"Nothing is more necessary than the unnecessary. "

In sad stories, it is always raining. When true love walks away, when the best friend dies. . . it is always raining. Sometimes it pours, sometimes just drips, but it always, always, rains.

Drip, drip, drip. She felt the raindrops, one at a time, hitting her upturned face. They rolled down, drip, drip, drip onto the pavement. Or were they tears? So cliché. She looked down. It was raining harder now. Because. . .it was right. Or wrong.
Everything seemed wrong. It wasn't, not really, but it seemed like it. Some things were indeed wrong though. Betrayal and hate. Those were wrong. She coughed. She was guilty of both. So were they. Her friends. It's always friends, isn't it? Maybe not, but it seemed so. She smiled; a small, sarcastic smile. How typical. A teenage girl, a love triangle, anger. So typical, but so awful.

If only, if only . . .

That night she dreamed. Screaming faces. Multitudes of screaming faces. She ran away, tripping, just to fall over a cliff. She could see HER above the cliff, laughing. I . . . I'm not me? She was confused. Oh, no, of course not. She was . . . the other one. It all made sense. But this was all wrong. SHE wouldn't laugh, not like that, no no no NO!
She jerked awake. It was late, very late. A car drove by in the street. She stood up and went to the window. A few pale streetlights were on, illuminating the wet pavement. Small sounds could be heard in the distance, but only just. Her breath fogged up the window pane as she pressed her hands to its cold surface. She leaned her head on it and closed her eyes. Her breathing was ragged, and she almost stopped altogether. Tears welled up in her eyes. How will this ever end?
~Not Caroline