Flesh and Bone

Chapter 15: Raining On Your Parade

One of Wellston's rare spring rains finally came. For most of the year the city and the region in general had pretty dry weather, being far enough away from the ocean to lack a temperate climate. Sometimes the rain came in drizzles, spritzing up the sidewalks and giving some glisten to the lawns in the suburbs. And some other times the rain would come down in buckets, regardless of whether it was spring or summer or fall. Today was one of those days.

The first person to realize the coming of a big downpour was John Doe. And it wasn't just because the roof was his hide-away from the prying eyes and scheming, corrupting clutches of the school down below. Rather, he'd picked up a little bit of a gift from his time enjoying this little oasis he shared with Sera. When she got too absorbed into a video game she had on her phone or brought with her from her dorm and existed merely physically next to John, he found himself with a ton of free time.

Not wanting to bother her when that happened, he tried a ton of things to pass the time: he didn't have similar games on his phone since they were not his forte— it took some convincing for Sera to get him hooked to Angry Pigs. So, he searched through Wakipedia.

On a particularly long gaming session that Sera swore would be ending soon, but of course took their entire lunch break much to her consternation, he looked up the different kinds of clouds on a whim. Nimbus, cumulonimbus, things like that. After all, what was he going to do hanging out up here? Do homework? Please.

And it wasn't as if he was some kind of brainiac; he was the first one to admit that. The fact that his grades had only just finally re-stabilized to a barely passing grade again after he returned from his suspension should be testimony enough, irregardless of his father's insistence to apply himself.

The only things John actually knew how to apply himself towards was fucking up his only meaningful relationships. That and cloud-spotting now, so at the very least he had a new hobby to explore up here.

All alone.

With the rain coming down hard, swooping over the school-grounds with the fury of a great tempest. John's grand plans for a reunion seemed to be going down the drain just as quickly, but he still persevered with the hope that he'd run into her at the stairs. She's gotta be waiting for me down there. She's running late, but she'll be standing there say "Of course I knew it was going to rain, dummy; I looked at my weather app and stayed inside. What'd you do? Stare at the clouds and guess? Here, dry yourself off." All with the wry, knowing smile she'd always had when he pulled something as silly as that.

The door slammed on his way in, his shoes squeaking and squelching a bit with the water. His phone bleeped when he got onto the stairs, the cold breath of warm spring air rushing to meet the cold interior of the school cooling the rain stuck to him. The boy had faced down the arrayed forces of the school's Hierarchy; three Royals led by a Royal god-tier, and he still managed to put them all down in a four-on-one fight.

Compared to today, all of that was in his mind a child's game. A gut full of steel he'd reinforced as he got ready to confront her over where she was running off to every day, put to waste by nature absolutely showering on his parade of false bravado. There, like a hit to the head he could've called from a mile away, was Sera's name and a simple little text: 'Sorry about the rain. Won't be able to make it. Eat without me'.

As if one had anything to do with the other. It was just an excuse, a ploy, an effective way to dump him at the wayside again. He deserved it, after everything he put her though. The lies, the shameful facade being a cripple, his terrifying reign as a King even worse than Arlo and his goons; his sins were legion and the demons that pulled their sickly threads reigned supreme in his head. He was no better than a monster—