Author's Note: I started this for the last challenge, and it’s a miracle that I managed to finish it for this one. I don’t like that I cut it off where I did, or rather, I like the ending, but I wish I’d had time to add more in before that… oh well.
“I kissed a girl” is by Katy Perry
“Seasons of Love” is from Rent
Alice the sparkling vampire is property of Stephanie Meyer.

Raine
By Tronion

When she cared to think about it, even she had to admit that it was odd. Most people didn’t make stops in the middle of nowhere to wait out the nice weather. The sun had been shining happily across cloudless skies for nigh on five days. It had to be some sort of a record. Since when did New England have sunny skies at April’s end? She hadn’t thought it possible… part of the reason she had headed in that direction in the first place. Each consecutive morning that she watched Helios pull the sun into view made her cringe and shrink back into herself a bit further.

She’d managed to sink a grappling hook into one small bit of luck, though. A “small” bit of luck that she happened to be standing in, watching as, for the fifth day in a row, that giant ball of localized hell drifted lazily into the morning sky, taunting and tormenting her by reaching its evil rays to scour every bit of Earth it could manage. As the fiery beams threatened to take up temporary residence in her temporary residence, she drew the curtains and crawled back into her makeshift nest of flattened pillows, torn and mismatched sofa cushions, and well-worn blankets that had probably been knit fifty years before she’d even been born. This place, an old monastery or something of that sort, certainly seemed as though it had fallen out of time.

At least fifty miles from anything of consequence, it was host to a middle-aged nun, a few teenage orphans, and a groundskeeper who looked old enough to have seen the crumbling stone structure built. Apparently there had once been a very small town nearby. It burned down in a forest fire, taking with it half the town’s population. Those who lived couldn’t bear to remain and the ruins were reclaimed by nature. The only ones to stay behind were the orphans, who all left once they got old enough. As soon as the few remaining were of age, the area would be deserted completely.

It occurred to her, as the birds began chirping and she tried to shut them from her mind, that she didn’t actually know what the date was. It may not have been April anymore, as far as the world beyond her was concerned. Holding no discernable schedule could do that to a person, make them lost track of time. It didn’t really matter, though. She didn’t care what the day was as long as it clouded over soon and she could get back out there on her bike, headed towards another nowhere.

“So are you a vampire or something?” Purple-ringed green eyes blinked mindlessly up at curious brown. The question hardly processed in her still sleeping mind. The only thing she managed to register was that a young girl was standing over her, hands on hips. She wasn’t sure she’d even be able to recall that much should someone question her over the encounter after she’d truly awoken. “Well?”

“Karen!” scolded Sister Elizabeth as she walked in with a plate of eggs and toast. “That’s hardly appropriate. You’ve seen our guest during daylight hours. Besides, if she were a vampire, do you think she would have been able to enter the church in quest for help?” The mild-tempered nun, she had learned, really did have a spectacular sense of humor and a rather firm belief that nothing, no matter how outrageous, should be deemed as nonsense. The word impossible was nearly forbidden. A necessity, perhaps, when dealing with so many growing children.

“You never know. The old tales based in Christian faith may be wrong. So many books have been written where vampires aren’t affected by holy images or ground in any manner. The only sure things are that they avoid sunlight and they drink blood, preferably human.” Karen, she had been told, was quite the bookworm. Sister Elizabeth tried her hardest to encourage it, as did the girl’s older brother however inconspicuously. He, Raine, teased Karen endlessly to make it seem like he wasn’t as overwhelmingly proud of his sister as he was… Or so the holy woman had told her. Raine was the oldest orphan in residence and the only one she had yet to meet.

“Well there you are, then. Our guest has eaten meals here for four days already. Twelve meals of normal, human food that you yourself helped me prepare. No human blood in her diet at all.”

