The clacking of a keyboard. The laughter of a child. A pen upon the page. A woman singing, so sweet.

There are no complexities within creations, as they exist inside ourselves.

Could you forgive yourself for forgetting this?

Forgive yourself for the abuse?

The loveliest part is, your forgiveness does not matter. The world will be here waiting for you, untouched by your judgement, when you rise and smell the roses.

A rose in any other world would smell as sweet.

So please, settle yourself.

Take a deep breath.

Listen.

The clacking of a keyboard. The laughter of a child. A pen upon the page. A woman singing, so sweet.

These were the sounds heard by Theo, somehow, over the pounding rain. The car radio had not worked since he bought the damned thing, and as always in his life, he was alone. The headlights barely illuminated the road ahead, and no matter how far he drove, the sounds did not cease, the road did not change.

"I've gone crazy," he spoke to himself.

His phone! He realized, somehow, that must have been where the noise was coming from. In the timeless words of Sherlock Holmes, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

Careful to continue paying attention to the slick road, Theo lifted his phone from its holder.

The sound ceased, and a single notification lay on his phone.

A text.

Theo opened it.

And a new noise began, a clicking and chugging the car moved in motion with. It had taken six months since the last time, but the used junker was dying on him as he drove again, and in the middle of a downpour, too!

Theo stopped on the shoulder and checked his cell phone, to see if he could get a tow.

No signal.

While Theo pondered his situation, the strange sounds, and weird text, rain continued to drive against his car.

A raindrop is not a scary thing, but there is never just one. Together they can create a fierce torrent. Over time they can erode the strongest stone. They can change landscapes, drown kings, and wash away worlds to sea.

Theo drifted off.