Perpetual Rain ✓

Open Eyes

Quickly sitting up in your bed, your eyes flashed open in sheer adrenaline. Your breath was coming out in heavy pants, and your chest felt tight. Quickly you looked around to survey the familiar place in which you sat. It was your room.

Raising a hand, you placed it over your eyes as you tried to calm your breathing. It was just a dream, a memory of the past, nothing to be worked up over. Then again, your dreams had always been vivid.

You rubbed your eyes, trying to shake the stress that had crept into your bones from the nightmare. Slipping your legs from under the soft, warm, white comforter that sheltered you from the night, you looked to the window as your hand dropped from your eyes and flopped into your lap.

It was dark out. Once again, no rays of sunshine pierced the thick, daunting clouds filled with moisture that plummeted down to the earth. It had been raining for days. Maybe it was just the aftermath of the hurricane that was hitting the nearby coast. Nothing strong enough to cause damage to the small town that had birthed you, but enough to hide the city from the rest of the world.

Sliding from your bed, your baggy grey sweatpants brushed against your ankles as you moved to the bathroom to perform your usual morning ritual, exiting not even 15 minutes later, hair brushed, teeth clean and face washed.

The scent of tea filled your senses instantly. Your eyes wandered your room to find its source, seeing a fresh cup of warm milk tea placed beside your laptop computer. Mom must have come in and left it while you were in the bathroom.

A gentle smile spread across your normally taut pink lips as you approached your desk and took the cup into both hands, feeling its warmth press against the skin of your palms,  slowly making you feel heated as you brought it to your lips.

The tea was weak. The taste of sugar and milk was more prominent than the Earl Grey brew, but that was how you preferred it. Your mom really knew your taste buds the best.

Releasing a relaxed hum, your body fell into the chair placed just in front of your desk, legs raising, curling and crossing in the small box seat. Turning to your desk you set your tea cup down on the coaster beside your laptop and forced the device open.

You turned on the computer and waited for it to power up as your eyes raised to the window just behind your desk. Your eyes glistened in the dim morning light that barely illuminated the dark clouds and reflected off the droplets of water that slowly rolled down the glass in a desperate race to the bottom of the pane.

The wind was blowing the overgrown bushes just outside your ground floor window, branches scraping against the glass. When was the last time someone trimmed the hedges? You should probably bring that up to Dad, but the idea of speaking to him after that fight wasn't something high on your to-do list.

The screen in front of you flashed to life as its loading sequence had finished. Your fingers glided across the keys as you started on your task, finding out how to put yourself into debt in your attempts to fund your own way through college in spite of your father.

You refused to give up your major, your passion. Even if it was unconventional, it was what you wanted to do. Who was he to tell you that you couldn't follow your dreams?

'Student Loans' you typed into the search bar, not knowing where else to start. But instead of being met with an endless stream of options - thanks to the grand spectacle that was modern technology - you were met only with an error message that informed you that you were unable to connect to the internet.

"UGH!" You grunted in frustration. Did the storm knock out the internet again? Just your luck. Grabbing the brim of your laptop you slammed it shut with an annoyed sigh.

You hadn't even started in your search for loan options and you were already stressed out. Standing from your chair in irritation you grabbed your cup of tea and moved to stand in front of the window.

Maybe a walk would help calm your nerves? It wasn't raining too hard, a decent jacket with a hood and you should be fine.

The brim of the porcelain cup brushed against your lower lip as you funneled the sweet nectar into your mouth, letting your taste buds be graced by the heavenly sweet flavor. The scent of tea wasn't that strong and despite the closed windows you could still smell the bitter sweet aroma of rain hanging in the air and the amplified scent of foliage.

You let your lids close as you attempted to sooth your mind with the relaxing atmosphere. Well, that was until the rattle of thunder followed instantly by the flash of lightning caused your body to tense. Your unexpected jolt caused the grip you had on your cup to loosen and drop from your fingers just as your eyes opened. You had a tendency to be a klutz.

You were blinded by the white light of the electricity that struck the earth at the same time that you heard the shattering of your cup as it hit the hardwood floor, barely masked by the rolling thunder.

Closing your eyes from the light, you quickly stepped back from the broken shards in hopes of avoiding injury.