“How can you be sure she hasn’t been attacking the helpless woodland animals at nigh while we’re all asleep? And you may give her food, but she doesn’t eat with us. How can you be sure that she doesn’t just throw it out?” Karen’s posture and expression were demanding, hands still balancing precociously on her hips, one now stuck out at an angle. Elizabeth simply laughed.

“Well, I suppose that I can’t, but I can tell you that I have seen her in the sunlight, and I have seen her eat the food I have given her.” The thirteen-year-old’s eyes widened in what looked suspiciously like delight as the woman led her from the room.

“You have? Seriously? She didn’t burn up, obviously, but… did she sparkle?”

She didn’t move for the rest of the day. As long as there was light sneaking through the curtains, she stayed bundled up in the covers, staring at the wall and trying not to think of anything she’d left behind. Sleep eluded her, not that she really tried. Sleep was… an annoying necessity that she tried her hardest to ignore. It was so much easier when it rained.

It had to have been somewhere around seven, the sunlight just starting to fade behind the shades, when Sister Elizabeth came in with dinner. Unlike every day previously, she didn’t set the food on the nearby table and leave. Instead, the elder woman pulled the curtains aside to reveal the violet-orange sunset and dragged a stray cushion to the side of the pseudo-bed.

“How old are you, love?” It took a moment for her to even process that the nun had yet to leave, let alone respond. She looked up, bags around her eyes more prominent than ever before, and carefully swallowed the bite of mashed potatoes she had just taken. Perhaps the lack of sleep was having more of an effect on her than she had thought.

“Just turned nineteen.” Elizabeth nodded and stared out the small window at the darkening landscape that she had revealed. It was a few minutes more before either of them spoke a word.

“You’re young enough yet that you’ve still got your whole life ahead of you, but you’re old enough to take responsibility for the things that you have done. Tell me, what are you running from so desperately?” Sister Elizabeth asked softly, the first thing the holy woman had asked of her since she’s entered the church that first day of sunny skies.

“All of my past mistakes… and those that would keep me trapped in them.” Short and honest without bringing up any of those mistakes that she would rather not think of.

“And what before you is so important that you forsake the life you had to chase after?” She couldn’t help but smirk at the question, for she had torn herself up with it for days. She knew her answer, the only one that would be acceptable to anyone in such a situation.

“All of the mistakes I’ve yet to make,” she responded, bracing herself, in spite of her confidence in her answer, for what was sure to be a long, painful lesson in morality and responsibility. Throughout the entirety of her stay, however, Elizabeth’s reactions to so many things had surprised her, and the nun’s unpredictability did not fail her in this case, either. The elder woman paused for a moment, then clutched her stomach and threw her head back in a body-shaking laugh.

“Your answer is an unusual one, but then, I suppose so is my advice. I won’t tell you to stop running, to face your past, to not make any rash decisions. If I had followed that bit of supposed wisdom when I was your age, I would not be where I am now, and I like where my life has led me. I am happy as I am. So, when the weather allows for your disposition, don’t look back, just keep moving forward as you’ve been, and don’t worry for even a second about what the future may bring. Everything will work out for the best in the end as long as you live as you want, in whatever way will make you happy.” It was the most comforting, supportive thing that anyone had said to her since everything had gone wrong a few months before, and she couldn’t help but stare at the other woman in awe, unsure how to respond. Elizabeth chuckled and pushed herself to her feet. “I’ll see you in the morning, love.”

She managed to get almost five hours of sleep that night, and the morning, though it promised to clear, was reasonably overcast. It was enough, at least, to dim the rings about her eyes and give her enough energy to take breakfast in the dining room with the rest of the residents. Though she’d cursed it at the time, it turned out to be a good thing that she woke a little too early. She’d only really seen the church, the bathroom, and her own room in the last six days, and the monastery was by no means small… unless you were speaking of it in terms of a castle or something of that sort. That was what she’d thought it was at first, a small castle.

