S w e e t H o n e y L e m o n

2:33 AM

by Heng Yen Fern

It is raining.

I gathered my things; my backpack, an empty glass jar, and my favourite black pair of boots. I put them on and headed out. I stopped at the front door, hesitating on whether I should take my umbrella along. After seconds of looking at the transparent tool, I had decided otherwise and left without it, heading straight into the falling drops of rain as I made my way up the road to the top of the hill.

As I reached the top of the hill, I started to feel lighter on my feet. I made my way to my usual spot with the fallen tree trunk and dropped my backpack onto the muddy ground. I dug into it and took out the empty glass jar, lid off. The sound of rain drops hitting the clear base of the glass echoed into the air and caused a sequence of repetitive 'clinks' and 'clanks'. It was like a mini orchestra that only exist with the rain clouds, accompanied by an empty glass jar.

My name is Alem, and I am a rainkeeper.

That is what I like to call myself anyway.

I sat on the muddy grass and leaned back onto the tree trunk, as I watched the glass jar slowly fill up with droplets of glowing green rain. I watched how they come together into the jar and dance with each other as waves were created each time another drop joins them. It was not long before the jar was filled to the brim, and I tightened the lid back on. I picked up the jar, and as my finger tips touched it, a tingling sensation came about. Even when the jar was sealed, the water in it was still dancing.

'Nothing can stop you from doing whatever you want.'

I sat in the rain for the rest of the morning. When it was settling down, I got up and headed my way back home.

I took the glowing jar out of my backpack. It was still tingling under my skin, as I brought it into my room. At the far right of my room, there was another door - and behind that door was a room filled with many other glass jars such as this one.

'9.47am; Will,' I scribbled onto a piece of note and taped it to the side of the jar.

Then, on it went onto the shelf with glass jars of different shades of green, the others being different shades of red, orange, purple, etc. One from each time it rained, each representing the 'feelings of the weather'.

I am the rainkeeper, and this is my job.

---

It is raining.

It was late at night, but I still got out of bed anyway. I grabbed my backpack and put on my coat, before leaving the house, unsheltered by an umbrella. It was quite heavy, the rain - almost like a storm but not really. I was not scared though. How can I ever be scared of the rain? I am the rainkeeper.

I made my way up the hill in the dark, getting soaked from head to toe in the process. When I reached the top - greeted by the sight of the fallen tree trunk - I took out an empty glass jar and set it onto the puddled grass. I leaned back onto the tree trunk and looked up at the sky. It was an amazing sight that I would never get tired of. If only a pictures could be taken, then I'd have it framed up on the wall in my room. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sound of the rain.

I had apparently fallen asleep, as I was woken up by the sudden stop of rain drops hitting my face. I opened my eyes and saw an umbrella above my head, followed by the rolling eyes of my best friend, Mac and a bright light from his flashlight.

"I knew you'd be here," he said as he rolled his eyes for the second time. I looked down and back to my now three quarter filled glass jar. It glowed a bright turquoise. Mac sat down next to me, umbrella in between us.

"Here," he said, handing me a flask. I opened it and steam flew into my face. It was hot chocolate.

"Why are you here at this hour?" I asked. This was his first time ever to accompany me in the rain. He would usually leave me when it started to rain and called me 'Craylem' because he thought I was crazy to be out in the rain to collect its drops.

"I couldn't sleep, and it was raining. I knew you'd be crazy and do this weird rain collecting again. What do you do with this much rain water anyway?" Mac took the flask from my hands and poured me a cup of chocolate. He handed it over to me.

"Nothing," I answered, as I reached out for the warm cup. "I just keep them. It's pretty."

Mac looked at me weird, and then up to the sky. "But it's dark, and grey. It's so depressing," he voiced, before sneezing. "Aren't you cold? The jar's full now, hurry up. We need to get you home and dried before you get sick again like before.

I looked up at the glowing bright sky above us as I took my last sip of the hot chocolate. "It may be grey to you, but in my eyes, it's like the Northern lights," I said and stood up, and Mac followed with the umbrella as I stepped ahead to lid the jar. I picked it up. "Oh," I whispered when the usual tingling wasn't present. The jar felt warm - almost hot - like the hot chocolate Mac brought. The water in it was a calm turquoise and it glowed brightly. It was especially comforting to the touch.

"What?" Mac shone his annoying torch light at the jar, "What did you say about the Northern lights - and hey, why's your face like that? Are you amazed that the water is so clear or something? Okay wow clean water, should we boil it and drink it?" he asked mockingly. I kicked him and handed the jar to him, as well as snatching the umbrella away from his hands. I grabbed my backpack and walked ahead.

"Hey!" Mac called from behind, "Give that back, I'm getting soaked! And take this jar with you, it's like I'm holding iced water in the rain - HEY."

I stopped and laughed to myself, as I watch him half run half skip in the rain, towards me. I took the glass jar back when he reached and held it tight in my arms. I smiled as the jar warmed my hands.

'Doing whatever it takes for someone or something you cherish.'

Back home, we washed up and each got into a fresh pair of clothing - all the while complaining about how I dedicate my sleeping time to getting soaked in the rain in order to collect a jar of it. Eventually, Mac decided to stay over by falling asleep on the couch.

While so, I taped a note onto the side of the night's jar of rain, before setting it onto the shelf.

'2:44am;
Mac's first night out in the rain.
Loyalty.'

---

It is not raining.

