You've got Problems?

Chapter 9: Rain Dancer


It felt a lot like dying, the emptiness that Myer was experiencing. The only kind of feelings that he was having at all were pain and misery. What hurt him worst was that he was hardly thinking about himself anymore. All that passed through his mind most was how he had hurt Lilly. The tears in her eyes, that heart breaking sadness that she had on her face that night, it was tearing him apart. It hurt so much that it felt nearly identical to how he had been when his mother had died.

Myer lay on his bed in silence, listening to the thunder that was rolling in. It was a bad day already, and the rainstorms soon to come were only going to make it so much worse. As he whipped away a few streaks of tears from his face, he wondered to himself why the rain had to always come when he was at his lowest. The last five days had been a nightmare, and nothing he had tried could get him out of it. He hadn’t seen Lilly once in all that time. Her backyard had been eerily quiet each night since he had ran her off in a blind panic. Myer had made several desperate efforts to talk to her, but each time he went over to her house no one would answer the door. Finally, he had to face reality that he had done exactly to Lilly what he had done to Cynthia. He had pushed her away.

Accepting it didn’t make it any easier for him. Nor did it make Myer want to give up. Lilly was the first truly good thing to happen to him since he had lost his mother, and if that wasn’t worth fighting for with every ounce of strength his body and mind possessed, than nothing was. Not even living.

But even that resolve didn’t take away his suffering. Lighting flashed, and thunder boomed. The shockwave caused his chest to tighten up, and he glanced longingly out the window. As the first droplets of rain came down, Myer closed his eyes and imaged seeing Lilly again. All of her otherworldly features that were quite natural were what had made her so captivating to him, but there was nothing that Myer desired more than to hear her laugh again and see the look in her eyes she had given him that night before it had all come crashing down.

Finally, the dreaded arrival of the rain came. Like always, it started off as a few barely recognizable droplets, which quickly turned into a terrible downpour. Myer shuddered when he glanced out the window. Even though it was only one in the afternoon, the world had turned so dark that it could have easily been night. This was by far one of the worst storms that Myer had seen in a long time. And there he was in his room, confronting all the ghosts of his past the way he always had, alone.

Branches scratched across the glass, causing him to shudder. Myer really wished that he had cut them down. When they streaked across the panels again, he felt his anger rise. Growling with frustration, he threw the unlocked the window and threw it up. A howling wind blew into Myer’s room, scattering anything light that he had all over. Cold rain struck against the hot skin of his arms and face like thousands of tiny ice cycles. Myer took little notice of the pinpricks. Nothing was more on his mind than venting out his anger and frustration on the only thing that made sense to attack. Myer blindly grasped at the thrashing branches and began snapping them off one by one. It was only when he felt a terrible stinging in his hands that he noticed they had been badly scratched up.

Lighting crashed again. Myer ducked back inside as if a bomb had gone off near his house. As he pulled his hands back in, a few drops of blood splattered the window sill. Gritting his teeth, Myer slammed the window shut. Nothing had gone right. Nothing ever went right. Not even in the moments when he desperately needed them to. With the sinking feeling coming back into his body, Myer punched the wall as hard as he could. The throbbing that followed hurt, but all physical pain was dull next to the near emptiness he felt inside. Myer would have cried again if he had anything left, but he didn’t. Myer glanced out at the storm once more, both fearing and hating it.

Through the thrashing branches of the tree, he could see bits and pieces of Lilly’s back yard. And it was in one of those passing instants that he caught a bit of movement. Perking his head up, Myer looked more closely. And there it was again. The pain was taking a momentary back corner of his mind, replaced by curiosity. “What in the…” he began, but didn’t bother to finish the sentence. Leaping from his bed, Myer ran out of his room, down the stairs, and out the back door. There was a vain hope in his heart, but he just had to know if what he saw had been real.

Rushing out into the biting rain, Myer blinked as he was nearly blinded by the falling sheets. Lighting flashed nearby, and the heavy ka-boom of thunder followed it a second later. Myer jumped back with his heart practically leaping out of his throat. He was scared to the point where his legs almost refused to work, but he somehow managed to keep himself up. Despite all the terror that was coursing through him, he somehow felt compelled to look over the fence, even if just for a single moment.

