Adie is lying on her bed, immobile, her body stiff. Her eyes are closed, some difference it makes.

Its still raining.

The water drips down the side of the window, the clouds turning the ink sky into a smoky grey, with help of the streetlights and illuminated windows. The moon is full, a silvery, shining nightlight for the sky.

Stupid rain.

Usually she liked the rain. A lot. But tonight, she felt that if it hadn’t begun to rain, and her memory hadn’t perked up the nostalgia of the train tracks, she never would have went, and she never would have encountered the two people. And her life could go on.

Stupid friends.

And if they hadn’t ditched her, she never would have been left by her lonesome, prone to dangerous and stupid ideas.

I hope Matthew the hottie from 10c falls down a set of stairs.

And drags Maddie and Lauren with him.

She groaned, and rolled over onto her side, now facing the window instead of the ceiling. When she couldn’t sleep at night, Adie usually waited patiently. Today on the other hand, the soft sound of rain against the ground outside proved to be too distracting for any possibility of concentration, so instead she thought.

Stupid Mom that sent me here.

Bitterness. She didn’t mind the school really. She didn’t mind her mother that much either, as annoying as she was she did her best. She did mind her inability to see, the fact that she received an awful grade in English because she misread words from her book. Under her inexperienced fingers, dead would become dear, and life will be lofe. It wasn’t even a word, but she believed it anyways. She was never the studious type.

Stupid Robin Black.

If she hadn’t been as moronic as to annoy her nasty companion, none of them would be in this situation. Her companion wouldn’t have her blood on his hands, she wouldn’t be dead, and Adie wouldn’t be unable to sleep tonight.

She sighed, and sat up on her bed. She cradled her knees close to her chest through the blankets, and rested her head on them. She could hear her roommate’s steady breathing, and the rain falling from the sky, muffled by the insulated window. Midnight. She guessed. She leaned over and, as quietly as possible, opened her window. A blast of cold air wandered into the room, and she could hear her roomie toss in her sleep and pull more covers over herself. The coolness came with a scent, a mix of leaves, water and soaked dirt. The smell of rain. She smiled gingerly to herself.

No one else she knew found that rain had a smell. It was wet. Period.

But to Adie, rain was amazing. It was her everything, and since she was a baby, the falling rain would cradle her to sleep, like her own lullaby. A lullaby that no other girl had.

She gave up on sitting, and lay back down, facing the ceiling, then the window. She rummaged around her and found what she was looking for; a stuffed cloud.

For her 13th birthday, as a joke, her friend Amanda had made her a stuffed cloud, out of soft, shiny silver fabric, and attached to it some silver string, and little bits of glittery blue fabric stuffed into raindrops were tied at the ends. And then, she stuck a empty can inside of the cloud, surrounded by stuffing, and put a handful of dried beans inside. When Adie shook the cloud, it made a noise. Sounds like rain doesn’t it? Amanda had said, grinning, when Adie had removed it from the wrapping. Then they debated over its name, and Amanda came up with the winning name. Cirrus, the stuffed, maracas-like raincloud.

Adie squeezed him close to her chest, and shut her eyes tight. Just for nostalgia, she gave him a good, hard shake. She laughed hysterically when the beans ricochet off the tin can. She squeezed him harder. Then she sat bolt upright. Tears welled up in her eyes, she buried her face in her cloud, and began sobbing hysterically.

“Adieeee!” The redhead girl tackled her from the side. Adie shrieked, and collapsed onto the ground. Then the two began laughing like maniacs. The blonde, with a groan, managed to push her friend off of her. Then she got up, shook the dust off her jeans, gave her best friend an evil look, than grinned crookedly, and helped her get off the grass.

“Miss me much?” Adie said jokingly. Her friend grinned.

“Way too much. March break is such a bore if you have to spend it with your family.” She pouted. “Its always, Amanda, do this, Amanda, do that.” She stuck her tounge out in disgust.

Amanda had vivid, red hair, that fell in a messy mane around her pale face, sprinkled with freckles. She had bright, happy green eyes, framed by brown eyeliner and shimmery golden eyeshadow. She was wearing a pair of chandelier earings, golden like her makeup but with beads the same colour as her eyes.

“Im glad youre wearing the earings I gave you” Adie beamed at her friend. She smiled sweetly.

“How could I not? Theyre amazing.”

The two walked up the sidewalk, towards the intersection buzzing with activity, cars speeding by and a large array of people walking, running, jogging towards a destination or another.

“Adie?”

“Hm?”

“What do you want to do when youre older? As in thrity?” Adie looked puzzled.

“I dunno. I haven’t really thought about it. Why? Have you thought of something?” Her friend beamed.

“Ive thought a lot during the holiday. I don’t want to be stuck in this city, stuck in the crappy school, and be stuck in the normal life of any teenager. I want to be something, someone. I want to make a difference you know?” Adie nodded.

“I want to change the world. Make people happier, more alive. A doctor without borders, a lawyer that fights for actual justice, anything… just so that people know who I am and what I did.”

The two girls had reached the intersection, and paused to wait for the light to signal safe passage across the road. When it did, the two crossed, and Adie smiled brightly at her friend.

