All the Little Raindrops

by Mia Sheridan

Women. What petty creatures they could be. So ruled by emotion.

Good. Hold on to it. It will help you survive this. Anger sharpens the mind. Fear clouds it.

“I think it’s fair to say we see the world differently now than most people do. For better or worse.”

Her mind had worked her into an emotional tsunami. His presence had ended the internal storm.

Fate had determined what their impact on the other would be.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.

Objects conjured memories, and that was a gift, she supposed. But also sadness, not only because of the stirred emotion, but because she wondered how many items she’d tossed that carried the ability to evoke a memory that now she could never get back. Letting go was painful, deeply so.

She suddenly understood why people were hoarders. Those who had lost so much already were scared to death of losing more. And so they held on, no matter the terrible clutter and filth it created.