Stumbling over to the slick wood wall, Myer reached out with trembling hands and grasped the top. Gulping down his fear, and the fact that he was beginning to shiver, Myer pulled himself over the edge. What he saw on the other side almost caused him to fall.

There, standing in the middle of the yard as the full might of the storm began to pour down, was Lilly. She was in a blue in a one piece bathing suit, her pale face lifted skyward. A smile was spread across her face as it was peppered with countless droplets. Lighting crashed again, and Myer fell onto his back in a mud puddle. Ignoring the large streak of mud across his back, Myer climbed back up the fence. When he peered over again, he saw Lilly wildly dancing around in the rain. Her body moved with the precision of her age, but had the overall persona of childish innocence. It was like watching a mythical enchantress or fairy. He could hear her giggling as she leapt from one patch of water to another; she seemed completely oblivious to the lighting flashing above.

Myer was deeply moved to see her, but he was quickly overcome by concern. “Lilly!” he shouted over the howling wind.

Lilly stopped and looked his way. There was curiosity on her face, but it quickly hardened when she saw him. No sooner after she had lay eyes on him, she returned to her dance in the downpour. Myer felt his heart race as another bolt of lighting flashed through the sky. “Lilly!” he shouted again. “Are you crazy? Get out of there!”

His plea fell on deaf ears. Lilly continued to frolic about the large puddles of water that filled her back yard. With icy rain sweeping across his face, Myer summoned up all of his courage and forced himself over the fence. His landing was anything but graceful. Pain rocketed from his ankles up through the rest of his legs. Hardly caring about his injury, Myer limped after Lilly.

“Lilly!” he shouted at her. “Get out of the storm. Do you want to get yourself killed?”

She twirled in a graceful arch that almost seemed to defy her ghastly body. Long strands of water were flung from her white hair and splashed his eyes. Myer fell back, madly rubbing his eyes as he tried to get his vision back. When he could see again, Lilly had moved even further away from him. Rushing towards her, Myer just barely managed to get to Lilly before she hopped out his reach.

“Lilly,” he said placing his hand on her shoulder. “Please don’t stay out here…”

Lilly spun around. There was a deep fire suddenly blazed in her grey eyes. “Piss off!” she shouted into Myer’s face. “What the hell do you care what happens to a vampire anyway?”

She pulled away from him, and being in nothing but a bathing suit, the task was ridiculously easy. As she leapt away, Myer went after her. “Lilly, will you just listen to me.” He pleaded.

“No!” she said sternly. “Get out of my yard. Now!”

Lighting flashed through the grey clouds over their heads. It was much closer than any of the others had been. Myer damn near collapsed; he could have sworn that he felt the very energy of the bolt coursing through the air around them. The sonic boom rattled both of them, nearly knocking each of them from their feet. It was like a natural clock that tolled the hour of one’s death. It nearly gave Myer a heart attack. And that was the very last straw. He didn’t stop to contemplate anything; he simply rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Lilly’s waist. She shrieked as he hoisted her into the air.

“Let me go you bastard!” she cried as she thrashed in his grip and slapped at him. “Get your hands off of me!”

Her words were useless. Regardless of how badly she hurt him, Myer couldn’t bear the thought of Lilly foolishly jeopardizing herself like this. He had to get her out of the storm and to safety. Even if it meant that she would never speak to him again. And he would be okay with that, just so long as she was safe. Though he wasn’t a particularly strong boy, he somehow pulled up an inner strength that he didn’t know existed, and carried her all the way across the yard without so much as losing his balance.

He pulled her under the patio roof before letting her go. The instant he did, Lilly smacked him in the face, hard. The sting hurt bad, but Myer didn’t care. “How dare you come over here and touch me without my permission?” Lilly growled, pointing a finger at her.

“What the hell were you doing out here in the middle of a thunderstorm?” he asked her. “Do you realize how dangerous that is?”

