Broken Heart

-Luke-

It’s funny what you remember. The rain made me think of her.

I met Carlene two years ago. You can say she was my first love. She loved the rain. That’s how I met her.

We were fourteen at the time. It’s kind of hazy what led up to meeting Carlene. I think I was shopping for a meal. Was it lunch or dinner? It doesn’t matter. I got the food and I was at the bus station. I remembered it started raining. I was upset. I wished the bus would get there sooner. That’s when I heard laughing. It was a girl laughing. I turned my head. This girl stood away from the shelter with her hands out. I had never seen someone so happy in the rain before. Watching her laughing and twirling around made my heart skip a beat. Before I knew it, I was walking over to her. She stopped laughing and turned to face me. We stood there for a moment.

“Um… you’re going to catch a cold,” I said. I don’t know why I said that. Even back then I wasn’t too good at talking to girls. She broke down laughing. Did I say something stupid?

“It’s fine,” she said. Her smile made her look even cuter.

“I’m Luke,” I said. I held out my hand. She looked at it for a moment.

“Carlene,” she said. We shook hands. My heart thumped in my chest.

Now, I only have bits and pieces of that day in my head. I don’t remember what all we talked about. I did ask her why she was playing in the rain.

“I love the rain,” Carlene said. “I feel so free then.” Her long reddish-brown hair was tangled up and wet. That’s when the bus pulled up. I can’t remember a better bus ride home. I got a better look at Carlene. She looked like she spent days out in the sun. Her white tank top and short brown skirt were soaked through and through. Her cork brown sandals looked so cute on her feet.

We were only together for three months. But those were amazing months. Carlene and I were inseparable. She was also my first kiss. Ah! Those were the days.

So what happened? Did she die? No. Was there any tragedy that tore us apart? No, nothing like that. So why did we break up? Simple. We had to move away. She left for Okinawa when summer ended. I left for Tokyo two weeks later.

I don’t why I started to think about Carlene as it started to rain last night. I guess it was a memory thing.

I love you, Carlene.

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 I awoke to a weight on the edge of my bed. Hm?

I lifted my head to see San sitting in the dark of the shed we were hiding in. At first, I thought I was dreaming.

“San?” I asked. “What’s the matter? Did you have a nightmare or something?” I froze when I saw tears in her eyes.

“San…” I said.

“Carlene…” she whimpered. My stomach dropped as I pieced together what happened. Oh no…

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