text: The sound of rain penetrates through the thick walls of my apartment. I slowly sit up in bed. “It’s still raining?” I think to myself as I look out the window at the dismal view. The distant lights of the city’s center glows in the distance. I clumsily stumble out of bed, only to see that there is a wet spot on my carpet. “For God’s sake Zelda...” I think as I see my cat, Zelda, quietly licking her paws in the corner of the room. “Don’t you know how to use the litter box?” I half yell, half say to Zelda, but she just meows back. I walk into the kitchen to fix myself some breakfast. I flip the switch when I walk in. Nothing. Not even a flicker. Whatever. I’ll go downstairs and flip the circuit breakers after I eat. But I’ll still have to make breakfast in the dark. I shuffle my feet towards my dreary table. The rotten fruit inside the plastic bowl on top of the moth-eaten tablecloth really brings the whole gloomy scene together. I slowly walk over to the cabinet, still wiping the sleep from my eyes. I pull out a long expired bread loaf. The first few pieces were moldy, but by the fourth, it was fine. As I chew my raw bread, I stare as my sister’s cat, Oreo, comes slinking out of her room. My sister, Ava, had left hours before I even got up. She works for a publishing company in center city so she has to take a tram. It can take about four hours to get in on busy days, so she probably left around 4am. Oreo is a much calmer, older cat than Zelda. He often helps our building catch mice and other small, unwanted creatures. Zelda, on the other hand, just lays around all day and pees on the floor. Suddenly a deafening crash goes shaking through the floor. Worried, I run to my front door and look out in the hallway. Half my floor is peeking out of their doors’, wondering what in the world that could have been. I take the lead and go walking towards the stairwell. My neighbor and friend, Sean Violi, follows behind me. Sean and I met a few years ago after we were both in a crash. I came out with only scrapes and bruises, but he had to get a whole new arm. It didn’t really do anything but at least he didn’t get in the crash ten years earlier. The tech for the new limbs was only just starting then, so he probably would have a stump at his shoulder. Sean and I walk down the stairs. Another ear piercing crash rings through the building. It sounds like it is coming from the lobby. I cautiously reach the bottom of the stairs and look at the lobby. Everything seems normal, except that two cars are crashed against the front of the building. I rush over to the manager who seems pretty scared. “What happened?” I say to him. “Really? Have you looked outside? We have gotten two inches of rain in the past hour!” He replies. “Well that explains it. Shouldn’t someone come and block the roads off?” “No go. There was a huge crash down by city hall. Apparently the hovertrain swerved off the tracks onto the road. I’ll check the news after we clean up.” “Remember? No power. Your gonna need to flip the circuit breakers later.” “Yeah that’s right. I forgot and I will.” At that exact moment, Sean reaches the bottom of the stairs. Sean hears the end of my interaction with the manager. He gives me a look that says, “You know that I’m gonna go get parts.” I give him the look back. “Let’s go!” I yell at him. “I have to grab my phone and get dressed,” Sean says. “ I’ll wait here.” I check my phone. No service. I yell to Sean, “Forget the phone! There’s no service!” I hear him respond, but I don’t know what he said. A few minutes later, Sean rushes down the stairs, carrying my skateboard as well as his. He tosses mine to me and I catch it and turn on the hover mode. The green lights turn on as my board lets out a puff of steam. The wheels fold in as the board hovers a few inches off the ground. Sean turns on his and we rush out the door. ✤ The street is a mess. Parts from crashed cars are strewn across the drenched cobblestones. I look around at the tall buildings as I rush towards the large crash up ahead. I can see people holding black umbrellas, slyly picking up engine parts, wheels, anything they can get of the precious cars. Scavenging is technically illegal, but even the police do it. We all know that the parts from the rich are all too valuable to pass up. Sean and I usually use the parts we find to improve our skateboards, or boards as most people call them. They are a combo of a really old skateboard combined with some slightly less old hover technology. “I see a few engines!” Sean yells over the pouring rain. I nod to him and swerve around the corner. Whenever we scavenge we normally split up. Sean tries to get things that we can attach to our boards to make them faster, while I usually try to find things we can sell. An axle from a standard hover model can sell for up to $3,000, and those are one of the cheapest things on the vehicle. Unfortunately, axles and other things on the cars are quite big, so I have to make due with smaller parts. While Sean can grab engines and put them on his board straight away, I can only grab what I can carry, which is normally just things that can sell for about $200. HONK. A car swerves around me. I turn to see a jumble of cars, all stopped at the intersection I just crossed. I skid to a stop, letting down my wheels to preserve battery. A large, armored vehicle comes around the corner. Philadelphia P.D. is badly covered by duct tape on the side of the car. Something bigger is going on here than I thought. I ignore the military looking officials walking down the street and turn down an alleyway, carrying my board so there is no sound. I see a figure near the end of the alley that appears to be trying to climb the fire escape. I walk past, quickening my pace so I don’t have to confront the stranger. I can feel his eyes follow me as I walk further down. I can see a sushi place across the street with lots of