Understanding Bliss

One ~ Smiling Girl

Lightning flashed from somewhere far away, illuminating the dark sky. I looked up to the thick clouds hanging heavy with rain, already expecting the rumble of thunder that soon followed. The morning news said there was a storm coming in from the south east, and for once they were right.

All through the day rain had poured at long intervals, washing the capital down in cold water and mist. The storm wasn't directly passing the metro, but the south winds at its tail carried more rain clouds, spelling disaster to the streets with the poorly-maintained sewers clogged with human garbage.

I always loved the rain though, but only when I could stay at home and cuddle up with a good book. What I had was a conditional love, the kind I seemed to harbor for all things. I could say I loved my parents, by only when they weren't trying to dictate my life. I could say I loved cats, but only when they weren't scratching at my bedpost. Like I said - conditional. Everything was conditional.

Aren't people built on conditional love though? Well at least that's how I saw it.

From my left came the rushed sound of shoes hitting the wet pavement. It was late in the evening and the dingy terminal where I stood waiting for a bus home was empty except for me. The rain was still coming down, though not as hard as it had a few minutes ago, the soft pitter-patter on the thin metal roof the only sound besides the occasional vehicle zooming past the avenue before me.

I turned my head to the side, long strands of my thick hair whipping to my face, and was greeted by the sight of a girl huffing with exhaustion. She was dripping wet from head to toe, thoroughly soaked that I could make out the lacy pink bra she was wearing underneath her white long sleeve shirt. It reminded me of those things my mother had always pestered me to use, which I almost never did.

What a bad day she must be having, I thought to myself. It was really a bad day to be forgetting an umbrella. And yet when I looked up and met her eyes, they were smiling. Every part of her face was practically beaming at me. Happiness radiated from her like sunlight peeking out of the dark clouds. She seemed out of place in such bleak weather.

I had half a mind to ask what was wrong with her. Who gets caught up in a storm without a freaking umbrella and smiles like it's the most wonderful thing the world? The girl needed to have her brain checked, that's for sure.

"Forgot to bring an umbrella with me this morning," she said between titters.

She definitely has some screws loose if she finds that funny. I quickly made a mental note to myself not to engage the weird girl in a conversation.

"Sucks," I simply said, my lips upturning a bit on one side. I tried not to rush as I pulled out my earphones from the pocket of my hoodie and jabbed the jack into the slot on my phone. I hit play on the music app but before I could put them in my ears, the girl had spoken again.

"Some weather we're having huh?" She bent a little on one side and started wringing her long, reddish-brown hair like it was laundry. "I hear we have another storm coming in next week. Hope the streets don't get flooded or I'm really gonna have a hard time!"

She said it like the whole thing was one of the most convenient things in the world. I could even say she seemed a bit excited about it, which was honestly ridiculous. I'd been caught up in a number of storms myself and had to walk across knee-deep of filthy flood water. The very thought of it had always made me cringe. Suffice to say the whole experience wasn't something I looked forward to repeating.

"Uhuh." I could only hope the smile I gave her didn't look too fake. I was all for getting to know a person before I judge them crazy but the girl was really the first person I'd ever met who could still smile despite her predicament.