Along Came Love

The sky was starless as Beverly Bowens took the short risky run to her car as the thunder rumbled loudly. She was just returning from a visit with her best friend since high school, Cameron. They'd been virtually inseparable since then, even through the university years. She was beyond grateful for the presence of Cameron in her life, not willing to trade that friendship for anything in the world.

Cameron had just given birth, and she had been discharged from the hospital, but it didn't matter since Beverly had been there since the first day, murmuring words of encouragement, words filled with love. The love she had towards her best friend could not be overestimated; it went beyond what people regarded as love. Hurting Cameron was synonymous with hurting Beverly. It was just the way it was, the way both of them lived. They weren't just friends; they had a bond that couldn't be explained or deciphered by merely looking, it went far deeper than that.

Beverly gave a wry smile as she remembered the way the baby wrapped her finger with his tiny hands, the burst of love that she felt. It was truly beautiful, and she loved it. But she wasn't one to live in a fairytale, and she knew love was a given for her best friend but not for her. Cameron had always been the lovey-dovey one, the one who believed that people deserved second chances. She wasn't like Cameron; she was more realistic. She saw everything that Cameron never saw, and she saw that humans never really change. They acted it, they sometimes even convinced themselves. But no matter what happened, they reverted to their baser instincts.

Beverly had only had one boyfriend in all her life, and he was the type of person that most girls would want. Smart, suave, savvy, with an innate charm that spoke of his gentlemanly attributes. She believed he was the best for her, the fact that every other girl wanted him buttressed it. He was her everything, all she'd ever think about. She felt dreamy, like a character in a fairytale. He was beyond perfect; he was the poster boy of what all boys should be—perfect hair, sensitive, romantic, respectful, and above all, clean to the toenails. The only problem she had was, he wasn't loyal at all. He loved her or tried to. But since all the girls wanted him, he gave himself to them. He wasn't hers; he’d never been. It was just her turn in the roller-coaster called love, or was it heartbreak? She broke it off and was a mess for weeks. The good thing was her best friend never knew about it. She hid it so well, nobody else knew. After then, she steeled her heart and promised to let nobody else in.

Even though it'd be a long time since then, Beverly wasn't one to forget easily. The pain remained afresh for a few years after then and tried as she did to forget, the memories haunted her.

"To love is to surrender, to choose to be defeated. To love is to lose the battle, the battle of wits and wills. To love is to die while being alive."

Those words governed the way she saw life, how she approached it. She saw love as a weakness for those who could afford to be weak, those who could afford to give up on everything. She saw love as a battle and giving in to it was the same as handing her freedom and sanity away. Other people could choose to fall in love but not her, not in the least.

Seeing the baby take ahold of her hands, it was so cute and innocent, so real. She felt the love from the child, as though he knew her. She could at least admit the fact that she loved the child even before she met him.

The rain had started to fall in a drizzle, as she tried to open the door of the car in order to avoid the incoming downpour. She hated being wet as it made her easily irritated and snappy. She wasn't ready to go into any sort of mood swings, and with the issue of the rain, she was bound to be soaking wet, and a wet Beverly was not a happy one. She opened the door in time before the rain poured mercilessly. It was as though it had a vendetta to annoy her. She took a deep breath and tried to bring her emotions under control, schooling her expression into one of indifference or nonchalance. It was her weapon, her way of defending herself in a world fraught with pain and deceit. She harbored no illusions that the world would one day change for the better; it just wasn't how stuff worked. She had seen humanity in its most primal form, the animalistic one. The main rule in humanity is to survive, no matter what. Love gives no room for survival, at least in her opinion. It made people weak, people broken, people lost. There was no room for debate; the greatest show of love, as shown by Williams Shakespeare, was Romeo and Juliet dying, illustrated by Titanic was Jack dying and leaving Rose alone. There was no middle ground with love, and it was a fate worse than death, in her opinion. There would always be a loss, always.

