Memoir: Excerpt from Rain, by Sophia R

What was it about the wind and rain that made her want to cry? Not an unhappy cry, not a blissful cry, not any cry in particular, just a cry. Cry as the clouds wept and the hills exhaled. She walked slowly, not to any destination. Around her, heads were bowed, feet were rushing, avoiding puddles, trying to make it inside the even grayer buildings. Her glasses fogged up and started to drip. She couldn’t see, but why would she need to? As she avoided the rushing feet by stepping in the puddles, she noticed that she was walking the same route she always took when she felt like crying. It was never intentional, but she always ended up on that secluded bench. She lay down with her face up to rain and let it fall, and the sobs broke out. She stayed there until the sun cut through the clouds. Her face was a mess. She knew she couldn’t go back like that, people would ask if she was ok, she would have to respond. How could she answer that question? Just as the heads around her had done when the rain was falling, she pulled on her hood, bowed her head, and made her way to the gas station at the corner, washed her face, and slowly began to make her way home.