It is an obvious fact that the rain does not come every day. On days like these, I would rather stay home and read a book, than to go out into the dry empty grey space. It is not that I dislike the outdoors, but if I were to go out to enjoy myself, why so when you can't do what you enjoy doing best?

Even indoors, I would always end up in the room where I keep my collected rain, the "Jar Room".

I entered the Jar Room and walked pass the two shelves by my sides, fingers tapping at each jar I pass. Courage, faith, motivation, hesitation, and so on. The feelings of the weather each time it rained, I have collected over the years- sometimes having more than one of the same kind. What's amazing is how each jar of raindrops have its own characteristic and feelings. Some had drops that danced, some swirled in patterns, some stayed stagnant, some moving in a calm motion, some warm, some ice cold, but all of them glow according to their own brightness.

The Jar Room is something I take pride in and it makes me happy. I arrange them according to the shades of colours they glow and have labels on them. However, even if I have arranged them in colours, if I were to stand by the entrance of the room to look in, a rainbow they would not see but instead a room filled with moving lights of sorts as it makes the room glow.

It is a sight of which I wished Mac and everyone else could or would see. I often take photos to show him, but I always end up not showing any of them anyway.

As I stood at the back end of the room, I took out my phone and snapped a picture of the room. The picture was displayed onto the screen and what could be seen was not the beauty of lights before me, but simply a room with water filled glass jars.

It is apparent that I am probably the only one who is able to witness this sight. I have once given Mac a small jar for his birthday. It was a light glowing red and had a mini tornado spinning in it, but all he saw was simply a jar of water. I'm just glad he still keeps it, eventhough it probably means nothing at all to him. I appreciate how he's the only one who understands how much I love the rain.

I took one last look into the Jar Room before closing the door shut.

'What is dull to someone else, can be beauty in my eyes.'

---

It is raining, and Mac won't let me out of his house.

I eye my backpack, which was placed beside the front door. I can almost hear the soundless cries of my glass jar in it. I had also brought along a few other jars, because I'm running out of jars and it's about time I empty them.

I look up at Mac, who was busy talking about his girlfriend, and complaining about how she keeps threatening to break up with him if he doesn't throw away his gameboy. "I mean," Mac says as he throws his hand in the air, "how can she even say that? I need my gameboy, it is my life!"

"Can I go?" I ask.

"NO, stay," he answers immediately, "She should know by now how important it is to me. It was a present from-"

"Me," I cut in.

"Exactly! You are my best bud, my man, my brother, and it's definitely a treasure to keep. How can she do this to me?" Mac flings his arms everywhere, "What gave her the- HEY!"

I grabbed my backpack and exited the house before he could finish talking. It was raining and I need to get out. I walked into the rain without any form of shelter and made my way to the top of the hill. Since I came from Mac's house, it would take a little longer to reach there. "Are you crazy?! ALEM!" I could hear Mac calling through the rain.

I guess he was right, I might be little crazy, but he doesn't see what I see, and what I see is a glowing sky of colours.

By the time I had gotten to the top of the hill, it was still raining. I sighed in relief and unzipped my backpack, to take out the jars I had within. An empty one, and three others which were already filled from times before. I set the empty one aside, lid still on, and arranged the remaining three jars in a line. The rainwater in them were already defying gravity, ready to go. Another amazing thing about the collected rain, besides setting my room aglow, is that it goes back up into the sky whenever it rains.

I quickly removed the lids of the three jars, and stepped back to watch.

"Woah," someone said. I turned my left and found Mac standing there with his umbrella in hand, jaw hung. I looked back to the three jars. The first jar that had a calm green was swirling its way out of the jar, while the second one was a bright yellow that I had collected during a lighting storm and it was zooming its way out of the jar and around the green. The last jar was a jumpy purple.

Mac had made his way next to me, "DUDE. Is this for real?" he asked.

I looked up at him, confused, "Mac, you can see this?"

"Is this what you've been doing with the rain all this while? This is awesome!" he said, slightly hysterical. The rainwater from the three jars were swirling around each other and in a split second, shot up into the clouds above. I quickly twisted the lid of the empty glass jar open and within minutes, it was filled.

Someone hit me, it was Mac. "What is happening? What is this, what am I seeing? Alem?" he kept asking the same questions over and over again. I would answer them, but I didn't know how. I didn't understand how he could see it, either.

The jar was a light red. I put on the lid, and something I have never witnessed before happened. Half of the collected rain had disappeared and suddenly it was raining inside the jar.

"Wow," I whispered.

I picked the jar up and I could feel the rain fall in the jar. I could feel the 'thumps' each raindrop made in the jar, and due to that, the jar slightly vibrated in my hands.

"Family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten."

I looked at Mac, smiling. He made a weird face and said, "What? What's wrong with your face? Don't look at me like that."
-

That night, at his house, as I explained everything to him. He didn't believe it at first, but at the same time, he did. "Craylem, this is crazy," he said, still in disbelief- but I knew he liked it. He was smiling and I could see that he was itching with excitement.

We stayed up all night talking about the rain, and about how he wants to start collecting rain too.

The jar of red rain was set on the table, between us as we talked, and on it was a note stuck on;

'Family,' it said.

My name is Alem, and I am a rainkeeper.
I collect the rain, it is my job.
It is not weird, but an amazing thing to do.
The rain is an amazing thing.

End.

Labels: fantasy, inspirations, slice-of-life, the unreal