The Essence of Water

NEW VERSION CHAPTER 13

I discard my hoodie and shoes under a random tree and keep moving. The chicken has made me realize my true hunger but I want to be far away when the family wakes up. I'm not sure how long it will take them to notice things missing. Handlers will be searching for reports of theft. They know I'll be in need of supplies. Any tip off could send them headed in my direction.

The rain comes not long after, it spits down from the clouds in steady sheets. The large trees do well to keep me from the worst of it but soon everything is wet. I let the rain hit my head and skin. I pause a moment to breathe it in and feel it. How long has it been since I've felt the rain? Hello friend. I say and it kisses my cheeks. I smile, it's small but I feel my lips curve and I know it's real. I'm back. I'm an hour into my hike when I realize that I forgot to search for a map. I stop mid stride and curse loudly. "You're such an idiot, Adie," I say.

"You really are." I spin around. The hood of my jacket falls back away from my face. My vision flips and water pools around my fingers instinctively. The world is glowing from the rain.

Aiden steps out from under a tree. He's still wearing his clothes and jacket but I see the straps of a bag on his back and there is a black beanie pulled over his head pushing his hair down along the tips of his eyes. I let the water fall from my fingers. Aiden steps closer and I see that he's completely dry. The rain falls steadily around us but the rain curves away from his body and falls the earth without touching him.

"Thought you'd given me the slip?" he steps closer, our bodies only a foot apart.

"I was hoping, yes," I say over the rain.

"You forget," he says. "I can see you in the rain." He closes his eyes and I feel a pulse in the water, a tugging like an invisible string. Aiden's lips curve and then he opens his eyes to see me for himself. I shiver and the rain pulls away as though someone has just put an umbrella over my head. "Is that better?" he asks gently.

"How'd you do that?" I ask.

"I simply focus on my desire to be dry," his voice is still quiet. "The water responds." He blinks and the rain pours onto us. It beads onto the fabric of his hoodie and slips down his cheeks. "Now you try it, it doesn't take as much concentration as you think."

I lick the water off my lips and swallow. Dry. I want to be dry. The rain lessens, but doesn't deflect away. I look at Aiden. He's still watching. "It's not working," I say.

"You're trying too hard," he says.

"Maybe the rain is just being stubborn," I retort and in respond the rain thickens.

The rain pushes away from us like a parting curtain. "The rain isn't stubborn, it's not anything. It's not a living creature Adie. Because our power comes from our minds our emotions are weaved into that power. Whatever we're feeling at the time increases when we use it and connect to it, we push our emotion into our connection. If we're scared then we might perceive the water at being angry to try and put reason to our fears. If we're angry, we might perceive the water to also be angry. The water doesn't have emotion, we give it emotion," he explains.

"That's not true," I deny. I remember the river and the rain the night I saved Henry.

"Yes it is, trust me..." he says and then the rain falls upon us again.

"I don't trust you. I don't want to trust you," I tell him truthfully.

The rain continues to fall upon us. Aiden sighs and lowers his gaze. "You don't have to."

I take a deep breath and think about how I wish to be warm and comfortable, how the cold has begun to settle in my body like a permanent resident and how much I hate it. Before I realize what I'm doing the rain pushes away from my body. A small smile touches Aiden's lips and water drips off his chin. He shouldn't have to be wet just for taking the time to teach me. The rain pushes out further until both Aiden and I are dry and surrounded by rain.