She gave him a questioning look. “You’re kidding, right. Do you know anything about lighting? It strikes the highest point within a one mile radius of where it’s coming down.” Lilly pointed at the massive trees that formed a living wall behind the house. “One of those would fry long before anything would ever come close to hitting me.”

Myer was stunned by her careless attitude. More over, why she was even outside at almost three in the afternoon. “What are you doing out right now anyway?”

“Not that it’s any of your damn business, but no sunlight.” Lilly replied, pointing up at the thick layer of black clouds. “It’s the only time I can ever come out during the day.”

“That’s no excuse to put your life in danger like that!” he protested.

Lilly’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “What’s wrong with you Myer? Why are you afraid of a little rain?”

“My mother died in a thunderstorm!” Myer blurted out before he even realized it.

The harshness in Lilly’s eyes dimmed, but her entire attitude remained the same. “Go home Myer.” She said in a softer, yet still threatening voice. “Just leave me alone.”

She grabbed a towel on resting on the nearby table and moved towards the door. Her whole body was tense, he could see that. One wrong move and he would undo the tiny calming effect the revelation of his mother’s death had done. Just the thought of dwelling on her departure caused his throat to seize up. But with Lilly so close to him, he couldn’t just leave everything as it was. He had to at least try.

“I can’t Lilly.” He said in a weak voice. “Will you just listen to me, please?”

Lilly had her hand on the door as he said it. Myer thought, really and truly, that she would walk through the door and that would be it, forever. That scared him more than anything the lighting blasts could have ever done. When she didn’t turn the knob, a faint glimmer of hope surged inside Myer’s weary heart. Sighing heavily, Lilly faced him. All traces of the anger were gone, but the pain that had replaced it was worse.

“You hurt me Myer.” She whispered. “You treated me just like everyone else in my life.” Lilly held out her arms, so that he could see the marks at her elbows where countless needles had pierced her skin. “You saw the part of me that I never wanted to you see, because I knew this would happen. I whished that it wouldn’t have, but it did. Just like I expected it to. When people look at me, all they see is a monster. And you’re no different.”

Myer hated to hear that. More so because deep in his very being, he knew that it was true. He doubted even a knife in the back could have hurt him as much. “Lilly.” He said, stepping towards her. “I freaked when I saw that, and I screwed up. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am. I know that you’re different in so many ways.” Myer gulped, forcing the rest of what he knew he had to say out. “But I think that you’re beautiful that way.”

She took a step back, right into the door. He could see that her body was rigged and stiff. Her eyes had a mixture of hope and doubt in them. “How can I trust you Myer? After the way you hurt me, how can you expect me to believe anything you say?”

Lighting flashed above them, setting the ominous mood like some demented part of a bad movie. Myer jumped lightly at the booming concussion, but it served the purpose it needed to. It gave him just the little push that his body needed. “Believe this.” He told Lilly as he moved closer.

Before Lilly could even ask what he meant, Myer took her cold, wet body in his warm arms. With hardly a thought running through his head, he kissed her. Lilly weakly pushed her hands into his chest as if she meant to break away, but quickly relaxed into his grip. There was nothing in the world that Myer knew of to compare the exhilarating feeling, the raw power that danced between their pressed lips. The roar of the storm around them faded, and he could feel the beating of Lilly’s heart against his chest. A bolt of lighting could have struck them both dead in that instant, and Myer wouldn’t have cared one bit.

After what seemed an eternity, but was probably only a few short seconds, Myer reluctantly parted his lips from Lilly’s. As he drew back a bit, a ragged breath came from Lilly’s mouth and he felt her entire body shudder in his arms.

When Myer looked into her eyes, he saw a stunned disbelief. “Lilly….” He coughed, trying to find a voice in his suddenly parched throat. Lilly gently pressed a finger against his lips, effectively silencing him. Then she kissed him back.

It was only then that Myer became aware that Lilly was wearing nothing but a bathing suit, and she was soaking wet. The realization immediately started a chain reaction within his body. It started in the pit of his stomach, and rapidly traveled to his groin. The mounting urge in his own body caused him to pull Lilly closer, until their bodies where firmly pressed against each other. As his trembling hands began to wander down the length of Lilly’s back, she broke the kiss.

