A Story A Day. Story 329 of 365: Leaves.

Akiko was looking through the window, kneeling on the sofa, her face resting on her hands, into the park across the street. There was a thunderstorm outside, and the trees swayed side to side, the wind blew against her house, howling, making the windows rattle. Her mother had told her she would be able to go outside as soon as the storm had passed. Akiko had to beg to arrive to that compromise, and as soon as she was given permission she had geared herself with appropiate rain clothing. The purple rain boots rested on the floor, next to the couch, her feet didn't even reach the edge of it. 

Her eyes, the same color as the sky outside, scanned the clouds looking for a clearing. It had been raining for three days, and she had been waiting to go outside for the same exact time. But it wouldn't stop raining. Akiko saw some cars passing through the street, spraying the water that had accumulated on the pavement. And behind the street, the park, the promised lands. There were trees with green leaves, trees with yellow leaves, trees with red leaves, trees with brown leaves, and leafless trees. Akiko didn't know their names, but she knew she liked them. If she stared intensely enough she could see how some of the leaves flew away from the trees, the brown mostly, also the red and the yellos, the greens hardly ever. Sometimes, the wind picked out some of the leaves on the floor and made them swirl, not by then, the leaves were too soaked and weighted too much, but she had seen it on the first day. 

Her mother called her out for lunch. It was still midday, but the sky was caught in a permanent twilight, so it might have as well been dinner time. There was soup and stew, winter food in the middle of fall. It made Akiko feel warm in the inside, it was a nice feeling. Her mother looked at her while she ate. Akiko loved her mother, she was sweet, and took care of her, she let her go outside and step on the puddles, she also knit her woolen sweaters, gloves, and scarves, and she had really long black hair that tickled her face when she put her to sleep. But must of all she loved her because she was both her mother and her father. She was the best mother in the world. 

-Mom, when will it stop raining?- she asked. 

-I don't know, Akiko. I hope that it will be soon, and then you'll be able to go back to school with your friends, don't you miss your friends? 

Akiko thought about her friends, she really wanted to see Koharu and Natsuki, and also Miss Manami. But she couldn't go back to school until the rain stopped, and she couldn't go step in the puddles until then, either. As soon as she finished eating, she went back to her surveillance post, nothing had changed, the cloud cover was still as thick as it had been, the rain was still falling, and the trees were still slowly losing their leaves to the wind.