Rainwalk

For Olya, bold little princess who came into this story for reasons which are beyond me.

    Igor hesitated.
    He just came out of the subway at his final destination this evening. He was on his way from work. He saw a group of fifty people gathered under the stairs which led out to the streets. Their faces showed they were tired, helpless to battle what was before them, forming expressions of forced patience and depression. They were common men, workers bearing filth from the passing day, as well as managers wiping sweat from their brows. They gathered together this evening having a lot in common, for the power they faced saw no difference between them and would treat them all the same.
    Igor knew what holds them underground before he saw it. He recognized it's comming before he had entered the subway. One glance towards the sky was enough. Heavy, dark clouds were arriving from the pacific ocean and gathering low in the sky above the Capitol of the Rising Sun. They haven't covered the third of the sky yet, still their presence was remarkably mirrored in all the things on the ground. The atmosphere gloomed dark grey, making the air look thicker as if gaining substance, but still without impacting the clarity of the view. The clouds were the color of lead and looked like a thick great mass unable to hold itself in the air. The leaves on the trees lost their shine and were now displaying a dark green dance, as the moving air whipped them at will. The pacific winds blew through Igor's hair and he could smell the sea and feel the tension in the air, a natural energy growing in power, unvisible, ready to explode any moment and free the oldest and most powerful forces known to mankind. The storm was coming.
    Igor stepped forward and continued to walk towards the exit. He had spent half an hour in the train and knew the weather must have unleashed its power outside by now. He judged the power of the nature to be great tonight, seeing the number of people before him.
    His foot fell on the first stair and he looked to his right. He saw few people showing fear, few showing curiosity. Few had resorted to their mobile telephones to call whoever cared for them to come, others waited. After the sunny day, noone had an umbrella as noone expected this weather. By the time he took the next few stairs, Igor glanced to the other side. He saw mothers calming their crying children, elders leaned on the wall trying to take a more comfortable position and few bolder youngsters, who climbed carefully up the stairs, as to test the strength of an unseen force which was raging outside. Igor turned to face the exit and continued stepping upwards. The portion of the sky could be seen through the exit and the sky was dark. It was still evening, but the heavy mass of rain clouds managed to block the light still coming from the sun and make the day look as night. In the gloom of the street laterns he could see the enormous amount of water falling from the sky, its drops carried in all directions by the wind. Igor moved up, step by step. The wind started whipping his face carrying waterdrops to his cheeks. His frontside was allready two-third wet by the time he reached the exit and he was still inside the station.
    Outside, noone could be seen walking. Cars were standing still forming a long line and their tires were few centimeters under water. City lights were reflected on the wet surface as well as in every raindrop still in the air, forming an image of a nostalgic beauty in Igor's eyes. Three men came around the corner from the street, each carrying three or four umbrellas and hurried down the stairs, into the station. It was obvious they came to fetch their families and bring them at least half dry home. Igor looked up to the sky. Endless space full of falling waterdrops, each reflecting a different color of whatever the light fell upon it. How beautiful, he thought, and stepped onto the street.

   Igor felt wet down to the skin within few seconds. He cared not. He walked down the street towards his appartment as if nothing is happening. He had his face pointed slightly upwards, his one hand resting on his foreleg, another holding the belt on his trousers. He had his eyes closed, but he knew the way. Rain was falling on him, drops of water sliding down his brow to his eyes, down his cheeks to his neck. He felt waterdrops gathering at the top of his nose and dropping down into the air from there. He felt water penetrating though his shirt, sliding down his body. He had his mouth slightly open and waterdrops flew across his lips onto his chin, some falling to the ground from there, some sliding further down his neck. He felt satisfaction. He felt freedom.
    He turned into the first sidestreet wishing to avoid the traffic and strong illumination of the main street. He looked down to the ground. A great portion of the street was covered by water and falling drops visualised stunning images on its surface. The waves which were moving in a circle away from the point where a drop fell were distorted by numberless other circle waves and other falling drops, creating an relief of embossed and engraved figures before Igor's eyes. Laterns were only a few in this small street and the city illumination and traffic noise vanished. The stunning beauty of the night rain took all of Igor's vision and he took all of it. He saw images enhanced by his dreamer's self. He saw the life, natural and alien, felt happiness and sorrow, letting his emotions free to guide him. All that what was important before when his rationality judged his receptions, was meaningless now as another side of his mind took control. Now he ticked differently and his mind was free from all bounds. He heard sounds, felt the touch and saw images and each and every outer stimulation was amplified in his mind and brought his being to explode in thousands of different emotions he could barely begin to understand. He felt every molecule of the substance, every photon of light and every second of time around him. He felt the nature that created him and he felt its complex structure, being no more than a beholder, one who recepts and feels taking no action.
    He lifted his head to face the sky and the drops fell on his lips bringing the fresh taste of natural water. His clothes were wet and glued tight onto his body, letting the pacific wind penetrate through. Drops fell on him and he felt as if the universe would belong to him with each one. The crack of the thunder sharply cut the silence of the falling rain and he admired the power of the nature each time it sounded. The lightning would cut the darkness and the illumination would make the street bright as in the noon for a moment, and the image of inverted colours would remain in Igor's eyes for few seconds. During these few seconds, Igor's mind flew at speed of light through the time and the space and he saw former events and faces of both people he knew and those he never met. He wondered if there is anyone else out there enjoying this rainwalk as intensive as he does and a strange sorrow came upon him. He knew noone could ever laugh his joy nor cry his pain and he would hug his dreams and face his fears alone forever. Another lightning broke the gloom and he looked forward to the street. Not long after the illumination faded another thunder cracked and Igor faced the sky again, closing his eyes, letting the rain fall on his face.
   "Let me love you", he whispered, not really knowing who is he speaking to. "Let me, and I shall love you to death." The words formed by his lips sounded wet as the waterdrops which deformed them. His voice was distant, lost in the falling rain. He spoke to the only one who couldn't hear. He spoke to the nature and to the forces he felt around. "I live within the realm which is yours and mine, I enjoy your sunny days and feel your rain. I form my truths in my mind and battle for my chances and I am either to love you, or to run hunted by the reality I cannot accept."
   "What?", a melodic voice other than his own came to Igor's ears.

