I always hated fire and always loved the rain. While the burnt smell fire leaves behind makes my face scrunch up and my eyes tear up, the rain washes away all the unpleasant smells leaving only the pleasant smell of the grass. Fire leaves behind a trail of shoot and ash reminding you of what was there, the rain washes away your worry away. Fire burns the skin and stings my eyes, rain, on the other hand, cools me down and is a very pleasant sight to see.

Today so has been a very great day so far, it’s been raining all day with no sign of stopping any time soon. I sat on the bench near the center of the local park holding a plain blue umbrella and wearing my favorite blue windbreaker. I sat there thinking about how dull today was and how a visit to my grandpa’s house would make this day so much better. I like to visit him every Saturday as I know he gets kind of lonely living all by himself. At first, I used to only see him during holidays when he visited my house, he was very fun to talk to as he would always tell me interesting stories that I would have never heard about, however parents would always tell him to stop what he was doing before he ever finished them.

Sadly after a couple of visits, he just stopped coming to the family meetups, I wanted to know why but I decided that it was better not to ask. So instead I asked my parents where he lived, they wanted to know why I asked and I told them that I thought he would be lonely knowing he lives by himself. At first, they seem reluctant to allow me but I managed to convince them that nothing would happen. After visiting they would always ask me what I did at grandpa’s place I would all ways lie. They never tried to push the topic any further and after a couple of visits they just plain up stop asking what I did and just continued watching T.V when I got home.

When I first visited grandpa he was very happy to hear that someone decided to pay him a visit, his face lit up like a Christmas tree when I told him that the reason for my visit. I thought he would be disappointed about my reason but contrary to what I thought he was actually happy to hear that I wanted to hear the ending of his stories.

His tales always leave me in awe and wonder. The stories he would tell me would range from ones about corrupt kings meeting terrible ends to ones about man-made monsters. After every visit, he would always tell me to keep what I heard a secret and because I knew that he would stop telling me his stories if I didn’t I would always agree.

 I stood up from the bench and started to walk towards my grandpa’s house, it’s not really that far from where I live. It’s a five-minute walk to my house to the park and another five minutes to his house. When I reached his house I make sure his number matches the one I wrote down, all the houses look all the same. A boring giant Grey square with windows and a door, I wouldn’t even know which grandpa’s house is if they didn’t have the house numbers on the doors.

I walked up to the door and knocked. Pitter-patter Pitter-patter Pitter-patter, I closed my eyes and listen to the rain. Pitter-patter Pitter-patter Pitter-patter, I let it carry all my worries away. I was suddenly pulled back to reality with the sound of locks opening and the creak of the door in front of me. What greeted me when the door open was a wrinkly old face with thick round glasses, messy grey hair, and a gentle welcoming smile.

“Ah! Aaden my boy I wasn’t expecting you to come so early. Come in it must be chilly outside.” He said as he moved out of the way from the door frame.

I responded with just a nod, I closed my umbrella, pulled my hood down, took off my blue rubber boots, and sat down on the couch in his living room. I didn’t wait long before he sat down in front of holding a book and a plate of cookies. He places the plate on the coffee table in front of him, opened the book and started to read. I listen as I ate a cookie trying my best to not miss a single word he says. When I look at grandpa’s face I can see a small smile on his face, and his eyes have more life to them then they usually do. I can never understand how he can have so much fun telling his stories, I think listening to them is easier and more enjoyable.

After 4 hours of listening with occasional breaks for snacks which felt like the only a couple of minutes had past, I reluctantly had to go back home. I really wanted to hear more but grandpa said that my parents would be worried about me if I stayed any longer. I really doubt it though, my mom spends all her time watching T.V. She rarely talks to me, mostly talking to me when she picks me up and drops me to school. And my dad spends almost all his time playing with his friends, at first, I thought I would be angry at him for being barely at home but she doesn’t care at all.

