Rainy Day

Rainy Day

It was raining again. It was not a torrent, nor was it a light drizzle. It was just raining. Plain rain; there was nothing remarkable about it but it always cut him deep. The grey skies always brought sadness to his heart. When it rained from the clouds above, it also rained in his heart. It was raining that day all those years ago. He stared out of the window of his house and into the rain; into the past. Each drop of water was a tear shed on that day, a tear shed on every rainy day since. His mind wandered back to that day. He never liked to think about it, but he always did. His heart tore to pieces with every thought but he could not feel complete without thinking of that day.

* * *

The rain came down unspectacularly, just an average rainy day. The birds sung and danced in the rain. He thought for a moment about the contrast between people and animals on rainy days. People wanted nothing to do with it, scampering for cover with even the slightest drizzle. Animals delighted in it, taking it in as much as they could. For people, rain meant misery and despair. For animals rain meant fun and frivolity. He could not take up his time thinking about though. He had somewhere to be; somewhere very important. She wanted to talk to him about something important. Thoughts had filled his head ranging from the uplifting to the depressing. They had been together for quite a while now; could it be she wanted to get engaged? While such joyous thoughts were what he preferred, he could not help but think of other less enjoyable subjects. Perhaps he had done something wrong and she wanted to end it. The rain was not helping in shaking off such depressing thoughts. She had wanted to meet at one of their favourite spots. It was under a big tree in a park. Its might branches stretched and reached out for what seemed like forever. He was not sure what type of tree it was, it was not important. The only thing that mattered was being with her. Relaxing on a summer's day in its cool shade as they ate ice cream from a nearby shop was one of their favourite things to do. When they were doing nothing was when they were doing the most of all. He made his way through the rain and onwards toward the park. Soon he was upon it and saw his favourite tree. There was no one there. The giant branches had protected the ground beneath from the rain, so he quickly went over to have some relief from the weather. He stood under the tree, looking for any sign of her. A few minutes passed before something caught his eye. It was a folded piece of paper on the ground, slightly damp from the rain. It looked like it had been there for quite some time. He picked it up and unfolded it. The piece of paper only had one word written on it: Goodbye.

* * *

"What are you looking at Daddy? asked his daughter.
She had just turned four years old. Her beautiful brown eyes looked up at him and her brunette hair was pulled back into a little pony tail. She was the epitome of beauty in her father's eyes. It simply was not possible for anything to be more beautiful than his daughter. He picked her up and she looked out the window with her father.
"Just looking at the rain, he said.
"It's pretty, replied his daughter.
"Yeah, he said rather distantly. "It's very pretty. Not as pretty as you are, my little angel.
He planted a soft kiss on his daughter's forehead before putting her back on the ground.
"Go and get ready, we're going out soon, he said.
She quickly ran to her room to start getting ready. He smiled as he watched his daughter run to her room. If it was not for that rainy day, he would never have had such a beautiful and wonderful daughter with his equally wonderful and beautiful wife. Still, whenever it rained he still felt that pain in his heart. A pain not of what happened but because he did not know why it happened. He put his hand on the glass, reaching out to the past, hoping the rain would reveal the answers to his question ' why? But there was no answer. He had never seen her since. All contact was gone. He wondered where she was now. What was she doing this very instant? He was happy with his life, more than happy, but still, the question remained ' why? It was a question that would never be answered.

* * *

It was raining again. There was nothing remarkable about it, but it always cut her deep. It was raining that day so many years ago as well; the day she left that note at the tree. It only had one word: Goodbye. She had offered no explanation, just one word. As the months and years passed she had wished she did. He deserved to know. All contact with him was lost though. She wondered what he was doing right this instant. She wondered where he was now. She wondered if he had a happy life. She put her hand on the glass of the window in front of her. It was as if she was reaching out to him, trying somehow to tell him why she did what she did. But it was an answer she could never give.