If love was so messed up, why was it glorified? The thoughts kept coming to her head as it rained heavily, as though the sky was punishing the world for the wrongs they'd done. She didn't blame it, though; everything was messed up. She revved her engine and pulled out of the driveway, going straight to her house to get some sleep or at least rest a little. She was tired from moving around all day and needed to at least rest her head. The strain was getting to her, and she knew that it was only a good night's rest that'd keep her in good spirits for the next day. Being drained was a drag as it made her prone to mood swings, and she was often not a pleasure to be with. Ever since Cameron moved out to live with her new family, Beverly had been alone in the house, except for the occasional visits Cameron squeezed into her busy schedule. Redecorating and redesigning was a fun thing to do, especially when you had people willing to help. Although Beverly missed her best friend, she was glad Cameron found happiness in the end. She'd never been a fan of the Ryan she kept pining over, and she told her so, in so many ways, it just felt repetitive. She tried to talk Cameron out of it, but it was to no avail. She was beyond glad when her best friend decided to stop pining after Ryan and face reality square on. It was her first step into maturity, into happiness. There was nobody else happier than Beverly when she saw her best friend getting married and all the works. It was a dream come true, a fantasy that Cameron had always wanted ever since she knew her.

As she drove, she found out the rain had done a number on her surroundings; branches broke off trees as the wind howled and raged in defiance. She tried to navigate her way around it, but she knew that the probability of getting home safely with the excessive wind was lower than the likelihood of her not getting home at all. She didn't want to take the risk, but she knew that she had to so as to not be caught stranded on the road. She'd been stranded on the road a few times in her life, and it wasn't pretty, at all. In fact, it ranked as her worst experience to date. She hated being stranded, hated it with a passion. Add a torrential downpour with that, and she had the worst day of her entire life. She tried to calm her raging nerves and to put her anger under control. For one, she couldn't do anything about the rain, short of waiting for it to let up. Since it was already 10 pm in the dead of night, it wasn't advisable for her to be outside, rain or no rain. The only thing the rain didn't change was that she needed a place to sleep, at least until it let up. She wasn't so stupid as to think she'd be able to brave the rainstorm on her own, she'd need the help of someone else at least.

She drove on and on, gone feeling farther than it ever had. Her cell phone lost its reception, and no matter what she did, it didn't come back on. She was steadily getting frustrated, but she tried to calm the anxiety that was creeping stealthily on her. It wouldn't do well to lose her head in such a situation. She needed to keep a level head and think her way out of the situation she found herself in.

The more she drove, the farther her location felt. It was as though she was purposely being pushed back by the wind as it blurred her vision, and she had to use her headlights and the wipers to see where she was heading to. She decided to take a shortcut home since the rain didn't look like it was stopping anytime from then. She started the day well enough, but it was quickly becoming her worst day ever.

She bypassed trees and didn't look around at the carnage all around her. The wind really did a number on the trees, and it was evident in the branches strewn all over. She drove with intent and appeared on the highway, the opposite direction of where the road that led to her house was. As she lamented over her misfortune, she heard the engine splutter once or twice before it decided to go to sleep. The worst day of her entire life and she was stranded in a place she had no idea of while it rained cats and dogs. There were no two ways about it; it ranked as worse than anything she'd ever experienced, the absolute worst day ever. She was used to being stranded on most days, but Cameron was usually by her side, and they found a solution before it got out of hand. But where she stood, her cell phone was down, the reception too. Her car was pretty much done for, and she had nowhere to go to since it was late at night.

She saw a figure heading towards her as soon as she stepped out of the car, a hulking mass of a figure. She felt the breath hitch in her throat as she tried to bring her nerves under control. Whatever happened, happened. She felt for the pepper spray in her mini bag and was grateful it was there.

Now she had to prepare for what was to come.

