We Fall Like Rain

A Strange Thing Happened

Some believe our lives are set in stone before we even live it. Like destiny, Que sera sera and all that.
There are theories and books written about time and space and how big and complex it all is. However, none, not one of those books could possibly have prepared us for what was about to happen.

-----Maggie-----

Location: Leeds, England
Date: 2021

"I can't believe you!" Maggie shouted over the loud music and overlapping conversations.

"Oh, so now it's my fault!?"

It was her boyfriend who she was arguing with. He had been talking rubbish all night and Maggie finally decided she'd had enough. She bit her tongue when he questioned her choice of University, but she simply could not cope with the sexist jokes his friends were saying.

"Yes! It's always your fault!" She screamed as she walked away, towards the group of teenagers stood in the corner of the room talking. Her friends.

"You alright!?" Her best friend Nikita had to shout over the music to be heard.

"Fine, just Josh being a moron!"
Nikita rolled her eyes.

Maggie and Niki had known each other since their first day of year 7 and had been by each other's sides since.

She was a pretty girl, with brown chestnut hair she always had in a plait and green eyes that reflected the colour of nature. Maggie often envied her. Niki was headstrong whilst Maggie lacked confidence in herself and some days, the way she looked. Maggie had dyed her wavy hair blonde but the roots were coming through already.

A few hours went by and, after an ungodly amount of jager bombs, they all left the party and jumped into Charlie's car.

Charlie was probably the smartest one of them all. She had taken physics at college and finished top of the class.
"Alright, seatbelts on. I don't want anyone going through my windscreen, it costs loads to repair." Charlie said, the only sober one there.

"Very funny." Kalen joked. He was the only boy in the friendship circle but he didn't care. Kalen was a rather laid back individual who liked the easy way. He was close to all of them, but mostly Thalia.

Thalia had known him the longest and was the person he trusted most of all.

"Can I stay at someone's place tonight. I don't really wanna go home."
Thalia almost whispered.

Everyone knew she had problems at home, even if she didn't speak about it. So they figured anytime Thalia wanted to stay over, they should say yes.

"Sure, you can stay at mine Lia."
Niki spoke up. She had a pretty big house and her parents were away a lot so it worked out well for parties.

"Thanks."

It was raining as Charlie turned the key in the ignition. It had been all day. There wasn't a single star to be seen or the moon for that matter. It was covered by the dark blanket of clouds that they were so very used to seeing.

"Shame we can't see the sky, I heard it was supposed to be a full moon tonight"
Charlie stated, turning the windscreen wipers up a level.

"Watch out for werewolves." Kalen mused. He enjoyed mocking Charlie whenever she said anything remotely knowledgeable. She rolled her eyes and concentrated on the road.

Charlie drove down the long roads to the outer city. They were a few hours from the town they lived in and had only gone to Leeds for the weekend to view University accommodation but had ended up at a party instead.

"Let's have some music." Maggie said turning the radio on. Static blared from every station she tried. She thought it was rather odd, even if it's interference from the storm, they should have been able to get at least one.

With a sigh, she turned it off completely and turned around in the front seat to face the others.
"Anyone got a good playlist on their phone?"

"I do" Niki turned her phone on and scrolled through her music, picking a song.

"Aren't you going on that camping trip tomorrow Kalen?" Maggie asked, she loved camping and had said numerous times that they should all go on one together before Uni started.

"Yeah, we're going to the Lake District."

"We should-"
She was cut off by the screech of tires, the sound of metal on metal and the feeling of being tossed around like clothes in a washing machine. She saw a marvellous light, lightning perhaps? Then darkness.

----

When Maggie woke up she had a splitting headache and felt sick to her stomach, worse than any hangover. She opened her eyes to harsh sunlight and looked around, sitting up. She was in a field of rather tall grass that reached her knees when she stood. Maggie immediately regretted standing as she was overcome with a feeling of dizziness.

She turned and spotted Charlie laid face down in the dirt.
"Charlie! Wake up!" Maggie shouted, kneeling down by her side before she collapsed from the dizy spell.

Charlie shot up, sitting straight, then clutching her head when a sharp pain ran through it.
"Is everyone alright?" She mumbled.

"I don't know, I just saw you."
Maggie pushed Charlie back down when she tried to stand.
"No, best wait a minute, I learnt the hard way."

She nodded and sat back down in the grass whilst Maggie looked around.
Kalen was the next to sit up, then Niki and Thalia. They were all scattered around the field.

"What happened?" Thalia shouted to the others. " I thought we were in the car."

"We crashed" Charlie responded. "That truck came out of nowhere, I swear I had my eyes on the road the whole time!"

"Is everyone ok?" Maggie asked whilst giving a reassuring hug to Charlie.

"Fine." They all spoke back.
Maggie found it all rather strange. If they had crashed, where is the car?
"Where's the car, shouldn't we all be in it?"

Kalen spoke up, at last, gathering himself. "Or at the very least, we should be near it if we got flung from it."

"We couldn't have all been chucked through the windows and come out with just a headache" Niki stated, running her hands through her hair.
She stood and walked closer to where Maggie and Charlie where.
"There's no debris or marks either." She said when everyone had walked over.