Prologue
Anna lay on her bed, curled up in a ball, with her knees tucked up under her chin. She listened to the rain falling on her roof, and as the tears slid silently down her cheeks, her thoughts drifted off to days gone by. She thought of her childhood. She was a radiant, bubbly, pretty girl, without so much as a care in the world. She remembered the many family vacations, picnics, walks in the park and trips to the beach they had taken. Those days were gone now.
It was almost two years ago now, but it seemed like a lifetime, she was only 16. It had been a rainy, dreary day, much like this one. Anna and her brother Andrew were sitting on the steps of their high school, waiting for their Mom to pick them up like she always did when it rained. When they saw their Mom's blue BMW pull over they stood up and ran to the car through the pouring rain with their books hugged tightly to their chests.
"Later Anna." Called Jerry, the captain of the basketball team and Anna's latest crush, from the other side of the road.
"Call me." She said as she turned around and waved. She opened the door and got into the hot, air-conditioned car.
"Call me." Andrew laughed in a high pitched voice imitating Anna.
"Shut up" Anna said, reaching over into the front seat to hit her brother.
"Ooh, touchy, touchy." He said turning around and pulling a face at her.
"Who was that?" asked their Mom staring the car and pulling away from the curb.
"That was Anna's boyfriend." Andrew said quickly before Anna could get a word in.
"He's not my boyfriend." Anna said defensively
"Sure he's not." Andrew said sarcastically.
"So, how was your day?" Their Mom asked in an effort to keep the peace.
"Good," Anna said "I passed my history test"
"Thats good sweetie." Her Mom replied looking at Andrew "See, it does pay to study"
"Hey, what's that look for?" He asked.
"I think you know." Their Mom replied.
Thats the last thing Anna can remember of the next few hours. Just then a white station wagon pulled out from a side street without indicating and going way to fast. It slammed into the front of their car and Anna's Mom and brother were killed instantly. Anna was taken to hospital in an ambulance and by some twist of fate, she escaped the accident receiving only a few cuts and bruises, whiplash and severe concussion. The doctors told her that if the car had been hit half a second later, she too would have died instantly, she was lucky, they told her. But she didn't feel very lucky, she had lost the two people she cared most about, and there had been many a time that she wished she had lost her life also. The doctors also told her that the man driving the car that hit them, was drunk, and he survived. It wasn't fair, the accident was his fault and he was fine, well not quite fine. He was sentenced to three years in jail for it. Anna had only seen him once, as she was walking out of the hospital with her Dad, not crying, just walking, showing no emotion at all. He was sitting down in a waiting room, wrapped up in a blanket. He had blood running from a cut on his eyebrow and his wife was sitting two seats away from him holding her head in her hands crying. The sheriff was trying to talk to him, but he didn't look as if he understood what was going on. Anna was walking out to the car with her fathers arms protectively draped around her shoulders. When he saw them he tried to stand up, but was quickly restrained by the sheriff.
"I'm… I'm so sorry" He sobbed looking at Anna and her Dad as if he thought that those words could some how make everything better. Anna's father just looked at him with disgust. Anna broke free of her fathers grip and walked towards him.
"Sorry!" She screamed at the top her lungs, several people in the vicinity of the room turned and stared in amazement. "You're Sorry. Sorry isn't going to bring my family back. You killed them, and all you can say is Sorry." Then she ran, she didn't know where she was going, she just ran. She heard the sheriff yelling at an orderly as she ran out of the room.
"What the hell was she doing in here, didn't I tell you to keep her away from him."
She ran and ran, until she couldn't run anymore. She sat down and looked around her. It was still raining and her clothes were soaked, her hair was matted and plastered to her face. She was sitting beside what once would have been an insignificant creek, but was swollen from the rain. The wind was howling and blowing the trees around her. She was shivering, but she couldn't feel the cold, she couldn't feel anything, except a great emptiness and a hatred for the man who had done this to her. She wrapped her arms around her body in an effort to comfort her self. That was when the tears came. She cried a sea of tears that day, and just when she thought she had no tears left, she would begin to cry again.
She probably would have stayed there until she froze to death, had it not been for an old women who saw her from her kitchen window and brought her into her house. She sat Anna down by the fire, wrapped her shoulders in a blanket, gave her a hot drink and called her father.
Soon after the accident, Anna and her father had moved to New York. Theirs was a small town, where everyone knew everyone else's business, and no longer could they stand the pity they saw in everyone's eyes. Anna had never been close to her father, but over the past two years they had grown even farther apart. He immersed himself in his work, and she barely ever saw him anymore.
Back To Once Upon A Rainy Day