people going in and out. “The perfect place to hide, isn’t it?” The voice coming from behind me startles me, and I jerk around. Standing before me is a young man in casual clothing; jacket, jeans, even a team jersey underneath the jacket; some kind of town shirt. He looks completely normal, except his eyes. His eyes look like dark pits of water that have something dangerous lurking below. His eyes appear to draw you in and make you look at him. I notice that the worsening rain seems to curve around him, leaving him dry. “Who are you?” “Who do you think?” he says. Suddenly, a flash of lighting lights up the sky. We both look up for a second. When my eyes drift back down, the strange man is gone. I look around, surprised at is sudden disappearance. Another flash silhouettes a figure on the roof above, staring at me. I walk on, but with the unnerving feeling of being watched. Next to the sushi place, called Oriental Fuji, I see an umbrella washed up against the curb. I rush over to it and open it. Glad to have cover from the rain, I glance around to make sure no one is following me, and I shuffle past the warm and welcoming door of the restaurant, and walk on. Still feeling uncomfortable from the encounter with that unnerving man, I decide to try and find my way home. Up ahead, I see a fire escape that is down. The drains and sewers also seem to be overflowing, so I decide that fire escape it a good option. I slowly start ascending ladders and stairs, caterpillaring my way up towards the roof. Suddenly, I feel a vibrating sound in my pocket. I quickly glance at my phone screen. My sister Ava is calling me. Service must be back. I answer the phone. “Hello?” I say. “Yeah hi Lux. Have you seen this rain? My boss let everyone go home early. I should be home in about 20 minutes. Where are you? It sounds loud.” she says back. “I’m just taking a walk around the block to exercise,” I lied. “Uh-huh.” “I’ll see you when you get back, okay? I love you.” “Love you too. Bye.” “Bye.” I hang up the phone just as I reach the roof. Rain screams down from above and wind whips my light coat. I wrap myself up tighter as a strong gush nearly knocks me off the roof. Definitely a bad idea to come up here. I cautiously make my way back over to the fire escape. I make my way down, careful not to slip on the slick metal. I slowly walk down the stairs and ladders until I’m back on the street. I glance around at the storefronts lining this street. All appear to be closed, even Oriental Fuji. I check the weather on my phone. It is supposed to keep raining for a few more hours. I continue on my trek back home. ✤ I trudge into my apartment, colder than ice and drenched to the core. I throw my jacket over one of the chairs in the kitchen and take my shoes off and fling them towards the door. I decide to call Sean and tell him where I am. It rings three times before he answers. “Hello?” I say. “Hey what’s up?” Sean responds. “I was just wondering if you came back from scavenging yet. I didn’t see you come in.” “Yeah I came back a few minutes ago. You back yet?” “I must have just missed you. I just got back. Did you find any good parts?” “No, not really. Seems like it all got washed away or taken already. But I don’t really care, since we don’t need that much more on our boards.” “Yeah I didn’t get anything either. I’ll see you later I guess?” “Yeah ok. Bye.” “Bye.” I once again hang up the phone and look around my room. It doesn’t look quite as dark as it did this morning. Wait, what time is it? I check my phone. 6:07 PM. I’m startled by how fast the day went by, but I must have been scavenging for longer than I thought. I walk out of my room to start making dinner. Ava walks through the door just as I’m setting out bowls and putting sauce in them. She must smell the simmering noodles in the pot on the stove, because she says, “Mmmm, that smells good!” I turn with a smile and say, “You know spaghetti is my specialty.” I laugh at my own joke. We both know I can’t cook. I grab the handle of the pot to pour the noodles into the bowls when Ava says, “You know what we need? Some spices.” “Your right. I’ll grab them when I’m done pouring,” I say. I slowly pour noodles into each of our bowls and set the pot down. I walk over to our spice cabinet and pull out some garlic and basil. Maybe that will work? I walk back toward the sink to grab a knife and a cutting board. “I’ll cut them. You go put on some music,” Ava says. “Okay,” I respond. Suddenly, a knock on the door distracts me. “I’ll get it!” I yell to Ava. I open the door and step back in shock. It’s the strange man from the alley! As I stand there, jaw on the floor, he just walks right into my apartment. “How did you find me?” I finally stutter out. “I have my ways. Nice place you have here. It would be a shame if it got soaked in rain,” the man says in a sarcastic tone. His whirlpool eyes, scary out in the rain, are terrifying in the lights of my kitchen and entryway. You can almost see the hate burning underneath. From the other room, I hear Ava say, “Lux, who you talking to?” “I don’t really know,” I respond. The man smirks at me. At that moment, he seems to notice Zelda licking her paws on the windowsill. He smiles at her, a glint appearing in his eyes. The fading sun shines through the blanket of clouds and Zelda turns her head toward the window, intrigued by the sudden brightness. The man also seems confused at the brightness, stumbling backwards into the shadows. Interesting. “Hey Ava,” I call. “Can you open the blinds in there? The sun is coming out.” “Sure can do,” Ava responds. The man briefly has a look of terror on his face but quickly masks it with a neutral expression. Light suddenly replaces the shadow coming out of the kitchen, and the man jumps back, holding his suddenly blistering arm in pain. He is now trapped in the corner, right in the crosshairs of the final two windows in my apartment. I