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Chapter 2 - CH.2-Out in the Rain

He stepped outside, shoulders hunched against the rain, hood up, shoes splashing through shallow puddles on the cracked sidewalk. The city was a skeleton—empty streets, shuttered storefronts, weeds clawing through the asphalt.

Cars hissed by, windows up, everyone in their own little worlds.

He walked with his head down, headphones long since broken, letting the sounds of the city fill his ears: the slap-slap of water on concrete, the distant rumble of thunder, the soft hum of streetlights fighting the gloom.

The wind was sharp, threading through the holes in his hoodie, cold enough to make his teeth chatter. He tried not to think about his parents, about the way they left—tried not to wonder what it would have been like if he'd gone with them.

"If they were going to pass…" he thought bitterly. "They should've taken me with them. My life here is no more than that of a rock."

He reached toward the sky, feeling the cool kiss of rain on his skin, wishing he could cry but knowing he'd forgotten how.

Clouds stacked above him, black and bruised, thunder echoing like footsteps from some unseen monster.

He pressed on, feet dragging, only quickening his pace when the rain turned to a torrent.

He ducked beneath the school awning just as the sky opened up, soaking the brick courtyard behind him.

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