rain girl (1/1)

whenever her parents would leave on a business trip of some sort, they would always leave her with the nice old lady next door. the lady had become family to dawon at one point or another, with how much time her parents had to be gone. the old lady always told her mystical stories, stories about fairies and dragons, witches and warlocks, unicorns and pegasi; any type of myth, she knew it and she knew it well. but dawon’s favorite would always be about the girl in the rain. the story was about a mother and her sick, dying child. the mother had traveled long and far, aware of her daughter’s time running out and willing to do anything to save her. once she knew she had but a week left, she desperately sought help of the only witch that could help her, the one witch that everyone else had told her to stay away from. the witch seemed pleasant and warm, welcoming her inside and out of the pouring rain with no hesitation and listened to the mother’s tale of her journey to find someone, anyone , to save her baby girl. the witch grinned at that and offered her assistance, which the mother accepted gladly. the witch carried through her promise and returned the frail child back to health; but with a cost that she had not cared to explain to the mother. soon enough she figured it out, as when the rain stopped and the sun shone, her poor child disappeared. she wept and cursed the witch, thinking her child was lost forever. But her child was not completely lost, as she found out when the rain came back along with her beloved daughter. the young girl ran to her mother and started crying, scared. they held each other tight, knowing that they would have to let go again, that the child was going to have to leave as soon as the sun made it’s way back out from behind the storm clouds. the mother stayed with her child by the lake she had first disappeared at, and built a house there. one day, she left her daughter with the promise of returning back home and with a cure to her daughter's condition. but she never did come back. if the story were true, the lady had told dawon, then the girl, all grown up by now, could only be seen in this town, the town built around the lake where the child had waited for years upon years for her mother to return to her. when she was younger, dawon liked to believe this story to be true, and every rainy day she would go out searching for the girl, only to go back home sad that she had missed her yet again. as she got older, she found it to be nothing more than a fairy tale and preferred to stay safe and warm inside her home. - one day, when dawon had just turned 18, the old lady dawon had spent her childhood looking up to had died. it was very sudden, as she was perfectly healthy for her age. no one could figure out how it happened- the doctors just pegged it on being of such an old age, claiming that she had been alive even before their parents were born. dawon doubted that, but she went with the story anyways. her funeral took place on a rainy day, which dawon thought to be fitting. she had stayed for hours after the funeral took place, far longer than anyone else did. the entire service she couldn’t stop crying, loving memories overtaking all of her thoughts. in tribute to her grandmother-like figure, she even told her a bedtime story, a story about the girl in the rain. she could only make it halfway before she broke down yet again and fell to her knees in front of the lady’s grave. but soon enough, she didn’t have to finish the story, because another voice chimed in and started to complete it for her. “-even after the mother had searched long and hard for so long, she went through the entire thing over again in search for another cure. she told her daughter to wait at the lake for her return, and she did. she waited for years and years for her mother to return to her, but she never came back. instead, all she was sent was a young witch to give her the news of her mother’s death. the young girl was devastated, and denied the truth for years. her only form of comfort was  the young witch who had stayed with her. the witch had stayed with the girl for her entire length of living, which was over hundreds of years, for the girl could only ever age when the rain came back.” dawon shakily raised her head to look back at the person who owned the voice. it was a beautiful girl that seemed to be only slightly younger than dawon. the girl smiled sadly at dawon, tears streaming down her face, her voice shaky as she was telling the story. “but the witch wasn’t immortal, no matter how many spells and charms she could cast upon herself. with the modern society moving in, she lost all means for her potions and charms, and her life ended suddenly, leaving the young girl who had now grown up, by herself.” dawon frowned at the ending, having never heard that part of the story before. when the old lady had told it, it always ended after the witch and the rain girl living happily together by the small lake.she opened her mouth to ask a question, but she was cut off. “and it appears the girl was not the only one she left alone. another young child had grown up in her arms, parents always off on business trips. she told stories to the girl, and soon enough the frequent business trips and babysitting sessions with the lady next door were the highlight of the young girl’s months and years. she loved all the stories her adopted grandmother fed to her, but her favorite would always be the one about the girl in the rain.” the other girl walked towards dawon, whose eyes had widened at the last addition to the story. she hugged her, and dawon could feel the tears soaking into her jacket along with the rain drops. “she went out every rainy day as a child, but stopped believing after she hit her teens. the girl in the rain was sad to see the young girl leave her, but it was understandable. up until today, she had never seen the rain girl, the girl that also went by the name of mei qi.” dawon hugged the girl, mei qi, back, holding her tight in her arms. “i’m sorry,” she whispered to mei qi,”i’m sorry for all of your loss, i’m sorry that you’ll be gone again once the rains over, i’m sorry that i stopped looking for you, i’m sorry. ” “i’m fine, now.” she pulled back from the hug and smiled at dawon, tears still falling. dawon looked at her questioningly. "i have you, now, don't i?"