Rain.

He woke up with a start. He kind of wished he'd dreamt last night, but as he pushed his quilt off, he realized it was no dream. This was the reality that was going to change him forever. He buried himself under the blanket once more.

She looked out the window. She could hear the waves fall and rise, evenly. She could hear them steadily crash against the rock and then recede. She could hear birds chirping in the background and she could see daylight spread all over her room. She knew she needed to get up and turn the light off, the one which had been on all night since no sleep had graced her.

He dressed in a hurry, bumping into his friend but not saying much and skipping breakfast. He slid his things in his bag and paced out the door, afraid to make eye contact with anyone, even his own reflection.

She lay in bed, skipping her daily chores, her meals, her life. She opened the laptop and stared at the screen which had separated her from him. She put on music but as always it ended up messing with her brain rather than sort it.

He went through the whole day, absent minded, kind of in a parallel world. He kept looking at his phone beeping and flashing her name. He ignored it everytime. He did want to talk, it wasn't that, but he didn't have the words.

She eventually did get herself out from under the covers and the warmth of her sheets. She lit one smoke after the other, each time stealing glances at the phone. Every red light and she rushed to check who it was. It was never him.

He came back home, with no appetite for anything. He needed sleep. It had been the longest day he'd had in a while. She sat in the balcony, staring at the stars, wishing for a miracle.

When he woke up, he went for a shower. He needed to shake it all off.

As she sat on still in the same balcony she had sat in all evening, unmoving, her breathing the only constant in her life besides tears, she felt the raindrops bless her burning skin.

And as she looked over the balcony, at the ground, estimating the distance in the middle, in that one second, as he showered, she felt the rain take her some place else, transport her to her land of dreams somehow. For that one second, that one tiny millisecond of this never-ending day, she felt near him.

She walked back in, shaking off the smoke, rain and disturbing thoughts from her body. It was too soon to give up, just yet.