Random TNT

IMAGINE - UMBRELLA

The rain was falling hard on that particular afternoon, and I was angry at myself for not taking my umbrella. I stood underneath the awning of a bakery and reached my hand into the rain. I retracted my hand slowly, deciding I would just have to wait for the rain to let up, and only God knew how long that would take. It was already 4pm and I didn’t want to be too late going home.

Someone stood next to me beneath the awning, probably watching the rain and waiting for it to stop just like I was.

‘I don’t think this rain will stop any time soon,’ the stranger said to me.

I turned to him and was met by a handsome tall young man in a black-on-black outfit. He had a sweet smile on his face.

‘I guess,’ I replied awkwardly, not being one who was very free talking to strangers.

‘Here,’ he handed me an umbrella he had in his hand. It was black and simple, probably the ones every adult used. But the handle was quite worn, so the silver coating soon gave way to the black paint underneath it.

I hesitated. ‘How am I going to be able to return it? And what about you?’

‘You can return it right here tomorrow, same time. I’m gonna wait for the rain to stop, it seems you need the umbrella more than I do.’

I slowly grabbed it, ‘thank you, stranger.’

‘Jiaqi is the name.’

‘Okay, thanks.’ I smiled back at him for the first time. I opened the umbrella before entering into the rain. As I crossed the pedestrian crossing, I looked back at Jiaqi. He still stood beneath the awning, watching me as I left. He was a kind stranger, and I was lucky to have met him, otherwise I would have been late.

Once I arrived home and I was done with my homework, I grabbed the now-dry umbrella and put it on the coat rack. I had to remember to give it back to Jiaqi the next day.

…

That night, as I lied in my warm bed, I had a strange dream. I dreamt that I was standing at the same place as before, beneath the awning. But unlike in real life, Jiaqi was not next to me. Instead, he was holding his umbrella in his hand and was about to cross the road. He didn’t seem to acknowledge my existence at all.

After checking if the road was clear, Jiaqi stepped onto the same pedestrian crossing I passed the previous day, and began to walk to the other side. But before he was on the other side, I saw a car coming from the left side of the road at high speed. I didn’t know if it was out of control, but it was obviously about to hit him and Jiaqi hadn’t noticed yet.

‘Look out!’ I screamed to him. And just before the car could crash into him, I woke up. It wasn’t necessarily a scary dream, but something about it made my heart beat fast. It was a stranger after all, why would I dream this stranger?

I decided to ignore it, and seeing that the time was still in the AM hours, I decided to go back to sleep.

In the morning, I got ready for school as usual. I had breakfast with my parents as usual. Once I was done, I walked over to the rack to grab the grab the umbrella. The problem was…the umbrella wasn’t there.

I turned around to my parents. Hey mom and dad, did anyone see the umbrella I brought in here yesterday?’ I asked them with curiosity.

‘No dear,’ my mom replied flatly and flipped the newspaper, and my dad agreed with her statement.

Where could it have gone? I had remembered leaving it there yesterday, or maybe I moved it and didn’t remember? I raced up the stairs and started looking for it in my room, but I gave up after moments of searching. Or maybe my parents had taken it and had forgotten they had done it.

‘Y/N! The bus is here!’ my mother announced from downstairs.

I groaned, realizing I would just have to go to school without it or the bus would leave me behind. I went back down and bid farewell to my parents, before grabbing my bag and racing out of the house. As I rode the bus, sitting next to the window seat, I started thinking of what I was going to tell Jiaqi about his umbrella. I decided to just tell him I may have misplaced it but I will give it back when I found it. I had to meet him again today and tell him that face to face, otherwise he would think I just took it and didn’t have the courtesy to give it back.

…

That afternoon after school, I stood beneath the same awning waiting for Jiaqi. Instead of protecting me from rain, the awning was protecting me from the heat of the sun this afternoon. I rehearsed my speech over and over, figuring out the right words I would say to someone whose umbrella I just lost…or maybe misplaced was the word.

I waited for some time, and he still wasn’t anywhere to be seen. I tried to look to the left and the right from where I was standing, hoping I would catch a glimpse of him, but I couldn’t. Once again, I was running late, and I didn’t want to go through this again.

I decided to just leave a message with the baker, hopefully he would recognize Jiaqi and pass the message once Jiaqi showed up. I turned around and pushed the glass door open, and the bell rang above me. My nose was immediately greeted by the smell of sweet baking, and if it was another day, I would have probably grabbed one of the treats for myself.

A stout man turned in my direction, wearing a white apron. ‘Hello young lady, you’re welcome.’
‘Thanks.’ I gripped the strap of my bag nervously. ‘I was wondering if you could pass a message for me to someone who said they would show up outside your bakery.’

‘Oh, sure.’ the man agreed, but I could see he was quite disappointed that I wasn’t a customer.

‘Well, this other guy…’ I started, before turning my eyes caught sight of an umbrella propped next to the counter. Just like the one Jiaqi had given me, the handle was worn and in the same places. This was odd. ‘Um…can I ask you something? Whose umbrella is that?’

‘This?’ the man walked over to the umbrella and grabbed it. ‘Well, it’s mine.’

‘But…I think the person handed over that umbrella to me. His name was Jiaqi. And yesterday it was in my house and now it’s here.’ I was confused. Or maybe this wasn’t the umbrella, it was a common color anyway.

‘Jiaqi? Well, yes, Jiaqi used to take my umbrella a lot and borrow it to people when it was raining outside. But…Jiaqi isn’t here anymore. He died.’

‘No he didn’t. I met him yesterday and he borrowed this to me. Jiaqi the slim, tall guy who was wearing all black yesterday…’

‘He wore all black the day he died, he was hit by a car 2 years ago. Look, we even buried him a long time ago, he was my son. I think you’re confused.’

Was I really confused? No, these things really happened. I rubbed the back of my head in wonder. I didn’t even know what to say. So the dream I had was something that really happened to this guy?

I could see the man was getting emotional, his eyes getting wet at the thought of his deceased son. I didn’t want to make him remember it further, so I decided to stop talking before he felt worse.

‘I’m sorry, I really am confused.’ I said slowly. ‘I…I should go.’

‘Have a nice day.’ he said to me as he propped the umbrella back next to the counter.
I made my way out of the door and slowly started walking back to my house, thinking about what had just happened.

‘Sorry I had to collect the umbrella myself, my father needed it in the morning and you weren’t going to be able to bring it that early.’ I heard Jiaqi’s voice just behind me.

I sharply turned in the direction, but no one was there.

THE END