run over to the windows and I hear the man yell, “No! Stop!” I pull open the blinds and light cascades into the room. Behind me, the man starts screaming in agony. Ava comes running out of the kitchen, looking scared. “Stop! Don’t help him,” I say. The man looks at us, begging for mercy with just his face. But his eyes show a different story. He knows we won’t help him. Blisters erupt across his face, growing bigger by the second. The man suddenly stumbles to his feet and sprints towards the window. Zelda looks up in shock, and gracefully jumps down from the windowsill right before the man lunges out the window. Luckily, the glass doesn’t shatter, but the whole frame falls onto the fire escape right below. The man screams as he falls over the railing and down to the pavement below. I slowly walk over to the window, reach over and grab the frame from the stairs, and put it back in. Neither Ava nor I want to hear the sirens and screams of neighbors. ✤ Through the thick walls of my apartment, I can hear birds chirping. I sit up in bed, gazing out the window to the blue skies outside. Dust floats around my room, catching the light, and sending small reflections on the walls. Zelda purrs softly at the end of my bed, smiling in the warm light. Looking out my window, I can see the city’s center, not lit up in a neon glow as it was yesterday, but ablaze in the color green, the rain having made the flowers and trees of the city blossom. Dots of pink are sprinkled throughout the green, cherry trees that seem to have enjoyed the rain. I suddenly remember what happened yesterday. Attempting to push that out of my mind, I step out of bed and get in the shower. When I’m done, I get dressed and walk into the kitchen. Bacon sizzles in a pan on the stove, and toast sits on a plate, basically asking to be eaten. On the couch, Ava is laying down, watching the news. “Why aren’t you at work? It is...” I check my phone. “Almost 8!” “The office was closed today. Apparently something about water damage,” Ava says. “You know that guy from yesterday? He was apparently a wanted criminal.” Suddenly, the man’s face fills the screen, and the news reporter says, “He was close to death after falling out of a 6 story window last night. He is currently being treated at Jefferson Health. The man was wanted for robbery, murder, and attempted murder.” “Good thing we got him away from us, we could have been killed,” I say. Ava turns to me and says, “Well, since I got off work today, I was thinking we could go down to Cape May. I doubt many people will be there because of the rain.” “Are you sure you want to go? We haven't been since Mom passed,” I say, stuttering a bit on that last part. “Sure! We can just go down for the day.” “Okay, if you say so.” I walk towards the door, and Ava follows. As I step out, Zelda tries to follow me, and Oreo is close behind her. I pet her and say, “Bye Zelda. I’ll see you later tonight okay? Don’t break anything!” I then walk out and close the door behind me. ⧫⧫⧫ I slam the car door and look towards the beach. The grass waves in the breeze, as if welcoming us to their home. In the distance, clouds stand tall and foreboding, but also appear graceful and calm above the sea. Among the clouds is the floating city, called Caeli, peacefully floating over the ocean. Looking to my side, I see Ava also looking out over the sea, but I can tell that she isn’t thinking about the view, but about Mom. Ava was closer to her than I ever was, and so she misses her a lot more than I do. Not to say that I don’t miss her, a day doesn’t go by where I don’t think of her, but Ava just seems to be more sad, more often. I walk over to the sand, wind in my hair, and look around once again. I notice that there is no one on the beach in our view. I guess Ava was right. No one wants to go to the beach after a rainstorm. I step closer to the water, and slip off my shoes. The cold water licks at my feet, and I slowly step in deeper, up to my ankles. A sudden gust of wind blows cherry blossoms and leaves past me, and into the water. As they drift away, I allow myself to think of Mom again. Mom sits across from me, legs crossed, with a smile on her face. Outside the window behind her, snow falls slowly. I smile back at her, but with a twinge of sadness. We both know that her cancer is getting worse every day, and she doesn't have much time left. I reach down to grab her gift, which I wrapped as best as I could. The wrapping paper has flowers on it, and I tied a blue ribbon around the whole thing. I hand it to Mom, and she does another sad smile. Her frail fingers slowly unravel the ribbon and take off the paper. Inside is a small box with a blue lily on the lid, her favorite kind of flower. She opens it, and pulls out the necklace. The necklace was specifically made for her. It cost me a fortune, but I don’t even care. The reason it costs so much is because the blue lily pendant. It is carved from silver, and diamond. The necklace itself also has sections made of gold. “Oh Lux...” she sighs, “You didn’t have to get me this.” “I know I didn’t have to...” I pause to consider my next words. “I wanted to, because I love you more than anything else on the planet.” Mom died the day after New Years. She had wished to be cremated, and have her ashes spread over her favorite beach, where Ava and I are now. When we spread her ashes, we planted a bunch of blue lilies in the ground near the beach. Those are starting to pop up now, just the tiniest bit of blue among the grass. I hear Ava come up next to me, but I don’t look at her. We don’t need to look at each other to know what the other is feeling. In the corner of my eye, I can see her bend down and splash some water on her face, so I do the same. I turn away a walk down the beach, and Ava follows me. After a while, we decide to go back to the car and head home. I take one last look at the ocean before getting in.