After the Rain

It was raining since Caelis had woken up. Which didn't mean a great deal, because he woke up at 13 o'clock anyway. After washing himself, he lazily prepared his large cup of coffee and slowly drank it back on bed, watching the raindrops hit strongly the window glass. After that, he looked for the phone to call Pablo and ask what was taking so long.

"Hey, man, are we going or not?"

"Sorry, bro, the street is flooded" informed Pablo. "It's impossible to even step out of the house. We'll have to save it for another day."

"Is that so?" inquired Caelis. "Then get your icebox empty and use it as a boat."

Pablo laughed, but replied quite seriously:

"I mean it, the flood is sweeping cars down the street, bro, you should see."

"Yeah, I wonder. Are you all right in there?"

"I can manage. But the situation is fucking ugly. So, I see you another day, ok?"

"¡Eres un grande hijo de puta!"

"Love you too, man. Take care."

"All right, bye."

Caelis lay down on the bed, thinking about the ruins of that day. Because of Pablo's exams they hadn't seen each other for a month, and Caelis was really missing him. In any case, he absolutely didn't feel like staying indoors, so he got dressed, put on a rain cape and left to the street.

The best thing in a rainy day is that most people fly for cover, so the streets are emptier. Caelis didn't need to dodge anyone.

A half hour later, he entered a narrow street and reached the Arcadia gallery. Put his hands deep in his pockets and counted the amount of remaining money. Not something that could last the rest of the day, but he couldn't complain. There was enough to buy five coins for the arcades, which he did.

When he was playing his third coin, a human girl stood beside him.

"So, are you the Sphynx?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" he replied, eyes on the screen. "Sphinx, like the one in Egypt? I'm not very good with riddles, if that's what you mean."

"C'mon, cut it out" she insisted. "I've seen you yesterday, climbing the water tower at St. Braz square. You tagged up there. 'SPx'. Then I remembered seeing you here in the Arcadia before. We've been wanting to know who the Sphynx was."

"Hun? 'We', you're saying? Hold on, I really have to pass this level."

She watched him as he played, until his videogaming self met a bitter end.

"Shit, not again!" he exclaimed, facing the – Game Over – before him, and turned to the girl. "You were saying?"

"I'm from the Legion."

Caelis was to pick another coin in his pocket, but when she said that, his hand stayed quite still.

"No. Really?" he asked, looking in her eyes for the first time. It should be pertinent to say that he would have thought it was a beautiful pair of eyes even if she hadn't said she belonged to the Legion, one of the most skilled street gangs of the neighborhood.

"Really. I know, I don't look that tough" she grinned.

"Au contraire, you actually do. I should have known when I saw you play Mortal Destination the other day, you just kicked everybody's asses. If you fight like that in real life too, you could only be in the Legion."

"You're not bad at this stuff too" she complimented in return. The – Game Over – was still flashing onscreen. "Before I found out who you are, I thought the Sphynx was older than me. I see you're not. You must be sixteen, right?"

"Yeah" he murmured. "And you, if I may ask?"

"Eighteen next month. So I'll be arrestable, doesn't it just suck?"

"A lot. That's why I'm not looking forward to grow up."

"I wanted to grow up, when I was 12" she considered, "but now I think I shouldn't have. I should have enjoyed more the things that only children can do. It's somehow better than the things that only adults can do, anyway."

"Is it? I don't know, I'm halfway. Why did you think the Sphynx would be older?"

"Because every young tagger wants to have a gang, and the Sphynx acts by himself. I know only older guys who are lone wolves."

"I get it. I'm not that sociable, you know" admitted Caelis.

"We can fix that. Don't you want to meet some guys of the Legion? So you can tell us how you managed to climb that fucking water tower. One of us even died trying to do that last month, did you know?"

"I've heard about. So, what's the deal?"

"Meet me at the Dragon-Roost Canal, after the rain. I'll introduce you to some of ours, so we can change stickers. Will you come?"

"I may, yeah" he answered, not so convincingly.

She stepped forth, put one hand on his waist, the other behind his neck and pushed him to a soft, warm, imprisoning kiss on the lips.

"Just to assure that you won't change your mind" she whispered, caressing his slightly wet hair, and swiftly went away to the rainy streets out there.

Caelis didn't even breathe for a little while. Reality called him back when a player poked his shoulder and asked: "Hey, man, is this machine free?"

"Hold on, I still have two coins" said Caelis, put one coin in the arcade and started the game once again.

He looked at the doorway and the pouring rain out there. It seemed to him that the rain would never end…