“Hah.” I sigh thinking how back at my time at gramps, the bundle of papers which he calls books are so great. They hold so many stories that I’m never bored when he reads them, but sadly when I asked where I can get some books he replied with a very tired and sad look that it’s impossible for me to get my own. And when I asked if I could borrow his he told me that he would like too but can’t. I decided that it might best if I didn’t push the topic anymore, people who ask too much always get in trouble and I’m not a trouble maker.

I really don’t want to go home, not only is it boring at home with only the T.V for entertainment but I feel so lonely at home. It doesn’t help that it stopped raining so I can’t even use the rain to distract me as I walk home.

After a couple of minutes, I stood in front of my house, a plain grey rectangle with the number 632 on the door. The door creaked as I open the door, I take off my windbreaker and place my umbrella next to the door. I walk to the living room and was greeted by the usual sight of my mom on her recliner watching T.V not even noticing my return. I bet we could have been robbed of everything we own and as long her chair and the T.V was left untouched she would never notice anything was wrong.

I left her to do her own things and grab a snack from the fridge. I decided to go to sleep early with nothing else to do. Sunday went by at a snail’s pace, with nothing to do but lie in the bed. I already finished all my homework and T.V is more boring than doing nothing so I just lied in bed. I was tempted to go to grandpa’s place but I decided not to as I rather not risk getting caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to.

Monday arrived which mean that I had to go back to school. I really didn’t like school but it was better than being bored out of my mind at home. As I walk to school I noticed a commotion near the back of the school. When I went to check what it was I was greeted with the sight of four of my fellow students, three girls and a guy picking on and insulting a classmate of mine. A girl with brown shoulder-length hair, wearing the standard school uniform of a white shirt and black shirt. I remember the girl her name is Claire, she is quite known in my classroom for being weird. Always asking too many questions, being unable to just simply do her task quietly, and meddling in other people’s affairs.

After seeing that they were about to finish I quickly left before they notice me. They arrived in class two minutes after me with Claire arriving closely after with clear bruises all over her body. The class continued normally with no interruptions, the teacher didn’t even glance at Claire when they entered the classroom.

Days past with nothing special happening, the days turned to weeks, weeks to months. During that time I noticed that Claire has gotten a lot quieter then she used to be and even stopped asking questions altogether. I was kind of glad that she wasn’t being picked on anymore, but a small part of me missed her old self a bit. Her old self was a lot less boring than how she was now, but I know better than voice what I thought. 

Today is my birthday I would have forgotten if it wasn’t for grandpa reminding me when I visited his house. We ate cake and he let me choose what books he would be reading. It felt like years since I had this much fun, and I couldn’t even remember the last time I celebrated my birthday. When I was about to go home grandpa asked me if I wanted anything for a present, I thought about for a bit and replied I wanted a book. He had an expression that was hard to describe, it was like a mixture of happy, sad and a bit of guilt. He nodded and told me to wait as he left to get something from what looked like an attic. He came back after a couple of minutes hold a medium-size book with a man covered in the paper on fire on its cover. He said that it was his favorite book when he was my age and that it would be better in my hands than rotting in his attic. He also made me promise to make sure that no one ever finds out about it, I nodded in agreement.

Days past since I got the book and since then life has been more enjoyable, it was nice to have something to look forward to when I get back home. Another thing that changed in my daily routine was that I started to feel guilty about Claire. Nowadays she barely talks and while before she was full of life, it now feels like she is just a husk of what she used to be. I didn’t know what to do so when I visited grandpa I asked him about what I was thinking. He told me with a gentle smile that I should do what I feel like is the right thing to do and that whatever choice I make he knows that I would do the right thing. I didn’t know how to reply to what he said, I just sat there in silence.

After two days since the day I asked him I decided to do something to help her, I didn’t know if what I was doing was the right thing to do. All I knew was that what I was about to do was extremely risky and stupid and that I would never know how it would turn out unless I at least tried.

