell back down onto his lap, before turning to take Raine’s hands. “That was for you.”

Without a word, she wrapped her arms around his neck to gently kiss him. “Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow?” With that, she was off, flying into the night with the back of her unzipped coat flapping.

“Yeah.” He turned back to the piano. His tune gradually slowed down, died down, softened to a gentle breeze that fluttered in the wind. He got up and followed after the girl.

He was sprawled across the piano, one arm around the book stand, the other down by his side. “I... can hear the music.” The mask he once wore was left in the dust, forgotten. He hadn’t needed it in the end, it seemed. Opening his bleary, vision-deprived eyes, Carter felt the soft patter of rain falling against his head, his arm, his body. “I... can feel the rain. Falling to me... like an angel.” His eyes closed.