Mist and Rain

The rain was churning the lake into a fine spray, a mist that swept into the city, a huge mass rolling in, ominous as the storm clouds above it, yet soft and silent. Slowly blotting out the buildings, one after the other, suddenly and quietly. Smothered lies the city now, and darkened is the sky. Some might stand with fluttering, frightened hearts, but not me. Not I.

The rain is all that cuts it, but the rain is only part of it. The mist is pressing up against the glass. It cannot enter, so it knocks. A raindrop. Now two. It cannot enter. The rain is stronger. It cannot enter. It knocks with abandon. Yet no one listens. No one pities. Both mist and rain want shelter from the wind.

The wind masters them, tosses them, blows them off course, first this way, then that. It is merciless and biting, cold and strong, and the rain is at it's mercy, as is the billowing mist.

So they knock at every door, both mist and rain, and the wind does follow. They smother all in search of shelter, not finding, they depart, leaving Church spires wet, and windows hazy.

They come towards me. I see them coming. I wait for their embrace. The streetlights are flickering, beneath the roiling mist. The sky is ringing with claps of thunder, and exploding into shards of lightning, beyond the approaching curtains of rain.

The mist is coming. It has drowned the world already. It presses against the glass. It knocks, quite gently, twice.

It raps quickly, desperately.

It breaks upon the window, battering it, hammering it, but not shattering it, no.

I open it.

A wave washes over me, as fresh and strong as one from the storm tossed lake that lies outside the city. A wet, cool spray. It surrounds me. The rain pours in. It drowns me.

I stand silent in a tempest that is terrible in its joy, its chaos loud, overwhelming. But I let it overwhelm. It is angry. Let anger pass.

The mist is all around me. It has fallen silent. My room is no longer my own. The mist becomes all I know, damp and swirling, slowly curling, around my legs, my arms and eyes. It has me. It holds me. It overwhelms me. It drowns me.

Ah, what a feeling! To be drenched in the rain, and drowning in the mist!