The Last Rain

I stood alone under the pouring rain, my ginger hair plastered to my face, shimmering like silk in the dim light of the storm. I stared across the street, my blue eyes reflecting the flashes of lightning. He was there, just a shadow in the distance, but his presence was unmistakable.

The memory of his voice echoed in my mind: "I was your everything." Those words, once a promise of forever, now felt like a distant dream. Trembling, I whispered to myself, "This isn't a dream. It feels too real."

I reached for my chest, but there was no heartbeat, no warmth—only a void where my love had once burned brightly. The darkness began to creep in, pulling me under, and all I could see was the word "before." Before the distance, before the lies, before the betrayal.

We had been inseparable once, laughing and playing like children, our hearts entwined in a bond so pure. The way he used to look at me made my heart race, filled me with a warmth that was almost unbearable. I loved him deeply, completely, and in those moments, I believed he was mine forever.

But forever had been an illusion. One day, he didn't come home from work. And when he finally did, his eyes were different—no longer filled with the love that once lit up my world. His gaze was empty, his words hollow. He was too busy, too distant, too preoccupied with something I couldn't see.

We fought. I held on, refusing to let go, even as the love we once shared slipped through my fingers like sand. Then, one day, his phone rang. He was in the bathroom, so I answered it without thinking. The voice on the other end was not a therapist's, as the name on the screen had suggested. It was a woman. "Hello, baby," she said.

My world shattered in that moment. My breath caught in my throat, and I knew. I knew I had loved him too much, and that love had been my undoing. When he came out of the bathroom, I asked him what was going on. He started yelling, denying everything, but it was too late. The man I had fallen in love with was gone, replaced by a stranger.

I had to leave. I didn't know where I was going, only that I couldn't stay. The rain soaked me to the bone, mingling with my tears as I walked aimlessly through the night. My feet were cold, my heart colder. I wished I had never met him.

The darkness around me deepened, matching the darkness inside me. My legs grew weak, and I stumbled, feeling the weight of loneliness pressing down on me. I heard a voice, familiar and distant, calling my name. "Zarissa, I'm sorry. Please wake up." But I couldn't. I was too weak, too broken.

The darkness swallowed me whole, and in the distance, I heard him crying, screaming my name. But it was too late. I was gone, taken by the same storm that had stolen my love.