Perpetual Rain ✓

Stop

"No, Dad." You grumbled under your breath, eyes rolling as you continued to scroll through the mind-numbing information that flashed before you as you browsed through your social media profiles in the back seat of your parent's car.

The pain stopped and your vision quickly returned. You were snapped back into reality. Your head swived around, taking in your surrounds. You were... in a car?

"Y/N, we just want what is best for you. If you enroll in that college you'd be too far from home. What if something happened?" You heard the concern in your mother's voice from the passenger seat. You raised your eyes just above the brim of your phone to meet her worried and tired green hues staring back at you when she turned in her seat.

'Mom?!' Your eyes snapped to the passenger seat. There she was, staring back at you the back seat of your father's beat up car. She wasn't looking at you though, she was looking at... Your eyes snapped to your left and they rounded. Was that you?

"Things are going to happen, but you are acting like I don't have the knowledge to handle things on my own!" Your voice became a bit louder as you dropped your phone onto your stomach and crossed your legs that were clothed in ripped black jeans.

You were seated beside yourself - quite literally - in the back seat of that old Buick your father purchased so many years ago. It was as if you were staring into a defiant mirror. A movie playing right before your eyes in the most immersive interaction you could imagine.

"Listen to your parents for once in your life, Y/N!" Your father barked in irritation. His light-colored eyes peered at you through the rearview mirror, a mixture of anger and disappointment shining deep within them. A harsh wrinkle stood out between his brows, a look you were all too familiar with.

Wait, you remembered this conversation. What day was this? Come to think of it, you couldn't ever recall talking to your father after this car ride. Your brows knit together as your eyes bounced between 'yourself' and your father. 

"I've been listening to you both my entire life. It's time I start making my own choices for once." Your arms moved to mimic your legs and cross against your chest, letting your head fall to the side. You stared out the window from under your dark brown bangs that graced your forehead, the hair lightly tickling at your lashes due to their length. It had been some time since you had gotten a much-needed hair cut.

'Y/N... Please don't talk to them like that. You don't know if...' You begged yourself as a pit formed in your gut, weighing you down in your seat like a bolder sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Dread, this was dread.

Water splattered against the windows. The tin roof tapping frantically with the heavy downpour. The sky was dark and unforgiving, drowning the road as your family sped on, trying to go back home.

It was the late evening, and normally the sun would still be shining its last glorious rays of light, the sky exploding in a whirlwind of pastel colors per usual of an August evening. But today that was replaced with the sight of dull blues and gray shades that fit the dreadful situation at hand.

"It's in your best interest, and the best interest of your future if you just went to the local college and switched your major to something more realistic, Y/N."  Your father persisted, still trying to convince you. It was this conversation again.

'Dad. Why were you stubborn? All I wanted was to find my own happiness. I wasn't asking for the world.' 

"I'm not changing my major and I'm not going to that school!" You said, letting your foot stomp against the car's floorboard to add physical punctuation to your statement.

'Don't yell. Please stop yelling!'

"Honey, please. There are still a few weeks before enrollment ends. At least take what we have to say into consideration." Mother once again pleaded. She was trying to keep the peace between the two of you, something she had to do far too often.

'You shouldn't have had to play our referee all the time, Mom. I'm sorry.'

"No, she will be attending the local college and switching her major. There is no more debate." Father growled as he slapped his large calloused hand, his skin worn and mind hardened by years of manual labor, against the steering wheel.

You snapped your head in his direction. You could feel your heart splitting in two. 'Please, just stop fighting!' 

"You don't get to decide that!" Sitting up, you grabbed the back of the driver's seat and pulled yourself forward. Letting your nails sink into the car's thick black upholstery as your head leaned to the side, you inched closer to your father despite the seat belt's protest. "You can't force me to obey, Dad!" You boldly affirmed near his ear.

'Stop! Just stop!' You cried aloud, but like every other time, your screams fell on deaf ears. Not even you could hear yourself.

"Yes, I can! I'm the one paying your tuition. You will go wherever I say!" He said as he let go of the steering wheel with one hand to point back at you in his attempts to get his own point across.

'Dad, please! I'm begging you! Stop fighting. I love you, please!' 

"Sweetie, please sit back. It's dangerous." Your mother said as she shifted in her seat to try and capture your gaze that was still fixed on your father.

'No. Mom...' You lunged forward and pushed your way between the passenger seat and driver. 'Stop the car!'

"You can't continue to control me forever, Dad! I'm old enough to make my own choices, for the last time!" You refused to lower your voice, feeling beyond your boiling point despite the chilling air in the dated grey Buick Century you rode in.

You reached for the wheel but your fingers went through it like air. Your heart rate was so rapid you felt as if was going to burst, you were certain this was what cardiac arrest felt like. You had to stop this car.

"Darling, please focus on the road..." Mother's worried eyes looked to the wet, treacherous asphalt, her dainty hand pressing against the cold plastic of the dashboard in defense.

'Break! Break! Slam on the fucking break, Dad!'

"You either listen to your parents or find a way to pay for college yourself, Y/N!" Your father's booming voice echoed one last warning in the cramped enclosure.

'DAD!' Your eyes snapped up just in time. You saw them, so much brighter than before. Your eyes pierced through the windshield as those headlights got closer, heading straight for the car.

"FINE! I'll pay for it myself!" You shouted, releasing the seat in front of you and roughly letting your body fall back against your seat with a huff. Your eyes squeezed shut in fury.

'No...' tears spilled from your eyes to didn't even have time to blink before everything went black. 

"Gregory, watch out!" You heard screams, the desperate screams of your mother as she called for your father. The sound of tires squealing but failing in their attempts to stop the speeding car. The unmistakable and unbelievably loud sound of metal scraping against hard metal.

That horrific sound, metal bending, and breaking. Your mother's unfiltered screams, pain ravaging your body. You felt as though you were being torn to pieces, paralyzed by both fear and agony. There was nothing you could do...