Red Umbrella
The radio played softly in the background, "due to a warm front coming this way, we will be expecting large amounts of rainfall these couple of days…"
Sakura hated the rain. It was something she disliked ever since she was a little girl. Sakura giggled a little as she remembered where her dislike of rain began. The silent droplets splattered on her window pane and slowly slide downward. It was a gloomy Saturday afternoon and the rain wasn't going to let up anytime soon.
Sakura didn't want to go out, but she had promised her boyfriend, Syaoran, that they would watch a movie. The door bell rang, which broke her train of thought. She got up and she slowly shuffled her way to the door. As she turned the knob, her boyfriend's face came to view.
Smiling cutely, he asked "You ready to go?"
"Yeah, just let me grab my stuff and lock the door," she replied.
On the way out, she grabbed her red umbrella.
The reason why Sakura hated rain was simple: on her first day of kindergarten, Sakura was splashing around in puddles when suddenly out of nowhere a boy pushed her into a puddle of water. Not only was she covered in mud, the rain fell non-stoponto her new dress and perfectly cured hair, drenching her even more.Z
So on her 8th birthday, to cheer her up, Sakura's grandmother gave her the red umbrella. It was a simple red umbrella, with no special design or patterns, yet it held countless memories for Sakura.
Taking the red umbrella from her hands, Syaoran opened it up and held it quickly over Sakura's head so she wouldn't get wet. It had become a habit for him. Every time it rained, Syaoran would hold the red umbrella for Sakura. The first time Sakura told him the reason why she disliked of the rain, he laughed for the whole dinner. Never had he met a girl who hated the rain so much.
One time, both of them had forgotten their umbrella that day, and Sakura had refused to leave the school until it stopped completely. Eversince then, he held the umbrella to protect her from the rain, he didn't mind the rain at all, as long as he had his sunshine by his side.
Together they walked, hand in hand, to the bus stop. Stepping into the bus shelter, they waited patiently for the bus. The rain was falling down quicker and harder now.
"You just had to pick today to watch a movie!" Sakura whined trying to dry her sleeve off.
"Well princess, you're the one who's been crazy begging me to watch this movie with you." Syaoran said giving her kiss on the cheek.
"Uh fine, you win." Sakura huffed.
And with that, the bus rolled up beside them, and they both ran in.
After a half an hour ride on the horrible busof slow moving cars, road blocks and car accidents they reached the cinema. Sakura reached up for the bell that signaled their stop.
As the bus door opened, Syaoran got off first and opened the red umbrella again. They ran towards the theatre and lined up in to buy their tickets.
"Are you sure you want to watch this?" Syaoran asked with an amused tone in his voice. "Remember last time you couldn't sleep for 3 days straight after you watched a horror movie."
"Yeah yeah, laugh all you want buddy, I won't be scared, I promise."
After finding nice seats, they sat down and Syaoran placed the red umbrella beside him. The film started to roll, and the audience quieted down. Throughout the movie, Sakura would squeeze onto Syaoran's hand for solace every time something frightening occurred. The movie ended with the main character screaming as she was dragged by the ghosts.
"You should have seen your face when the ghost appeared" Syaoran teased Sakura.
Punching him lightly on his arm but laughing along none the less Sakura said "How was I to know it would be so scary, the trailer had all the non creepy parts!"
The rain was pouring down like a waterfall, and the streets were now flooded with water up to the sidewalks.
As they crossed the street, Syaoran noticed that his shoe lace was untied.
He turned to Sakura he said, "Baby hold the umbrella for a second, I need to tie my shoe."
Taking the umbrella from him, Sakura walked ahead. Syaoran looked to both ways and then bent down to tie his untied shoelace. As he did, a turning car lost control from the large amount of rainfall and swerved into Syaoran.
Shouts and screams were heard and Sakura turned her head around, the sight in front of her was unbearable. She heard a scream all though she was sure it came from herself, the voice sounded foreign and unreal.
Syaoran laid still on the floor, blood rushed from various parts of his body. She hurriedly ran over to Syaoran putting him into her arms like a child.
"Syao, come on, talk to me!" she cried out.
Syaoran opened his eyes slowly, and then he said "Get your umbrella silly, you're going to get all wet."
Tears streamed down her cheek but Sakura managed to say "Stupid, you're all hurt and that's all you can say."
"Just remember, I'm always going to be protecting you." He smiled his adorable smile again.
The ambulance came shortly after, not letting go of Syaoran's hand once; Sakura followed him until they arrived at the hospital. Syaoran was then wheeled into an emergency room.
Sakura tears poured, she just kept wishing over and over again that this was all a nightmare. Her mom arrived 10 minutes later, hugging on to her, trying to cheer her up.
The emergency light switched off, and the doctors walked out with a distressing expression on their faces. One doctor opened his mouth, but Sakura couldn't hear anything, without thinking, she rushed inside to Syaoran. Syaoran she repeated over and over again "Wake up Syao, wake up." but he never did.
The days that followed were a blur to Sakura. She had received much comfort from her family and her friends but it didn't help. She couldn't go to school because she knew she couldn't stand seeing all the pitiful looks on everyone's face. Most of the day she laid in bed and cried her eyes out.
Syaoran wasn't there anymore and there was nothing anyone could do to change that. She stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror; she saw that her hair was a mess and she had red blotches all over her face from the crying.
Out in the corner of her eye, she saw a yellow post-it to the side, on it said "Syaoran's funeral is in 2 days, just wanted to let you know. Love mom."
Sakura really didn't know what to do. Her heart felt painful and her head hurt. She checked the calendar to see what day it was.
Two days from today was their 20th anniversary.
Tears formed in her eyes again, but in her mind she knew if Syaoran saw her like this he wouldn't be happy. She knew that all he wanted was for her to be happy, and he hated it when she cried. Syaoran made up her mind. She wiped her tears away, and decided to take a shower. She needed to look nice for Syaoran.
It was raining at Syaoran's funeral, just like the day of Syaoran's accident. On top of Sakura's head was the same red umbrella.
Before leaving her house, Sakura made a deal to herself that she would try her hardest not to cry. She scanned the place, there were many people at the funeral, some were crying while others just stood there. Syaoran's parents were by the entrance greeting guests and tried their best to hold in their tears.
Slowly Sakura made her way over to the casket and placed her red umbrella over it.
From a distance, a voice murmured "What is she doing?"
Sakura smiled a sad smile and said in a whisper "I'm protecting him from the rain, just like he always did for me." A tear came down her face, but no one saw, because the tear mixed with the rain.
She walked away as the rain came down onto her, wetting everything: hair and clothes, but she didn't care. From that day on, Sakura never used an umbrella again, because she knew she was being protected from above.
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Hope you liked the story , how did you like my first attempt ? Please review if you enjoyed it , much appreciated : )