“Myer, it’s too fast.” She told him with a hint of sadness in her voice.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me.” He said. It took all of Myer’s willpower to not glance down at the slightly visible erection he had in his wet pants. He hoped that Lilly hadn’t felt anything. Or for that matter, see what she had done to him. The last thing he wanted was to destroy the damage they had just repaired between them.

Lilly wrapped most of her exposed skin in the towel. It helped to lessen the thundering urges that were racing through his body. But only a little. Lilly glanced inside her house. “Well,” she said, pointing at the sky, “the storm might not last much longer. I should really get inside.”

“Do you forgive me then? For all the things I said to you?” Myer asked hopefully.

Lilly smiled weakly and kissed his cheek. “Yes. But Myer,” she looked him right in the eyes, “don’t hurt me like that again. I don’t ever want to feel that empty.”

“I’ll never hurt you again.” He whispered, taking her hand in his. “Ever.”

They shared one final kiss out there on the back porch during the thunderstorm. She gave him her gentle smile, the one that he had so desperately missed, before slipping back into her house. “Can I see you tonight?” he asked. She looked out the glass door and nodded. Myer grinned stupidly as he watched her climb the stairs to her room. Just before she slipped inside, Lilly looked down at him and blew a kiss.

Myer stepped out into the rain. For the first time in three years, the rain wasn’t bringing any pain to weary spirit. He felt on top of the world, as if nothing could possibly harm him as he calmly walked back over to his house. Even though his was dripping water everywhere as he walked inside, Myer walked up to his room without a care in the world. Once he had closed and locked his door, Myer stripped down to nothing but bare skin. Despite his limps being chilled, Myer glanced at himself in the mirror. The sight of his manhood reminded him of how Lilly’s body had felt. The memories brought the urge within him back with greater intensity. Easing himself back onto his bed, Myer closed his eyes and thought of Lilly, soaking wet, in her swimsuit. He felt guilty but at the same time exhilarated as he moved his hands down to his throbbing privates. But natural urges like the one that was flowing through him could not be denied, and thus Myer took care of his body’s pleas the only way he knew how.

Lilly sighed as she lay on her bed. She had thrown on a night shirt because her room was so chilly. That was why she was comfortably tucked up to her chin in her bed, and happily looked at the picture above her bed. Her heart was fluttering as she thought about the kiss. She didn’t know about Myer, but it had been her first. All dreams she ever had about it could not compare the rich, floating feeling that it had brought upon her. She thought of what Myer had said, that he thought she was beautiful.

She had always had a mixed feeling about her appearance. With her parents always telling her that she was perfect just the way she was, but always with other children that knew about her calling her a freak. There had been more than once where she had come to loath her features. But not now. Lilly looked across her darkened room, and could just barely make out the outline of her face in the dim mirror. It was as if she was looking at her self for the first time. And it warmed her greatly. All memories of the things Myer had said and the way he had acted were just as dim. What mattered was he was sorry, and had shown it.

As Lilly thought more of the kisses they had shared, the feeling of the way his privates had pressed into her came into her mind. The memory sent a flood of warmth through her body, mixed slightly with embarrassment. She knew perfectly well that Myer hadn’t meant it, but it had happened. Lilly felt both thrilled and ashamed of the fact that she had actually seen his reaction to their contact through his wet pants. Thinking of it didn’t do any good for her, all it did was cause her pulse to race fast and a tingling to in her lower body. With each passing thought about it, the tingle intensified to an urge. An urge that was quickly becoming impossible to ignore.

Biting her lip, Lilly slowly let her hands wander to where she knew her body wanted them to go. Her mind immediately became a frightening mixture of how wrong it seemed the way was thinking about Myer with her desperate desire to do so. Lilly didn’t know if she could stop herself at that moment if she wanted to. In the next beat of her heart, at the exact instant she closed her eyes and thought of Myer’s manliness, she didn’t think that she even cared.

One thing was absolutely certain. She knew that she couldn’t wait to see him again.