Under The Rainbow

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Caren was dying.

Looking at her, you'd never know it. In fact, her doctor would probably argue that breast cancer wasn't a death sentence anymore, but she knew that could end up being bullshit. Her soul was already in an advanced state of decomposition. It just figured with her luck that her body would follow suit.

Fuck my life. Fuck it all. Nothing's left.

She stopped to wipe the sweat off her forehead, looking across the desert to where the sunlight glared off the mountain. So hot. She'd forgotten just how much power the light had, heating the dry, cracked earth, reflecting off of every rock. Barren. Completely and utterly barren. Like my future.

She walked a bit farther, appreciating the coolness when the sun went behind a cloud. She'd made a spur-of-the-moment decision to leave home and spend time with her Dad. Ever since Mom died, he'd been trying to get her home for a visit, but she hadn't come. At first, it was because Daniel didn't feel like going, then when he walked out she kept saying she didn't have the time. Funny thing about cancer - it really makes you re-evaluate time in a new and very thorough way.

Suddenly, a trip to the old homestead was a necessity. She'd arrived last night, but headed out early today, telling Dad she wanted to go for a hike. He gave a token protest for her health - which was fine at the moment. She wasn't set to start chemo for another week. He couldn't come along anyway. It had been years since the state of his health would allow him to walk more than ten minutes at a stretch.

The wind picked up, just as she reached the foothills. She shielded her eyes with a hand as she looked up from the gully. What the.... Storm clouds were covering the sky and the wind was whipping harder now. She had to get out of the gully, get higher before the rain started. Flash floods were prevalent when the ground was this dry - you'd think it would soak right in, but it didn't work that way. The water ran first. It had been years since she lived here, but that much she remembered. She scrambled frantically up the rocks just as the hard, fat raindrops started to fall.

Her eyes scanned the side of the mountain for an outcropping she could take shelter under, maybe a boulder if it had the right shape. She'd just pulled herself over a ledge when she saw the cave. It appeared to be shallow, and what light there was seemed to illuminate most of it. If she moved slowly, and stayed near the front, she should be okay. She stepped in cautiously.

A sudden shift in the shadows startled a short scream out of her, as she realized it wasn't an animal or a snake sharing her space, but a man.

"Oy!" He shouted in response.

"Sorry - I, uh....I was just getting out of the rain. Sorry. I'll go."

"There's no point in that. You've already seen me."

She froze. Oh my God. She was going to die. Funny, she'd come out here to contemplate her own death, yet here she stood with a serial killer or a criminal who obviously didn't want to be ID'd, and she found herself rooted in terror at the thought of dying right now.

"I haven't seen you at all, promise!" She was babbling, and she knew it. "It's too dark. I can't see you even a little bit. Nothing. Nothing at all." Even as she said it, her eyes strained in the dim to see, to identify the threat. And he seemed to know it.

He sighed. "I suppose you've got a request?"

"Huh?" She was completely taken aback. And what kind of accent was that? British? Australian?

He stepped forward, and she saw him clearly. Brownish-red hair, about five foot nine, and a face that belonged in an ad for Armani. He was wearing non-descript brown pants and a white shirt, and didn't look as though he lived in a cave at all. Nor did he look like he was out on a hike. Who was he, and what was he talking about?

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