TIFITY

Forever rain

It was ten o'clock in the morning when I woke up. I clearly remembered we had fallen asleep in the fort we built the night before, so the fact that we were in our beds now was strange to me. I supposed my mum took us to my bedroom while we were half asleep. Evangeline was still sleeping, so I tried to leave the bed silently with the aim of not waking her up. "Good morning Al". I found her fully conscious the second I came back from the bathroom. We changed our clothes from our colourful pyjamas to some random clothes. We didn't pay much attention to their fitting, honestly. It was the last day I could spend with my friend before she was taken to that psychiatric. I thought of going on that walk in the new park that we left hanging the day she ran away from the cafeteria. We thought of going in the morning, so Evangeline could spend the rest of the day with her parents and packing everything she had to take there.

"Wait I'm going to tell my mum we are leaving", I said. My dad didn't even open his mouth while Evangeline was in our house, which was such an unexpected behaviour on him. On the other hand, my mum helped us download the movies and prepared the beds for us to sleep better. She was in the living room watching this telenovela she loved; Te alquilo mi amor. I told her we were leaving and that I would be back by lunchtime. "Please be careful", she said. Once we had put our boots on, we were ready to go on our adventure.

It was raining, but we left the umbrellas at my house on purpose. Both of us loved the feeling of being in the rain. It felt just as if all our problems disappeared when we were touched by the raindrops falling from the grey sky. Although it wasn't raining much it still felt good to feel it on our skin. "Shall we sing in the rain Evangeline?", I asked my friend. We instantly started singing the popular song at the same time while we jumped from one puddle to another.  We were having so much fun holding hands and dancing like there was nobody in the park. Then it started to rain more, but we didn't care about getting wet. We were at ease together singing the song that made us meet: "Can't see when I'm falling, losing myself but then I hear you calling. There you are, there you are. You're there with open arms". That was our song and it honestly felt so good to sing it out loud with Evangeline.

The only thing I could think about that moment was how much I loved her. Words could not convey the amount of love and affection I had towards her. Nor how attached I was to her. I know it had just been some months since we met, but it felt like we had known each other since forever. She was such an awesome friend, so beautiful inside and out. And after knowing everything she was carrying on her back, I can safely say she was admirably strong. She was also so kind and generous towards everybody. Very empathetic and caring too. Evangeline was somebody I had as an inspiration back then, but I've never dared to tell her about that. Not even that morning we went for a walk to the park that would eventually become one of ou favourite places to be in.

Apart from us singing in the rain, many things happened that 18th April. Evangeline and I decided to sit on a bench after our unplanned performance. Our hair and clothes were so wet that they could even be drained. She seemed so happy and unbothered and it was truly amazing to see her like that. But all of a sudden all of that happiness disappeared like the fire of a candle with the wind. "What's the matter Ev?", I asked. I could tell she was about to break into tears, and that broke my already broken heart a little bit more. "I don't know what to do, what to think, what to say Alexis", she said as if she had a knot in her throat. "My world is falling like a house of cards and I have no clue about what will happen. I'm scared of going in there and never getting out. Or what scares me even more: getting out of there worse than I entered. What if they can't help me? what if I'm a lost case?  what if I don't get to see you again?". She left me absolutely speechless at first, I'm not going to lie. "I don't know what will happen either Evangeline, but I'll cross my fingers so you get out of there as soon and as well as possible". "I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now but I can assure you that they will help you" I continued. I had nothing else to say than stupid clichés and that made me hate myself once again, but I had to pay attention to what she was saying instead of listening to my damn mind. "I will be waiting for you Evangeline. I promise I'll stand by you no matter how much time you have to stay in there", I said. I knew words couldn't help do much for her at that moment, so I decided to hug her as tight as I could hoping that all the love I had for her would help her. "Please don't leave me" she begged, and I couldn't help but say: "I wouldn't be able even if I wanted to". The truth is that both of us were devastated by the situation... "I wish we could go to someplace where our problems disappeared and we got to do whatever we wanted", my family friend said.  And it was then when I came up with the best idea I've ever had. "How about we go to Tifity?".

"What's that?", Evangeline asked. "Imagine there was another dimension called Tifity where we could be whenever we wanted to. Where time doesn't run and our problems disappear. Imagine it was a place where it's just the two of us, safe and happy." I explained. She looked at me as if I was crazy or something, but the second after she just added: "Please, Al, take me to Tifity".