Our City: Chapter Two
#3 of Our City
_"Rain, rain go away
Come again another day."_
--- and the rain came again.
It started with a low rumble of thunder, swelling peal after peal until it finally grew so loud that the sky split apart and spilled over like a fresh wound. Rainwater flooded the streets, flowed heavy in the gutters and buried everything in a boil of fog. The people scattered as the rain returned, holding their books and bags over their heads, and letting the lights of the neon signs and bright, bay windows guide them. They crowded into their bars, restaurants and apartments and spoke softly of the weather, their eyes moving slowly over everything. The rain had rusted their gears.
But in the forest, the canopy of pine needles and the thick lacework of branches filtered the rainwater into a mist that sprinkled down like the milk of a dream. The not-so-distant crack of thunder echoed and drove the prancing, bouncing and dashing life into the dark, dry corners. They turned their eyes towards the dark sky above and sat quiet, waiting. The smell of the rain was the only smell for them --- but for Rain, the smell of the rotting body was much stronger.
He stood over it, cupping his hand tight over his mouth and nose. The smell was awful; it was functions and fluids as the body deflated. The stiff fingers were clamped around the vacant, shredded gap where the neck had once been as its eyes swelled with blue. The rain made all the awful things in that body rekindle, bringing pale color back to the blood and making the old-snow gray of the skin glisten; even the scent was heavier and more oily. He felt the contents of his stomach lurch as he dropped down next to it, looking over the wound.
Rain's usually dark, well-maintained hair was sopping wet and glued to his forehead, straggling in front of his bright eyes. He was a young man, nothing older than twenty-five, and he hid his thinly muscled frame with a camouflage jacket and warmly-knit beanie. He slid his boots along the grass, trying to get the mud out of the crevices of the soles and pushed back his hair, showing the old gash that ran from his eye to his hairline.
This wasn't anything done by a human. There was an animal ferocity, a brutal rage in this that a person could never pull off no matter how deranged they were. And besides, he could vaguely make out the other smell, faint now, the rain had diluted it, but undeniably there. It was the sweet smell of grass, old cigarette butts and that oddly nostalgic scent of the first snowfall that would sometimes blow in from up North, telling of the winter to come. It was the smell of another like himself.
He slowly reached out and ran his fingers along the frigid hand of the dead man. The tattoos on his skin barely stood out anymore beneath its muted color. The man was cold, dead cold, his skin was hard like the stones that marked a grave. The scene was confusing and Rain couldn't sketch a story from it. Mixed in with the smell of the decomposing body and the other, was someone else. A heavy smell of cigarettes, grease and gasoline, something like the smell of the rain on the street and somewhere in there he thought he could make out booze too. And there in there! Rain tried to focus on this one and as he did, he realized that it was growing --- coming closer. He leapt up and whipped around, his heart pounding in his chest, his breath twisting in his throat.
"Well Rain, looks like you found it," she said.
Juniper was standing a few yards away, her arms folded across her chest. She stared at him with her dark, clear eyes; wet, brown curls dripping down her soft face. She was thin, but shaped with a natural curve. Rain realized he liked how the high riding jeans brought it out and her jacket, simple enough, bowed in with her hips. He fought back a smile.
Her eyes moved to the corpse and her lips squeezed together. When she walked towards it, her hand went to her nose and mouth. She stopped next to Rain. He could smell her perfectly now --- the distant smell that the wind would sometimes bring when it blew it from over the mountains and some flowering scent that he knew he liked. But he smelt the cigarettes and grease over it, and he turned away.
"You know what happened here?" Rain asked.
Juniper nodded. "Snow told me about it."
"Did he do this? I thought I smelt him in there. What could have possibly driven him to lose his temper and ---"
She gave him a quick, hard look and he stopped.
"She's actually not from around here," she said, "At least no one on our side thought she looked familiar."
"Did she ---"
"We don't know anything. She's still out."
"Still?"
"Snow found her this afternoon. She's been passed out on the couch since he brought her back."
Rain turned to her, his brow tightening. "You took her in?"
"We're dealing with it, yes." Juniper glanced up towards him, her eyes shimmering. "And will you be sure that certain people understand that?"
For a moment, they stood in the stillness of the forest, the rain just a haze that tickled their bare skin. A smile came across Juniper face. Rain turned away, his cheeks burning, a smile of his own wanting to crawl its way to the surface. His lips twisted; he bit at them to keep them still. He couldn't hold back any longer. He tugged Juniper into him and draped his arms around her, resting among the damp curls. She sighed and closed her eyes, cupping Rain's hands in hers. Rain's smile was now all but free.
"You keep showing up."
Juniper squeezed his hands and he felt her body tighten against his. But as he laced his fingers through her own, she didn't resist.
"I'm glad you do."
---and they ran. They ran through that forest, their naked bodies glowing in the foggy night as he chased her down. Their panting and laughter swelled and grew in the air and feet eventually became paws and skin turned to fur. And when he caught her, they danced around each other, their bodies rising and falling to as they nipped at each other's tails. And when their playful tussling began to slow, she nuzzled her nose under his jaw and the forest turned away, filling with the sounds of a private lullaby.
And the rain went on into the night.