Rain of Time

“Having trouble with those falling clocks? Are you worried that your umbrella might get destroyed? Then our Super Elastic Guardian is just for you! Unlike your usual umbrellas, this one is made of extremely durable material and can deflect the heaviest clocks during the Rain of Time! It can even protect you from your granny’s old cuckoo clock! Get your Super Elastic Guardian today at your local RainStop for 30% off!”

The digital billboards were bursting with umbrella ads again. They always popped up at the beginning of the Rain of Time. They were programmed that way. Right when clocks start falling from the sky, the voices beyond the screens start rambling on about elastic umbrellas. 

The beginning of the Rain of Time was a signal for cars and trains to stop moving, for people to protect their heads, for eyes and minds to be conscious of the time.

I was sighing beneath my own worn-out umbrella as I walked to school this morning. The numerous clocks bouncing off of it, almost ripping it apart, showed me the time and reminded me that I was running late as they crashed to the ground. I sighed again. Rain of Time on a weekday? Have I done anything to anger the Lord above the clouds? 

I was honestly sick and tired of these clocks. They hastened me, pressured me, pushed me to the limit every single time, waving an alert before my eyes which told me that I wasn’t being “right.” Well, who cares? Sometimes I just don’t feel like going to school. But these clocks…they forced me to change my mind at the last minute. It was their fault that I had to suffer from the shame of arriving late. 

I walked, walked, and walked, kicking the fallen clocks out of my way. I sighed, I stomped, I continued to walk…until a speeding bicycle suddenly ran right into me.

And now I’m in a hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling with an empty gaze. My leg’s shackled by a stupid-looking cast, and I have nothing to do besides reading, looking out the window, or sleeping. I had gotten sick of the book I had brought here, and I wasn’t sleepy at all, so I chose to look out the window. I blankly stared at the cloudy sky, watching the clocks fall. The hands of the clocks continued to move as I lay on this bed, motionless. Without thinking, I reached towards the window. My fingertips were too far from the clocks, too far from the canvas called the sky, too far from the bustling world. 

Memories flowed into my head. Feelings sparked in my heart. And I began to cry.

The morning hours when I rush to school and hurry to my seat. The afternoon hours when I talk with my friends, eat lunch, and let my brain take a break. The evening hours when I enjoy my time at home, watch TV, and snuggle in my bed. 

In an instant, I understood the meaning of the Rain of Time, and cried. The hands move on as I lie in this hospital bed, motionless. Time continues to flow. And I don’t want to waste any more hours. Any more minutes. Any more seconds.

I heard the door opening, and footsteps approached my bed.

“Hey. You…doing okay? How’s your leg?” 

It was my friend Elise. She had been my best pal since we were kids.

I turned towards her with my tear-soaked face, saying, “It hurts. It just…hurts. I don’t know why, but it does.”

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.” Elise said, sitting down on a stool beside me and holding my hand. “You’re going to be okay, girl. You’re going to be all right.”

I continued to cry. “The time’s coming for me…It’s always right behind me. And I’m wasting it.”

Elise looked out the window, at the rain of clocks, and somehow understood what I was talking about.

“Don’t worry. You can always make up for lost time. There’s enough time to do stuff you couldn’t. I’ll share those hours with you, so don’t worry.”

The warmth of Elise’s hand passed on to mine, and it flowed across my arm, all the way to my core. I closed my eyes. I remembered a certain happy moment from when I was eight years old.

I had gotten sick the day before Elise’s birthday party, and I bawled like a baby because I couldn’t go. But later on, when I got a little better, Elise came to my house and threw a mini party, just for the two of us. We decorated the entire house, blew up a bunch of colorful balloons, played board games, broke a piñata, and ate ice cream cake. We blew out the candles in the dark living room, and we both wished that we stayed best friends forever. It was the best party in my life. 

Come to think of it, Elise had always helped me to make up for lost time. No matter how many days and weeks passed, she had always come to me so I could enjoy the fun stuff I had missed. I sometimes did the same for her; bringing her the playing cards I had forgotten to bring the day before, helping her choose a Halloween costume when it was way past Halloween, and playing Secret Santa in mid-January because we had not thought of it on Christmas. We had always made up for each other, covered for each other, and gave each other the opportunity to experience a moment that joined the past along with the moving hands of the clock. Though regrets may remain in the moment of our death, time cannot be lost for eternity.

The thought calmed me a little, and tears stopped flowing from my eyes. My consciousness was soothed by Elise’s soft voice, telling me that it was going to be okay, and I slowly drifted to sleep, forgetting about the gloomy weather, forgetting about the Rain of Time, forgetting about the misery of lying still in a hospital bed. 

The falling clocks may catch up to me, but I will always have my own clock.