Nothing but the Rain by Naomi Salman

Author:Naomi Salman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

II

DAY ONE

It’s been a strange day.

For me, it started when I came to my senses on the steps of City Hall, waking up slowly from the cotton haze of rain. Katie Rathbone was next to me. I was soaking wet. She said I’d stepped under a broken drainpipe. An empty red bucket was rolling away on the ground. If I’d only paid attention to it, I could have probably guessed heavy water was expected in the area. But I slipped up, walked straight into danger, and now I’ve lost bits of my life. How much? Who knows. That’s what happens in Aloisville. I’m lucky Katie was there or I would’ve probably sat in the rain forever, thinning down to nothing.

At least I’m able to write it all down in my journal. The pages are a little damp, and I have to be careful not to rip them with my pen, but it’s so much better than scrawling haphazard thoughts on the wallpaper like I used to do. Katie said she’d found it at my feet. I must have slipped it in my pocket right before leaving the house. I do feel an ache under my breast where it’s been digging in. Shame I didn’t write anything before I left. I wonder why it’s been ripped in half. Must have done it myself, but why? Maybe I left the first half at my place for safekeeping.

The more I think about this morning, the more chilled I get. It could really have been the end of me. Katie was a wonder. We don’t always see eye-to-eye, and she gets on my nerves most of the time, but in times of crisis, she’s the one you want by your side. She kicked the bucket away—good thinking; those things are weapons of mass destruction here in Aloisville—and got me to follow her into her home across the street. Her little kid was there, quietly playing with markers. For a moment I didn’t remember her name, and then it came back. Zoe. It’s Zoe.

This I know.

As Katie got me to sit down, I noticed there was a note pinned to my chest in a plastic sheet. It said GO WITH KATIE RATHBONE, in handwriting so shaky it didn’t even look like mine. Why did I write that? I do recall Katie and her daughter coming to visit the day before. Or maybe two days before. But I barely remember what we talked about; it’s all a blur shortly after she got there. As always, the line between what’s left and what’s lost is muddled.

So this is my DAY ONE. I’m going to try to keep track of what happens to me as best I can. That way, if I walk under another drainpipe or stumble over a full bucket, I’ll have something to fall back on. Gotta write it out. Gotta write it all.

I sat in Katie’s living room waiting for my thoughts to fall back in line. I think I was staring into space

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