Little Rain was a gentle child

Little Julian was a gentle child, always having the appearance of a porcelain doll in motion. She always said please and thank you, gaining the approval of all the elderly in the room and making her parents proud. She hardly ever dirtied her dresses or scuffed her shoes. The only thing she got upset about was when people would try to call her Julianne. In her light yellow sundress she skipped about the back yard of the place she called her home. Her smile was wide with pearly teeth and her cheeks were rosy when you could see them under her straight blonde hair.

Her mother, Mariana, lounged in a wooden lawn chair on the brick patio of their lakeside home and watched daughter play with their golden retriever, Rivers. Julian didn’t know the words to tell him to come, sit, or stay. But as her mother watched her play, she noticed that the dog was doing just that. Julian would wander away and the dog would sit absolutely still. When she clapped her hands the dog would come over and play with her again.

Any normal parent would probably think it a tad strange, but her mother barely looked twice. Her girl was the sweetest little thing, and smart as a whip. For all anyone knew, she could communicate with the dog. She swirled her lemonade glass and went to take a sip. When she realized it was empty, Mariana got up from her wooden recliner to go inside and get the pitcher. As she did, Rivers turned her attention away from Julian, hoping to sneak in the house to get a treat.

Julian watched her mother retreat back to the house and smiled. She had a limited concept of love but she knew she loved her mother dearly. The way that her slender form walked without a sound, it was enchanting. She loved the smell of wildflowers that weaved through her mother’s hair. And her favorite aspect of her mother was her voice. When Mariana spoke, her musical words spun into dreams for little Julian since she was born.

Young Julian’s eyes wandered from the patio to the trees lining the shore and then to the sparkling lake beyond the pier. As she looked at it her eyes sparkled like the reflection of the water. It mesmerized her with its soft movements and beautiful shades of blue.

Julian’s small hands reached out as she raced towards the water. Her toes squished through the small sand of shore and then her feet hit the edge of the water. She walked out on to it without a moments pause, barely noticing the ripples that formed around her feet. Something in her gut told her that she shouldn’t be able to do this that something so fluid shouldn’t be solid, but she soon forgot it. She walked out over the water and sat down, her dress floating in a circle around her. Her legs slid through the water as if she was sitting on an invisible ledge right beneath the surface, dangling her legs over an underwater ravine.

Her tiny hands brushed the water and it flowed up to her hand as if it were an animal. A poor misunderstood animal that had been much abused by people that didn’t understand its beauty. Her innocence immediately developed a timid love for the water, like a friend that she just met. But suddenly the animal was angry. The water she had been petting split in two and engulfed her arm, pushing down on it and forcing Julian to bend at the waist. The invisible ledge beneath her cracked like glass under too much stress. A small gasp escaped her before her lungs were filled with water.

She flailed against the resistant water, choking and trying to reach the surface. She couldn’t open her eyes against the pressure so everything was dark around her. She opened her mouth as if to scream, but it only made it worse letting the scratchy lake water slide down her throat.

She felt herself sinking like a stone, down into the black void, the pressure around her pressing her body. Her defensive movements slowed and she lost consciousness. The animal had swallowed her whole.

Her body simply stayed, suspended in the water. Lifeless.

Her mother, in the kitchen, was pouring more lemonade into her glass when a small movement caught her eye. Rivers ears pricked up as he stared back at the yard through the sliding glass door. The dog barked and shifted its paws as if it was going to try to get through the glass, and then looked back at Mariana. Julian’s mother walked over to the door and looked across her yard, just in time to see her daughters brown hair fly up as if she were being dropped in the water from a small height. As Julian’s head disappeared her body hit panic mode.

She screamed in terror and the adrenaline rushed to her limbs. She wrenched open the door and raced to the waters edge like a lynx, her body flowing smoothly with speed she couldn’t have achieved at any other moment. She jumped into the water with Rivers at her heels desperate to save her child.

She forced open her eyes attempting to look through the dark lake water. And then there she was. Almost suspended in the water, but still sinking slowly, a lifeless Julian was only a few feet away. Her mothers’ heart felt pierced when she realized that Julian wasn’t moving. She kicked through the water and reached forward grabbing her daughters’ wrist and pulling her back to the surface. She burst through the water and swam after Rivers who was heading for shore.

Tears streaming down her face, Julian’s mother lowered her only daughter on to the dirty, sandy beach. Julian was very pale and very still. Her mother felt for a pulse…but Julian was gone. She wrapped her arms around her child and sobbed. Her tears rolled down her cheeks and into Julian’s wet hair. Her mother rocked back and forth in indescribable pain, clutching Julian as if squeezing her very hard would bring her back to life. Rivers nudged Julian’s arm and whimpered licking her elbow.

Suddenly Julian’s eyes snapped open and she sat straight up knocking her mother’s chin back as she came up. She coughed hard, spitting out water as her body shook with force. The color seeped back into her limbs and her cheeks as she struggled to breathe. When the water was out of her lungs she fell back into her mothers arms panting and shaking.

Her mother stared at her mystified for a moment. “Julian!” she yelled, as loud as if she were far away, still under the water. Julian moved her hands to cover her ears but failed, her muscles too tired.

Her mother picked her up as carefully as if she were made of glass and brought her in the house. She laid her on the couch and asked her questions. Was she hot, cold, hungry, tired? Did she want to talk or did she just want silence?

Julian, who still hadn’t said a word since her resurrection, simply didn’t nod or shake her head. She simply pointed to the water puddles on the floor that had come from her dripping dress hanging of the couch.

“Don’t worry about the floor baby,” her mother said smoothing her hair back. She hugged her tight and when she finally stood up, she wiped more tears from her cheeks. She walked away in search of towels, her hands shaking slightly.

As her mom walked away Julian looked up at the ceiling above her. Exhaustion set in quickly, before she had a chance to think. Suddenly she knew so much, and had so many questions. But there would be plenty of time for that in the later years.

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Later that night, as Julian laid in bed, her mother stood silently at her door. She put a hand on the door and leaned towards it as if to go in, but decided better of it. Mariana turned and walked back towards the living room.

Her gentle whisper faded into the night. “You are going to be caught in the middle of this war Julian. I don’t know how you’ll make it through… but I know you will. I’m sorry that I won’t be there for you.”