RAIN: We are a part of something | A flash fiction

RAIN

I don't know how I stopped here. The sky's cry accompanied me, and a distant thunder outdid my yell.

Ah. I was discharged an hour ago. Everything pinned me down with shame and letdown. Why wasn't I good enough?

Looking up, the rain became stronger. That. .  .  Sparked an something in me. A distant memory unexpectedly plays. Closing my eyes, I hear my father's voice.

Another time, I learned something valuable when we were standing on the roof of a high-rise in BGC. The mist fell, and the fixed view of distant silhouettes of skyscrapers faded into the rain. The wind tries to push us away, and we were closed in freezing rain, trying to cut into our raincoats.

I was silent. I don't know why my father wants to be here all this time in this kind of weather. The winds were as powerful as my will to come back inside, but I stayed and made use of the railings, gazing below at the Avenue.

Manila is vast. At the bottom, people streamed past in great numbers. Their different colored umbrellas made me imagine that they're like a parade of individual ants that are certain to change their colors.

"Dad..." Starting to speak, I lift my chin to face my tall father. "I wonder how many people are in places we could see from up here?"

That question brought my eyes back to the flow of the population below. I was born here in Taguig. But I've never visualized the streets of this city from this perspective. It's like we're gods, vigilant people at this climax. Watching different lives play.

"Hmmm. Maybe more than a million?" I was in awe of the answer. Imagine that just by looking at the city from this crest, you could watch millions of lives play out.

Below us, I can see a great number of thousands, or possibly millions, of people thinking about the weather today, doing their things, and living their lives. I wonder, how many people are celebrating their birthday today? How many people are happy right now? Sad? Partying? spending an occasion with their family? "Look!"

I turned at the place my father pointed. "Someone's having fun."

In the empty streets, we saw a couple running into each other after they threw away their umbrella. They started dancing together through the rain, which sparked amusement in me. I could listen to their laughter fading into the rain. .  .  made my eyes open when I realized something.

"Society is like rain, right?" I looked at my father. "They seem—we seem like we're a part of something."

"That's right. And if you compare society to rainfall, individual human beings could exactly be raindrops." He looks at me with a mild smile, adjoining. "And you are also one, Keanne."

Society is like rainfall. Our world is in harmony, and we need each other. The rains of this world themselves are transported by the collective motions of individual showers. We are... A part of something substantial.

I let out a breath. Remembering that special moment, I was then sparked with joy. I may be a tiny raindrop as narrow as a bug, but the shower is vast—big enough for me to explore new things apart from staying within a job that doesn't even make me feel like I belong.

"What have I been doing for the past three years?"