Tuesday Night

Read Part 1 here.

Sean knew it was coming. The scent was so strong, so vivid that that he can almost see it in his mind - the white lights of thunder, the splashing of the pouring rain coming down like sheets of amber. He can hear people rushing about, one last mad dash for dry shelter, their shoes echoing on the hard pavement. Shouts and giggles follow each step.

Sean stood in the middle of the sidewalk, black umbrella in hand, cane at his side. He listen to the sounds of the heavy rain, each droplet a musical note to savor. Twenty past eight, with the dark streets emptying themselves, the rain keeps falling harder and harder. His lips curve in a permanent smile. He loves these noisy nights. He can hear and feel everything around him.


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Aurora, one of the poor souls running for shelter, didn't see it coming. It seem to be one of those nights where things that would go wrong, went wrong. After work, she had received another rejection letter, this time the comments were more precise - unpersonal, no vivid imagination, not polish enough, not something we want to publish.

Of cause, when she told her father during dinner, he again, wondered why she even tried at all. Her failures, he would always point out but her victories always get ignored.

Aurora's apology for her failures signal yet another outburst from her father. Why don't you give it up, he said, it's not like you can be a writer. Aurora restrained the tears that started to form in her eyes. She can see the distant clouds from her side of the table, behind her father's head. The sky have not settled into night yet but the light rain drizzled down like diamonds. Aurora considered agreeing with her father but kept silent. She didn't want her father's unsubtle remarks to keep her down but the bitter taste of her father's words stayed in her mouth, trapping her doubts and anxiety in a tiny cage.

The dinner went quickly as her father wanted to spend more time with his new baby girl. He drove off without much of a goodbye, leaving her in the rain, shaking in her own disapproval.


She search in her bag for her umbrella but then remember she had left it on her kitchen table along with her rejection letter. She run towards the bus stop but couldn't find her Metrocard. She search and search but couldn't find it. Her bag, a complete mess as paper notes scatter onto the pavement. She pull and pick them up but the wind took them away.

She slip on one of the paper, skinning her hands and knees. Streaks of tears present themselves down her cheeks as she lay there staring at the ground. Her sorrow felt like a big truck upon her body as the rain continue to cover her from head to toe.

Suddenly she felt a pair of gentle hands around her waist pulling her up. Her eyes follow them as they slowly slip off her. She turn to see him, a bright face in an otherwise dark night. His eyes sparkle somehow in the yellow street lights. He pulls out an umbrella, open it and hold it out, shading the rain from her. She feels numb but takes the umbrella. Did she scream or cry out loud, is that why he's here? She doesn't remember.

Then he pull a cane out and starts walking away. Aurora wants to follow but her feet would not move. Umbrella in hand, she stood there letting the rain pour away her emotions all around her. She stare at the falling rain, following it down to the ground, down the holes of the sewer.

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Sean keeps his head high as he walk home. He hope she doesn't catch a cold with all that rain falling on her. He wish he could do more but he knows she's better left alone for a while. He can hear her silently crying, the rain falling still. He heads home hoping he will see her again.

Read Part 3 here.


3WW words are Apology, Consider, Distant.