Letters In The Rain

The cafe windows were dotted with raindrops, obscuring my view of the rain soaked street outside. Heavy traffic drove bumper to bumper while bustling people in colorful raincoats and umbrellas walked up and down the sidewalks.

I took another sip from my coffee and sighed as the heat fogged up my glasses. I pulled them off my face and started rubbing them with my sleeves.

"Hey look. It actually stopped raining."

I slipped my glasses back on and saw that Jess was right. The streets were still hidden in shadow but there were no more freezing raindrops falling from the sky.

"I heard they had to close the floodgates there was so much rain."

I nodded. "I bet. I hope the river starts flowing like it used to once this is all over with." I recalled the dried up riverbed, that in truth was nothing more than a slow trickle of water anymore. It saddened him, thinking back on how much fun Jess and him had had swimming in it, fishing, and other various activities they had done when they were kids. The river was a childhood symbol to them, and seeing it struggle wasn't pleasant.

"I'm sure it is," Jess assured. "I couldn't imagine it not being at least slightly filled after the downpour we've had."

"I hope it is." I sat up straighter as I got an idea. "Hey, you wanna take a walk to Farson's Bridge? We could check the river from there."

"What if it starts raining again?" Jess asked skeptically, looking down at her shirt. "I really don't feel like soaking this, I just got it a couple days ago."

"You look good in it by the way- and don't worry, I brought an umbrella. Come on, it'll be fun."

She sighed. "I guess it would be." Jess stood up and pulled her coat on and I followed suit, slipping my hand through the loop on the bottom of the umbrella. With my other hand I grabbed my coffee and together we headed out the door.

It's surprising how much the atmosphere can change when everybody isn't huddled under umbrellas and hidden inside their hoods. It seemed brighter now than it had before entering the cafe, for that exact reason. Since the rain had stopped everyone had emerged from their human-like shells, at least for a little while.

We turned right, flowing with the crowd toward a crosswalk. "You know, Jess, I've always liked it when the weather calls for people to bundle up. I'm not sure what about it, but it's… nice to look at."

She turned her hazel eyes on me. "You're crazy."

I shrugged and took a large gulp from my coffee.

The crosswalk countdown started and we were jostled forward by the crowd to the other side of the road. It was simple enough to get to Farson's Bridge from the cafe, all you had to do was follow the sidewalk North for about a mile. It was a straight forward shot.

"Shit." A large man smacked into me from behind, causing me to drop my coffee. It was immediately trampled by the crowd.

"Well there goes my coffee." Jess and I never were the confrontational type, and even if we were there wasn't much we could've done about it. The man was twice as large as me with three times the muscle. "It's alright. It was getting cold anyway."

"Here, we can share the rest of mine." She handed me her coffee.

"Thanks." I took it from her red-painted-fingernail hand and took a sip. Luckily we both liked the same thing.

The closer we got to Farson's Bridge, the more the crowd dispersed. There weren't as many shops down this way than there were in the middle of the city and soon Jess and I weren't forced to walk so close together.

I was relieved when the rise of the dike came into view. Jess started picking up the pace and soon we were racing up the hill.

At the top we turned left on the sidewalk, heading toward the bridge that was already in sight.

"I made it to the top first." Jess said, swiping her curly, ginger hair out of her pale skinned face.

"Oh come on, you totally know I made it there first."

"No, I did." She put her hands on her hips.

"No, I did." I said, placing my hands on my hips, copying her.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No."

"Ye-"

"HEY! Look at this!" She bent down and picked a piece of folded up paper off the ground. We had arrived at the bridge.

"What's it say?" I asked as she unraveled it. I watched her eyes flicker across the page, then them narrowing in confusion.

"It's… a poem."

"Well, what's it say?"

"Here you read it." Her face had fallen ashen.

I took the paper and adjusted my glasses so I could read it. The words sounded heavy in the air.

"With the rain comes pain and sorrow

I can no longer wait 'till tomorrow

The river is flowing,

I will be going,

Goodbye, at least for awhile."

"What's it mean?" Jess asked, her voice shaking.

"I… I think it's a suicide note Jess…"