Have You Ever Seen the Rain? - Part 3

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'Sorry?', I heard myself saying. I must have heard it wrong.

'Greg was not the father to Hanna, honey'.

'What do you mean he wasn't? I thought you said you were in love with Greg and you got pregnant?'.

'Exactly what I said, but Greg wouldn't do such a thing, honey. He was -- and I believe still is a good man'.

'Then who was the culp----'

'My dad raped me. Hanna's father was her own grandfather. My dad'.

'It was still raining heavily when she revealed this to me. The sky looked heavier than ever. But I suppose it wasn't the raindrops that had smeared my face. It was my tears.

'I was alone in my room that night. My little brothers and sisters had been fast asleep at that time. And my mother was in my aunt's house, visiting her sister. That was when my father came and raped me. When I knew I was pregnant, I could not just tell everyone that my own father was responsible. How would my mum feel? How about my little brothers and sisters? How about their future? What would their friends say when they met them at school? So I just did the least that I could do. If that would evade further damage. And I do not want Hanna to be further insulted for having her grandpa as her father'.

She paused for a moment, but she didn't look at me. It was as if I had suddenly been invisible to her. She rose to her feet, and slowly walked to the front of the bus stop, where the raindrops were trickling down from the edge of the roof above. She stood there for quite a while, as if relishing the rainy day, before she stretched both her arms out, and let the raindrops falling from the roof above pool on her palms; then still, without looking at me, she said:

'I wish I could wash away all these dirty things in my life by standing in the rain. I really wish I could. People have been oblivious to the presence of rain. They only see it as something that impedes their life for the day. But I hope you're not oblivious to it, child. I hope you have seen the rain'.

After this meeting with her, I had come to the bus stop for a couple of times, purely on purpose, just to meet her again -- but I had been unlucky on these deliberate occasions.

Until this one day.

One sunny day, as usual, I purposely sat at the bus stop and waited if she would appear. Instead, an old man showed up. I then asked him if he had seen her. That was when he told me that he was waiting for a bus at the same bus stop one rainy day, when he saw the woman I had described, dancing out in the rain, standing in the middle of the road -- and a car hit her.

I wept when I heard this.

Now, every time it is raining, I would remember the time I spent with this woman on a rainy day.

And maybe now I can say, that I have truly seen the rain.

-The End-




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2 comments:

Azie Nazri said...

AZIZZZZZZZZ! what an amazing story! So tragic and touching! And the way you described everything was just so vivid that I could almost feel the raindrops myself. I loved it!

Bet you got an A+ huh?
:)

December 24, 2009 at 11:18 PM
Aziz said...

A+ is just too high for someone mediocre as me, Azie =)

But thanks for your encouragement! We both love writing, I suppose? And I'm glad this particular writing of mine had immersed you in it while reading!

It's a kind of compliment I wouldn't say I deserve, but I embrace it all the same =)

December 25, 2009 at 12:51 AM

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