Water from the Above
By David Grigorian

It was an ordinary day of May in America. After I finished my lunch in the cafeteria of my high school by myself, I decided to spend the remaining lunch in isolation. Some people were sitting in the hallways and still eating or talking. There were few empty sodas and boxes of fries that lay on the floor. I picked up one can and examined it in my hand, but instantly dropped the can because it cut the tip of my finger. A little hint of blood emerged from the cut as I licked my injured finger.

I felt a tear go down my cheek as I felt lonely, it was my senior year in high school and I haven't got a friend to soothe me. I felt suffocating, drowsy and abandoned inside the building, and longed to get the fresh air. At last I came to a corner of the building away from my peers, and came out of the front doors for fresh air.

Hot air greeted me outside, and the air was dry just like the asphalt and the grass patches in between sidewalks. Still, I sensed the rain because I saw the low, heavy, gray clouds hanging over my head. I felt like reaching out and touching the heavy, dark clouds. A raindrop made a dark spot on a sidewalk, then a second one, a third, a fourth and then came the downpour. The cool breeze rushed to my lungs as I felt the air being filled with moisture and alerting my senses.

I outstretched my hand with an injured finger for the rain and felt the tiny diamond-size rain drops washing my hand. I felt the rainwater washing over the cut and soothing the dull pain as the rainfall roared like the rushing river of the mountains.The noise was constant, but at times it was louder as the raindrops poured harder on the concrete or softer and quieter for a brief moment as I inhaled the air with hints of moisture. The grass was livelier and greener and I noticed that petals of the flowers that used to hang helplessly in the sun now stood upward. I observed how oval-shaped raindrops hit the asphalt and blew up like water balloons making mini splashes. I would spot ripples of waves racing each other on the empty school bus lot, and indicating the direction the rainfall was taking.

I found a new respect for water. Clouds and liquid rain are the same thing, clouds came from evaporating water and water comes from clouds. Water is the only substance that can fly as a vapor, float as a liquid and break rocks when freezing to ice and expand.

As I froze listening to the rain and breathing in the cool air, it hit me that water is more than just a coolest substance in the universe. Just like a few minutes ago when I cut my finger and felt lonely, a tear came down my cheek to bring me relief from the stress, it's the same with the rain. The rainstorm brings nature the relief from long, hot, sunny days, from the piling up of pollution, or just to sooth the thirst of its living creatures.

As the noise died down, I noticed the rain was coming to an end, but the air felt fresher. I felt that my injured finger was better, and I felt relieved from the stress and ready to face the rest of the day.