It took her nearly half an hour to locate the kitchen and dining hall, which she only managed because of the noise being generated from that general direction. It was a wonder she’d never been disturbed by it as far away as her own room. In all honesty, she had wondered for a moment if she had entered some sort of zoo or a boy-band concert attended by hordes of young, teenage girls. Sister Elizabeth deserved promotion to sainthood if she dealt with this lot every day.

The two youngest boys were ten, cousins if she remembered correctly, though their names escaped her. It didn’t take spectacular powers of observation to note that the two were practically inseparable and the currently reigning tricksters of the bunch. While some rather interesting noises pointed out their location, the sounds being produced and her inability to see them worried her slightly. They obviously knew the place far better than she, so who was to say they weren’t currently sneaking up behind her after wreaking havoc in the adjacent kitchen, from which a high-pitched scream sounded betraying Karen’s position?

Seated at the table, calmly sifting through a fashion magazine, was the eldest girl, Stephanie. While their small stroke of conversation a few days before had proved beyond a doubt that their personalities clashed quite horribly, she had to give the sixteen year old a bit of respect for sitting through the surrounding chaos unflinchingly. The girl hardly even looked up when an explosion erupted from the worryingly quiet kitchen. Instead, she turned to the boy standing at her shoulder (Ethan, age fourteen) to ask his opinion on a new line of designer shoes featured in an article the two had been examining.

The tomboy of eleven, whom she had met only briefly the first day she had come, was hanging upside-down from what had to be a spectacularly reinforced chandelier that hung above the large, well-worn table; which was being set by her Broadway-singing elder sister of three years. Though the girl’s voice was good, the pitch reached near the end of “Seasons of Love” put up a good fight against the sound of the explosion. In the end, the loud bang couldn’t completely drown out the “love” and both left a rather persistent ringing in her ears. To top that off, Ethan had a CD of some newly famous singer going loudly and the chorus was far too catchy. She would probably have “I kissed a girl and I liked it” repeating in her head all day.

Trisha, the youngest at the age of eight and the only one not to come from the abandoned village, was under the table creating little explosions of her own with a rather large supply of snap dragons. Every so often, Stephanie would jump, while trying and failing to look casual about it, as a spark caught her bare feet.

All noise and discord came to a screeching halt, however, when Sister Elizabeth strode gracefully into the room with a tray of breakfast foods that made her mouth water and her stomach growl. The uncontrollable sound in the suddenly silent room attracted the shocked attention of the woman who she was viewing more and more as a goddess each day. With only a smile and a quick gesture of her hand, the woman accepted her unexpected presence, as she had nearly a week before, and had one of the rowdy young boys bringing her a chair. It wasn’t until after everyone was seated, served, and Elizabeth said grace that anyone dared let another sound escape their lips.

“I must admit, I didn’t expect to see you joining us for breakfast, though I’d hoped the clouds would persuade you to leave that room,” the nun subtly inquired as to the purpose of her attendance. She knew from experience that no answer was truly necessary. Still, her awe of the holy woman had her responding before she realized it.

“I feel better this morning with the cloudy skies. It’s going to clear up in an hour or so, but hopefully it’s a sign that rain is to follow. I felt a bit more energetic, too, until I managed to find my way here. Snap dragons and explosions at breakfast… Sunny skies or not, I may just have to leave after this wonderful meal. I’m afraid that by dinner they may have gotten their hands on some duct tape and C4.” Only a few were listening to their conversation, each involved in their own plots, diabolical or not. Karen, however, was one of those few, and she was apparently the only one to understand her fear as the girl nearly fell to the floor in hysterics.

“Okay, so obviously we’re missing something,” Ethan cut in, “so I’ll bite. What’s C4?”

“It’s an explosive, usually only used in small quantities, and I am a firm believer that a bit of that and the amazing invention known as duct tape can solve any problem you may ever come across.”

“So you’re Alice, huh?” She looked down from her perch in one of the more climber-friendly trees surrounding the tired building to see dark hair and light eyes, colors of either generally indistinguishable in the dark night, no matter how much the moonlight illuminated.

