Caught in a torrential downpour (fuzzy_spork) (Prompt #1)

It hurt to look in the mirror. If she had to look, she avoided looking in her own eyes - there were bears down the end of that path. And that side of the face. She couldn't remember the last time she had brushed her hair. Don't look. Don't feel.



Looking out the bus window into the night.  Appropriately the rain dripped in large drops down the window as she looked out. Her face mirrored in the window covered in prisms and blurred into unrecognisability. The rain was tears, the stars called her and her chest tightened. Not long now.

The bus' movement dragged the rain into lines. As the rain eased, her face came back to focus. She started away looking around her to the empty seats and sleeping passengers that filled the bus. She did not exist to them, no-one looked at her. A small child snuffled in their sleep and were comforted by their parent.

She looked out the window again, her forehead pressed to the glass - no more reflections. The landscape moved past - dark trees, grey land, a moon in a sliver. Then a twinkling in the distance. More light, as the streetlights started to appear in front of them, the roads glistened from the rain and the lights turned the world from black to orange - that strange light that was used to bite through fog.

Not long now. The quiet houses ran past - windows dark, unknown. The bus turned right, then left took a heaving breath as it turned it's bulk into the bus terminal and it's sharp light. With a groan of brakes the bus stopped and the lights in the bus came on. A tinny voice came over the intercom.

'Last stop: Dillman's Grove Bus Terminal. Thankyou for travelling with the Mistral Bus Company. We drive like the wind to get you there!'

She hid her face in the corner of the seat, waiting for the other passengers to alight. They had places to go, luggage to collect, loved ones and fuss. She pulled silence around her like a protection from all the daily worthless busyness and waited her chance to leave.

The driver called to her, but she did not answer except to move out and past them. The rain started up again as a drizzle. Her bag dragged on her shoulder as she walked out, searching for a way out of the light. She considered dropping it now where she was - but the comfort and aggravation of it's weight was not something she was ready to leave behind. Besides which, didn't it contain all that she owned, all that she was. It was only fair that it should come with her.

The rain came down in earnest again, the drops expanding and wetting her clothes and face so that she felt the sea was coming to meet her. Greeting her like a lover, and calling her into it's arms. She longed for it's salty embrace, the quiet and sleepy retreat in eternal night. Her steps were measured and steady like a heartbeat waiting for it's chance to rest.

She turned onto the bridge that crossed the bay - it was dark, with pools of light where the streetlights struggled fitfully to light through the rain. A rumbling bass of thunder shook the bridge and caused her to stop still in fright. A flash of light.

She ran to the railings. And climbed - scared that the lightening would come again before the end. She must escape, must leave in the dark. The sea was dark, welcoming. The waves soft, undulating. The clouds above crashing light. She waited for a moment looking seaward.

Then she stood up, and leaned and fell.