Bryan Roland was a man who minded his business; some would say he minded his business a little too much. He never butted in, never added his two cents worth in what he had no relation with. He lived a relatively good life, with no external disturbance whatsoever. He'd walked out of situations that were incriminating, situations that weren't. He just wasn't big on trying to help when it was uncalled for. To say Bryan was harsh would be wrong; he only chose to live a life without drama. He had an aversion to it, to what made people lose their shit. He believed in letting life run its course with little to no interference whatsoever from him. He could interfere, but he weighed the pros and cons first. That's what mattered, the pros and cons of the whole thing. Sometimes, the cons outweighed the pros, so he stepped aside. It was the only way he'd live long and undisturbed. At a point, though, he stopped weighing the pros and cons and blatantly refused to help at all. It was a mystery as to what made him that way, but he relatively steered clear of humans and the drama they came with in general. The last time he decided to butt in, he received a black eye for his efforts. Though it wasn't a deliberate hit, he decided that sometimes, staying away was better than interfering. That was the main reason why he had a house in the woods, a place where the birds were the only things he encountered daily. He was relatively happy and stocked his house with a lot of food whenever he deigned to go out of the house. He had a few neighbors, too, but they were the kind that was never seen, no matter what.

He decided to live on his own after his encounter with how messed up people were. It was a normal day; the sun was up in the sky, shining brightly as though it was paid to do so. Bryan had a relatively routine; Wake up, freshen up, go to the gym, work out, hang out with the boys and sometimes ladies, go back home, read a book or watch a movie. He had a few stores in the city that provided enough money for him to live comfortably without fear of stuff running out. On that fateful day, he was walking when he encountered a girl that was stuck with her clothes in the door. She looked as though she needed help, and he hurriedly walked up to her and pulled her away from the door, which made the clothes that were stuck tear up. He expected thanks, but she turned towards him, eyes burning, and spoke through gritted teeth, "How dare you? Can't you see I have it under control? What, you think you're some sort of superhero saving a damsel in distress? Sorry to break it to you, but you're not, at least not to me. Now, my clothes are torn. What are you going to do about it?"

He watched with closed lips as she railed on and on about what he did to her clothes. He didn't mind, though; he just brought out a couple of bills and gave them to her. Then he said,

"Use that to get new clothes. Sorry for interfering."

She stared at the wads of cash he dropped in her hands and made as though to speak or thank him, but he was already gone by then, and that was the last time he saw her. After then, he always decided to mind his business, to not let his tendency to gravitate towards doing good deeds distract him from the sort of people humans were in general. They were ungrateful, asking for more no matter what they had. If he didn't try to help that lady that day, she probably would have torn her clothes by herself with the way she was dragging it, but since he came into the picture, she could blame it on him. That was the main reason why he resolved to stay away from helping people in general, especially people who never asked for it. He was content with being the selfish one, the one who looked after himself first. It may have looked like it was selfishness, but he had to hold himself back from butting in every time physically. If his help wasn't solicited for, he virtually stayed out of it.

On that day, though, he saw the start of the rain and decided to walk to the pavement to see just how hard it'd rain. The rain had always been his fascination since he was younger; it had a kind of soothing feel to it, something he couldn't explain. It was like a cold drink after a sweaty workout, the feeling that couldn't be rivaled at that moment. The rain was what he could depend on to lift his mood whenever he felt down. It was like an affirmation that no matter what happened, the rain would always be there. Even though it wasn't always, the mere fact that it came whenever it did was just something he knew he'd never make light of. The rain was more torrential that day, though, and he could tell that much. The forecasts never mentioned anything about a rainstorm, so it was unexpected, but it was a pleasant surprise, nonetheless. He stood on the pavement and watched the rainfall, a small smile on his face. The beauty of the rain could not be overestimated; it was overwhelming in itself. It came with thunder and lightning, and it came with a massive dose of power. The mere fact that a sunny day could change into a rainy one in the space of a few minutes was one of the things that fascinated him most. It was his reminder that situations never last; there could be a turnaround in the space of minutes. No matter how messed up things were, he remembered the rain, and it gave him a reason to smile again. The beauty of life was overwhelming, and he always took a second to admire everything about it.