“My name’s not Alice,” she replied, sitting up to get a better look at the man. It was a difficult thing to accomplish considering he was standing in the shade of the tree. It was only due to her dark habituated eyes that she could make out any of his features at all.

“Well I figured that. My sister just seems to think it is because you resemble a character from one of her books with that name.” This had to be Raine. The voice was deeper than any of the other boys, and none of them had sisters… and Karen was the only bookworm of the lot.

“Let me guess, this Alice is a vampire?” She, rather recklessly, dropped two branches so she was seated just above the seventeen year old. He didn’t seem impressed, though he did chuckle slightly at her response.

“Yep. How’d you know?”

“She asked me yesterday morning if I was a ‘vampire or something’, though I was still mostly asleep… asked if I sparkled.” She flipped herself off her perch to land in front of the laughing man and had to stare up to see his face. He was about a foot taller than her own 5’2”.

“So are you?” he asked, turning to walk back towards the church, clearly expecting her to follow. “A vampire or something, I mean.” She remained silent for a moment, examining his smiling face, before responding.

“Or something.” Turning around, she walked backwards in front of him to watch his expressions. With a light from the church illuminating his face, she was free to scrutinize his appearance further than the previously lacking light allowed. Brown hair, blue eyes, pretty in a Toby Hemingway sort of way.

“Maybe we should throw some glitter on you for kicks… anyway, I was instructed to ask why you didn’t return for lunch or dinner today. Karen seems to think that you knew I was back and were purposefully avoiding me… perhaps because you couldn’t resist the call of my blood.”

“Oh most definitely. It’s just so alluring, I don’t know why I haven’t bitten you already,” she joked, enjoying herself for the first time in a while with the teasing banter. “No. To be honest, I skipped out for a couple reasons, the first being that infernal sunlight.” She nearly growled at the thought of the evil rays. She’d forgotten to close the curtains when she’d left her room that morning, and by the time she found her way back to her cave, it had been invaded by the bright light. It was amazing she could see at all now, considering she’d gone temporarily blind at the sudden overload to her eyes.

“And the other reason?” Raine asked, passing her in her absent moment so he was now the one walking backward.

“I may have all the makings of a vampire, but magic is still beyond me. I’m not sure I could deal with any more flying frogs like the one that landed on my waffle this morning.” His laugh was deep, heartfelt, the sort that she hadn’t heard for a long time, and it was nearly addicting. That sort of honest happiness was contagious, and she couldn’t help but want to make him laugh more. They were at the church doors, the yellow lantern light providing what could only be deemed as mood lighting if you stretched the meaning to its capacity, but that hardly mattered. On impulse, she grabbed his collar and pulled him down to kiss him.

Smiling at his shocked expression, she bid him goodnight and retreated to her room.

It was raining when she woke up the next morning, and Raine was sitting on a cushion at her side.

“Why do you live like you do?” he asked, expression serious as she hadn’t experienced it the day before. “On a whim?” She got up to open the window and smiled at the downpour before turning back to him.

“Because I’m Alice, and I’m looking for my wonderland. I don’t want a life full of stress. That’ll send me to an early grave. So, until I find that place, I’m going to continue moving with the wind, like the rain. Maybe I’ll head to the west coast next. Anyway, who ever knows where their life will lead? I mean, what will you do when you turn eighteen?”

“That’s just it,” he replied, moving to stand with her at the window. “I turned eighteen three days ago and I haven’t the slightest idea what to do now… where to go. I’m been here for so long that anywhere else…” The solemn voice and expression didn’t suite him.

“Anywhere else will be an adventure. So, when I leave in twenty-seven minutes, you are going to have a small bag and be seated on the back of my bike. For now, though, you and I are going to go dance in the rain. Clothing is optional. All protests will be ignored. And when we leave here, we won’t look back, we’ll keep moving forward, and we won’t worry about what the future will bring.”