Alex brushed his hands on the grass beneath him as he stared up into the sky. He cherished these rainy days; sunny days seemed to fade into one another but ones with rainy stood out to him. Ever since he was young he loved rainy days, they were the only days that made him feel alive. Alex signed as he looked at his clock and realized it was almost midnight, time to go home he thought to himself. His hands and heels dug into the ground as he pushed himself up from the muddy ground and began walking towards the quiet town. Walking through the deserted town was soothing to him, after working a long week at the local record store having the streets to himself was a blessing. A few mins into his walk he looked up from looking at the dull ground and saw a form walking towards him in the distance. Alex thought this to be strange since he has been taking these midnight walks for months and never has seen anyone else out at this time. He stopped in his tracks watching the form turn into a girl as she gets closer. The girl stops in her tracks only a few feet away from him. "Hello" she smiles tilting her head to the side. Alex's eyes widen in a mixture of confusion and anxiousness. The girl laughs at his expression, "Are you okay there Alex?" she asks him. Alex snaps out of his state and responds "O-oh yeah I fine" ending with an unsure laugh. "So, what are you doing out so late on this rainy night?" she asks while stepping closer to Alex. Alex moves back as he answers, "Oh I am heading home from a late-night walk, how about you?". The girl's gaze travels from his face to his feet as he stepped back, she chuckled, "I'm just going on a late-night stroll. Is it okay if I walk you back to your house?". Alex just stands there contemplating whether to let her walk back with him. Before he can verbally answer his legs continue forward with the girl following to the side. A few moments pass as Alex gets the courage to speak again, "Hey can I ask you a question?" he asked while putting his hands into his pockets, "Sure" the girl smiled.
Before he spoke he cleared his throat "Do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar." The girl looked down at the wet pavement beneath her and laughed "Maybe". Alex looked ahead of him in a daze of confusion. He knows he has seen her somewhere before but he cannot put his finger on it. Alex soon snapped out of his daze to realize that he had reached his house. He stopped in is tracks and looked around surprised "Huh, that was a shorter walk than I expected." After he looked around his gaze turned attention to the girl, "Well this is my house" he stumbles. The girl laughs, "Well it was nice walking with you Alex", after those few words she turns around and begins to walk back the way they came. Alex started to walked up his steps when he turned to look at the girl walking away, "Hey wait!" he shouted, this grabbed the girl's attention causing her to turn around, "Yeah?" she yelled back. Alex leaned into the railing that lined his stairs, "How did you know my name was Alex? I never told you", the girl just smiled, "I told you that you might know me. That's how I knew your name". Alex just stared at her, "Who are you?" he asked pulling himself off of the railing. The girl turned around and kept walking but right before she blurred into the darkness she shouted, "You should figure it out", after those last words her form disappeared. Alex stood there in silence staring at the place where she disappeared, who are you? He thought to himself as he unlocked his door and stepped inside.
Several weeks followed but Alex still could not figure out where he had known the girl before that rainy night. Day by day he peered out through the windows of the record store to see if she would walk by but she never did. It was eating at him, the fact that he could not remember who she was, he could not even remember something as simple as her name. Alex asked his co-workers, locals at the coffee house, and even random people on the street if they knew who she was but every person responded with the same thing, "sorry we don't know her". It was frustrating since deep down he knew that she has met her or at the very least seen her before. Alex looked through his old yearbooks, family photos, and even the profiles of his online friends, but nothing came to shed light onto the situation. He was ready to give up, maybe the girl was just messing around with him, maybe she just guessed his name and happened to get it right, whatever the reason was he was ready to give up figuring it out. Alex was just tired of it all.
He laid on his bed, limbs sinking into the mattress, sighing one last time before his eyes shuttered closed. That's when it hit him, he finally realized who she was. As if the lightning had struck his body he bolted from his bed with his new-found energy and left everything in his house behind as he exited into the pouring rain. Sprinting through the dead of night his clothes became soaking wet as he arrived at his destination, the abandon train station. He collapsed onto the gravel: lungs staggering to collect air, muscles burning from the journey he had just completed. Laying there in silence his organs began to calm down giving him permission to breathe again and his muscles relaxed to the sensation of the cold rain coating his skin. A few moments passed before he pulled himself back on his feet. He began to walk to the rusted gate and pushed it open with seemingly no force. His arms sprouted goose bumps as he turned the corner to view the rotted train tracks that laid before him. There, instead of observing the lonely tracks there stood the girl whom he had spoken to many nights before. Her back faced him at his first glance but she soon turned around gracefully with a smile. At this moment time froze for Alex, he examined the girl who stood only a few feet away from him amazed by what he saw. He took a deep breath before he spoke: "I know who you are". She gazed into his eyes "I knew you would figure it out", she moved closer to him, "You're a smart boy Alex", gently taking his hand. Alex's gaze moved from her eyes to his hand that was now intertwined with her's, "I have tried so many times to meet you but none of them ever worked" he ask softly, the girl let out a small chuckle pulling him into an embrace. Alex wrapped his arms around the girl's waist as if she would disappear at any second. Tears streamed from his eyes laying themselves upon the girl's hair. Time stood still. Alex finally let go, wiping tears from his eyes. The girl gently placed both of her hands on his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss, Alex's hands gripped tightly on her shirt. As she kissed him his breath was taken away, slowly his legs began to crumble beneath him. She released her hands from his cheeks letting him collapse to the cold, wet ground. She gently moved his lifeless body so he would be staring up at the cloudy sky and gave him one last kiss before she disappeared.
He had finally met her.
He had finally met death.