“Don’t worry Amanda, no matter what, you will make a difference…” But her voice faded with the screeching and the frantic cries of the people around them…

Adie wiped away furiously the tears from her eyes. She squeezed the toy harder, until she felt the hard tin inside of it. She choked back a sob, and buried her face in her blankets.

She had missed the funeral.

She hadn’t thought of it until now. She was hospitalized when it was, and never realized. She had shed no tears over the accident, until now.

“You made a difference to me Amanda…” She whispered quietly before she fell into a tormented sleep.

………………………..

“Adie…” cooed Celia from beside then bed. Adie didn’t even bother to speak, and simply brushed away the hand that her friend had placed on the lump beneath the covers, that was her.

“Adie…” She said again, slightly more insistent. Adie groaned, rolled over, and squeezed Cirrus.

“Go away.” She whined. “leave me alone.” But Celia didn’t back down.

“Adie… c’mon, the guys are waiting for us… and today is Monday… that means pancakes!”

“Go away.” She muttered again.

“Come on Adie. Pancakes.” She nudged her through the covers.

“I said go the fuck away.” Adie said roughly, and shoved Celia’s hand away. They both stayed silent.

“Alright.” Celia said quietly, and walked towards the door, as quietly as possible. When she reached it, she turned around, and faced the bed.

“Ill be back in an hour or so.” She said quietly. “Ill bring you some breakfast, but try to get out of bed.” She paused. “You okay?” she said softest.

“Fine.” Adie said, her voice breaking at the end with a sob.

“Adie…”

“I said fine.” But she shattered at the end, and broke out into hysterical sobs. Her friend walked over slowly, and sat on the edge of the bed, letting her cry. When the hysteria had subsided to mere tears, Celia asked again.

“You okay?” Adie wiped some tears onto Cirrus.

“I don’t know.” She said between a sob. Celia wrapped her arms around her comfortingly.

“Tell me what happened.” When Adie seemed about to protest, she added quickly; “Something happened. Tell me.” Adie sighed relunctantly.

“I… I remembered something.”

“Something bad?”

“I don’t know…” she sighed, and buried her face in the cloud. “I had this best friend since forever. We were in diapers together okay?” Celia nodded. “Amanda. She was amazing. Totally beautiful, smart, kind, ambitious, everything…” She sighed again. “She was there when the accident happened. We were both in it together, and when I woke up in the hospital, after I realized I was blind, I thought of Amanda…” another sob. “Turns out that when the car skidded towards me, she shoved me out of the way, which was how I broke my arm. So instead of hitting both of us, the car only hit her…” She burst into tears again, and Celia hugged her tighter. “She died for me. She got hit by a car so that I wouldn’t, and the only thing that happened to me was being blinded by shards of a broken windshield…”

“Adie, get up.” A firm voice came. Adie shivered and sunk deeper underneath her array of blankets.

“Hell no.” was her curt response. “I came to a realization last night. I stay in bed, nothing can hurt me.”

“Adie, you’re being stupid.” Celia was annoyed now. “If anyone wants to hurt you, they wont mind walking through a building and tugging those covers off of you” She grabbed the duvet with both hands, and gave it a strong pull, but to no avail. She growled.

“Marina!” She yelled. The second girl in the room winced.

“No need to be so loud Cel, I’m right here.”

The girl had long, straight black hair, eyes the same and almost always had a peaceful smile across her face.

“Adie,” Marina said firmly. “Get up.”

“No.”

“Adie, seriously. Don’t make me get you outta there.”

Adelaide groaned, and reluctantly escaped her blanked sanctuary. Her hair messed up, bags under her eyes and still in her pajamas, Adie was a sight to behold. She tried to give her roomie an evil glare, failed, and settled with a growling response.

“Happy now?” She asked, while attempting to stand. Her friend beamed.

“Very. Now don’t wear that shirt with those pants, they make you look like a leprechaun.” She leaned over and picked up a top out of all the junk scattered across the floor. “Try this one.” She threw it at Adie. She barely caught it.

“Thanks Marina, what would I do without you?” Her friend grinned.

“Probably end up the most un-coordinated dresser on campus. Now hurry up, were starving.

Marina Rheo was another veteran of the school. She was accepted into the Helen Keller academy at around the same time as Celia, and the two shared a dorm, now with the addition of Adelaide. She and her parents were in a freak car accident when she was a child, and while her parents were left unharmed, a five-year-old Marina was now paraplegic, and spent her days in a wheelchair. She was self-proclaimed coordinator of both Celia and Adie’s clothing, seeing they couldn’t do it for themselves, and official describer of is-that-guy-hot-or-what, a craze that all teenage girls eventually go through.

Adelaide managed to slip herself into a pair of jeans, a tshirt and a hoodie (that got stuck around her head and after a moment of colourful swearing and tugging was properly placed around her chest). She grumbled her way to the bathroom, brushed her hair, grumbled her way out and stood, slumping, infront of her two perky, happy, prim and proper friends.

"Happy now?"

"Very." they both replied. And with that the three roomies headed down towards the school's cafeteria building.