The Sound of Rain

It rained all day.

Not the kind that makes people run. Just soft, steady rain. The kind that feels like the sky is thinking too much.

I forgot my umbrella.

I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t check the weather. Or maybe I did, and I didn’t care.

I stood under the school’s awning, watching the puddles form on the pavement. Everyone else had already left. It was quiet. The kind of quiet that wraps around you, not the kind that makes you feel alone.

Then I heard footsteps.

Michael.

He didn’t look surprised to see me. Just calm. Like he expected it.

“You forgot your umbrella,” he said.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He didn’t offer his.

He just stood beside me.

We watched the rain together.

I liked that he didn’t try to fill the silence. Some people talk too much when things get quiet. But he didn’t. He just let it be.

After a while, he said, “I like the rain.”

“Why?”

“It makes everything feel... softer.”

I looked at him. His eyes were on the puddles, like they were telling him something.

“I like it too,” I said.

We didn’t move.

Didn’t rush.

Then he pulled out a notebook. Not the one he always sketches in. This one was smaller. Older. The edges were worn.

He tore out a page and handed it to me.

It was a drawing of a cat. Curled up. Sleeping. With a red string tied to its paw.

My heart did that thing again. The quiet flutter.

“You remembered,” I whispered.

He shrugged. “I tried.”

I held the paper like it was something delicate.

“Thanks,” I said.

He smiled. “You looked like you needed it.”

The rain kept falling.

But I didn’t feel cold anymore.

We walked together, side by side, under the edge of the awning. Not touching. Not talking.

Just close.

When I got home, I opened my notebook.

I drew a cat.

Small. Curled up. Its tail wrapped around a puddle. Raindrops above it, like tiny stars.

Beside it, I wrote:

“he didn’t say much. but he stood beside me. and the rain didn’t feel so heavy.”

Then I added a second cat. This one was awake. Looking up.

And I wrote:

“Maybe some people are like umbrellas. But softer.”

Aigh...

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Officially my favorite word.

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