Saving Rain

by Kelsey Kingsley

She sounded different than she had the last time I’d seen her. She sounded good and happy and like a million Lucky Charms marshmallows.

But above all else, what made me open that bottle and count out ten of those little pink pills was the thought that, if I took them and stuffed them into my backpack, Mom would have ten less pills to take.

I reminded my heart it meant nothing, that she’d go back to being her usual self the moment we got back home, but, man … I hoped she’d hold on for a while.

I forced a smile and waved back to Billy’s mom as the little boy living in my heart cried and screamed, pressing his hands against the frosty window and begging her to rescue him from a life he’d had little choice of living.

“But now, after actually meeting you, I see now.” “See what?” She cocked her head and stared at me like the answer was obvious before she replied, “That you might not have killed someone intentionally back then, but for her … you would in a heartbeat.”

“I haven't said it back because I’m not sure I know what it feels like to love someone in the first place,”