He heard the sound of a car roaring through the woods in reckless abandon and strained his neck to see who'd be that reckless. The woods weren't a safe place to drive in the night, and he knew that for a fact. Still, he went to check what was going on to at least be on the safer side. Since it was that late at night, he was concerned for the driver. That wasn't the first reckless driver he'd seen come through the woods, and it was a favorite sport of the students that wanted to have fun. Though he wasn't against their idea of fun, he'd prefer if they weren't always taking stupid risks and putting their lives in jeopardy. He wasn't a fan of stupidity even if he'd been up to some stupid stuff in the past. Just the thought of it made him nostalgic, but he waved it away. He grabbed a raincoat from the place it was hung and put it on. Grabbed a pair of rainboots too and an umbrella.

As much as he loved the rain, he didn't like being in it when it was pouring with such ferocity. He chose to be holed up indoors, reading a book, or watching a movie. He'd never really entertained the thought of having a partner, of having somebody to share his life with. Being a loner in so many ways, it was a wonder he actually found a way to interact with people on most weekends. Since it wasn't like him to go out, his presence was often appreciated by the few he shared it with, the few he deemed worthy enough for him to. He wasn't that picky with friends. He just wasn't available for the kind of fun they wanted to have. That was the main reason why he lived apart from the rest of them, the main reason he chose to.

He wore his raincoat and rainboots like a soldier girding up for war. The wind was howling loudly, like a howl of pain. He took in a deep breath before he ventured out of the house, umbrella in hand and over his head. He walked straight towards the figure that stood alone on the road, headlights on. He walked with deliberate steps, hoping not to startle whoever it was. For one, it was late in the night, and a car breaking down in the middle of nowhere was not exactly a good time to startle someone. One mistake and he'd scare whoever it was off into the denser parts of the woods, the parts where he never ventured into because it was rumored to have beasts of all kinds roaming there. He didn't believe it one bit, but to be on the safer side, he adhered to the rumors to stay away from there. He wasn't going to cause a person to go that deep into the woods because of fear since he didn't even know what was there.

He got closer as he saw a female figure standing alone, hand in a purse. He didn't need to see what she held in the purse to know what she had in the purse was some sort of weapon. He was glad she was security conscious, that was the best part of it all. Since she wasn't gullible enough not to have some sort of protection with her, it showed she was smart, smart enough to put her protection first. He knew she was probably scared, and he’d be if he were in her shoes. The rain poured with even more ferocity, a ferocity that he even had to wonder if it was going to end that day. He only hoped that he wasn't making a mistake by approaching the woman by the roadside, the woman he didn't even know.

"Hey! What happened to your car?" He screamed out loud at her from a reasonable distance away, but she didn't seem to hear him. The wind took away all he said, and she heard nothing. She was soaked to the skin and shivering. He knew that if she stayed in that spot she did, she'd definitely catch a cold. It wasn't a probability, and she was already shivering as he watched. He didn't want to be responsible if anything happened to her, but then, what would happen if he left her there? What if she went down with a cold or worse, get found by some people who were notorious in the area? Would he be able to forgive himself if he could help, and he walked away from helping? There was no possible excuse he could give that made sense to him, that made enough sense for him to walk away from her and back into his warm home, a hot cup of tea by the bedside? He'd never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to her since he saw her first.

Although he was reminded of the last time he tried to help a woman and what came out of it, he knew he couldn't leave her there, shaking like that. She was soaked to the bones, and her teeth were probably chattering. He took a deep breath before he quickened his pace. He was going to get close to her, close enough to let her know where he lived was close enough for her to stay in, at least for the night. Whatever her response was, he'd honor it, that, he swore.

He walked towards her and hoped he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life.