The rain had eased, but the air still felt heavy, as if carrying the echo of the storm within it.
Drops glistened on the asphalt, gathering in grooves, as if afraid of disappearing completely.
I walked home alone after class. Fiona had something to finish in the library, Jonas had disappeared with his ball, Mira with her camera.
Only I remained – along with the quiet wish that something would break through the fog in my head.
The path past the sports field was one I normally avoided.
It was too empty, too open, too full of memories of earlier days, summer afternoons, times when everything had been easier.
Yet today my steps carried me exactly there, as if something inside me was searching – for answers, for courage, for a remnant of clarity that I had lost somewhere between the raindrops.
The chain-link gate squeaked softly as I pushed it open.
The field lay deserted, only the echo of drops on the metal roofs of the locker rooms remained.