   "Are you serious?" The alien voice was faint, almost outlouded by the storm, but in Igor's ears it ringed like a huge bell put atop of his head and hit by a large hammer. His eyes widened in pure horror for a moment and he instictively stopped walking, like a deer blinded by a bright light. Suddenly shaken awake, pulled out from his daydream, he could do nothing more but let go a soundless shriek of fear. Facing the reality from one second to another was like if somehing had thrown him through a rift into another world. After what seemed an endlessly small amount of time, he regained his wits and turned to see a pleasant face, caught in a stunning smile.
   "Hello Olya", he said giving her a smile and turned to resume his walking. "On what business do you expose yourself to this mighty storm?" She pulled her yellow rain coat and swung with her umbrella forward until she was walking beside Igor.
   "I'm on my way home, just as I believe you to be. And talking about exposal, you don't look like you have given all you could to your own protection." She pulled the yellow rain hat from her head, revealing elastic hair, cut at the length of her shoulders and cotton dry. Her clothes hid her good from the storm's rage and where Igor was as wet as a man can only be, she looked dry as the pages of a hundred years old book, jelously guarded in a well-protected library. A smile was reflected in her eyes as much as on her lips as she regarded Igor who walked upright in a relaxed manner, as if the night were stary and warm instead of stormy. "For a moment I tought you enjoy all the rain."
   "Oh, it is not the rain itself", answered Igor facing the invisible horizont. He lowered his view to the ground and pulled his foot soundfully through the water. "It is much more."
   "That I am sure." she said, looking ahead as if seeing the same invisible horizont Igor looked at. "It is also the mess you will make as soon you enter your appartment so wet and it is the cold and the fever you will have by the morning." She faced him and their eyes met. She had a pleasant appearance and there was something soft and calm about her that made her a good companion for a long talk. She wasn't amazingly beautiful by most standards, but she was pretty and she had an unique tune that could attract one man or another. Igor caught himself falling back into the daydream as his mind formed a vision of her letting her umbrella and raincoat fall and putting her arms around his neck. His face turned almost sleepy as he imagined the taste of that soft smile on her lips, enflaming in a tender kiss under the falling rain. She pulled him from his dreams again.
   "Look at you!" she said in a mocking tone. "You are sooo wet you look like a rat from the deepest sewers!" They both laughed and she came nearer to offer him shelter under her umbrella, her face clearly showing that it was no more but a friendly gesture and they both knew how useless that really was given Igor's current moisture level. He gave her umbrella a short, examinative look and shrugged.
   "The rat wouldn't thank you for that either" he said ironically and she laughed soundful.
   "Here" she said putting her rain hat she held in her hand onto Igor's head and tapping it afix. "You can have that as well." He made a stupid expression with his mouth half open and his eyes pointed upwards as to see the yellow thing on his head and they both laughed.
    They fell in beside each other and continued to walk down the street exchanging the events of the day. The rain was loosing on strength and it looked as if it would soon stop. The storm would calm and the night air would turn clear, revealing whatever the stars were shining strong enough to penetrate through the lights of the world's largest metropolis.