So on that day, I brought my book to school with m. After school ended and people were walking home I walked up to Claire and asked her if she had time to talk. She flinched and slowly nodded, so I brought her to the playground at the park. I asked her to sit next to me under the slide. At first, she was reluctant to sit down but she eventually sat down.

“W-what do you want from m-e.” She asked while fidgeting.

“Well I felt bad not helping you a while back when you were being bullied, so I thought I should make it up to you,” I replied as I looked for my book in my bag.

“You-u are?” She questioned showing quite clearly she doesn’t believe me on her face.

“Yes, and I would do it with this,” I exclaimed as I presented my book.

“W-w-what’s that?”

“Something that makes me smile even in my darkest times.”

I started to read to her, she quite enjoyed it and even asked me to read it again when I finished. Afterwards, I asked if she would ever like to do this again and she quickly agreed. I walked home satisfied on my deed, I also finally understand how grandpa can have so much fun reading. Just the look of her face as she listened brought a smile to my face.

For the next couple of weeks, she would listen to my stories, I would tell her the ones I could remember hearing grandpa say, I would tell her ones I made up. It didn’t really matter which one it was as she enjoyed it either way. We have gotten quite close over the days we would meet up, and I was quite happy to see her so full of life.

Days past and it was time again for me to visit grandpa again, I felt kind of guilty breaking our promise but I already had Claire promise to keep the book a secret between us. Today is a rainy day, with dark grey clouds overhead. As I walked to grandpa’s house, I noticed something wasn’t right. Grey smoke was rising from where his house would be. I panicked and started to run as fast as I could to see what was happening. When I arrived I saw his house burnt down with the firefighters I heard about getting into their truck. I ran up to one and demanded one of them to tell me what happened, they asked me who I was I answered I was the house owners grandchild. They just scoffed when they heard me and said that he died surrounded by his sin and refused to leave the house as it burned. They also said that he got what he deserved, I was shocked I didn’t, no I couldn’t believe it. So I ran to the remains of the house and searched and searched. After what felt like hours I just collapsed on my knees. Tears rolled down my cheeks, or maybe it was rain. At this point I didn’t care, I just thought one thing. The rain was cold today.

When I went home I found that both my parents where home, when I told them what happened to grandpa they didn’t give a glance at me they just continued to watch T.V. I just collapsed onto my bed, and fell asleep look at the book grandpa gave me.

The next few days felt like a blur, I just didn’t care about anything at this point. I just spent my days pretending nothing changed, I even still visit the remains of the house. I would stand there for hours then walk home. I thought maybe if I waited long enough and continue my routine everything would return to how it was before.

One day Claire walked up to me and said we needed to talk, I just nodded. So we walked to the same playground we usually go to. She looked at me for a few minutes, she looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t know how to say it. Eventually, she managed to say. “Are you OK?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be.” Was my reply.

“Aaden please I know when you ok or not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aaden you been so lifeless ever since your grandpa died.”

“I don’t what you’re talking about.”

“Aaden please.”

“I SAID I’M OK, SO STOP SAYING I’M NOT!” At this point, tears were dripping down my face. Claire got up and hugged me. I just sat there unable to do anything but cry.

 After what felt like hours I finally stopped crying and Claire got up and helped him stand up. She asked if I was feeling better, I nodded.

“Thank you,” I said wiping the tears from my face.

“You helped me when I was down, of course, I would do the same.” She replied with a smile on her face, the same smile she had when I read to her.

Afterwards, she walked me home, when we were in front of my house she said that she would always be there when I a shoulder to cry on. I told her that she can count on me to help her anytime she needs my help. We promised each other that even if everyone else doesn’t care about us, we would always have each other.

Afterwards, when I went inside my house it started to rain. I noticed that both my parents are gone so I decided to sit next to the lit fireplace and watch the rainfall. As I embraced my book in my arms I smiled and thought how warm the fire is and how beautiful the rain is.