As I stand, alone, on the sidewalk underneath the dripping sky, I look around. Couples. Everywhere they stand close to one another, their bodies melting into one, their minds in a place the rain cannot touch.
My mind is drenched. The rain falls on my forehead and trickles slowly down my cheeks, mimicking my tears as they mingle with each drop.
It does not matter that I - too - was like them once. It does not matter that I now stand on this rainy street in search for something to fill the emptiness where my other half used to be.
I melted once. Now I only pretend.
As I turn, I can see him sitting on the step behind me. He's closer to the building, and the rain has not touched him yet. I stare, waiting for that first drop to hit, echoes of angry words ringing throughout my ears.
He looks at his hands, staring at them, memorizing every detail and I wonder if he remembers when his hands held mine. As the rain splashes on his skin, trickling down his fingers, it occurs to me that a photograph may speak a thousand words, but they're all whispers compared to the memories that roar through my head.
I long to reach out to him. My fingers weave through thick raindrops as my hands near his. They grasp mine, smudging the stinging salt of the water into my skin, the drops racing away as he looks up at me, raindrops on his eyelashes - a watery frame to those liquid depths.
I watch as he slowly rises and steps out into the rain with me, his sadnesses mimicking my own. The rain drenches us both now, gathering in a puddle at our feet as we cannot soak up anymore.
He leans closer, his mouth opening ever so slightly, and as my aching heart skips a beat, he presses his lips to mine.
My mind is reeling as our bodies come closer together, melting in memories long remembered, weeping for the forgotten.
Falling harder, the rain weeps with us.
He steps away, his eyes looking down, lost in the puddle of water beneath. With a slight shake of his head, he turns away from us.
And as I watch, tears no longer less than the rain, he walks down the sidewalk, the rain following him as much as it stays with me. He gets smaller and smaller, drowning in the watery depths of the sky.
I - too - drown, the memories flooding my mind, filling every corner until all of my emptiness is filled with cold, watery splashes.
As I step away as well, one final thought sinks into my mind.
Memories do not drown.
All I have left is the rain.
