"Why are you always here?" Sheldon asked a bit unsure. "Do you leave nearby? Or do you live inside of town?" he sat down on a stump right next to the stop sign.
The girl shook her head, the smile still on her face. She pointed up at the dark gray clouds the cried tears and grinned.
"What... are you trying to say?" Sheldon asked, feeling confused. He was reminded of the importance of language, after all, it's one of the essential forms of communication. The this is, this girl couldn't speak.
She pouted and pointed once again at the sky, reacting as if her arm was starting to get tired.
"Rain?" she nodded, "The rain is your... home," Sheldon said plainly.
The ginger-haired girl spun around and nodded with a grin.
"I'm sorry, but are you joking with me right now?" Sheldon asked. This was ridiculous. "I'm starting to really believe that you are my hallucination, I mean, coming only during the rain? Glowing butterflies? The same outfit every time?"
She placed a hand on her chest and gasped, clearly feeling insulted. She looked down at her outfit and glared at him, although it was obvious that the glare didn't hold any malice inside of it.
"Why are you always here? Why can't you talk?" Sheldon continued his questions, starting to get a little uncomfortable with how the glowing butterflies were starting to transfer to him.
The girl smiled and held her umbrella softly, her other hand slowly pointing towards him.
"...me?" Sheldon furrowed his brows, "Uh what?" the butterflies swirled around him. Weren't they supposed to die because of the rain? Looking closer, it seemed as if the droplets of water was falling through them as if they were nothing but holograms."I... you're weird!" Sheldon yelled.
The girl jumped and stared at him with wide eyes. She obviously didn't expect that.
"You-ah... I'm sorry, I- um... It's just that I... ah," Sheldon breathed in and tried to shoo away the butterflies, "Nothing... I'm sorry. I think I should go." Sheldon stood up from the stump and started to head the other direction.
From behind him, the girl was panicking. She tried to yell out for his attention, but no voice would make it out. She tried waving her arms around, but he was facing the wrong way. Frustrated, she stomped on the floor and picked up a rock.
Perhaps Sheldon had already made it past the line separating sanity and insanity- "GAH!" his hand rubbed his back, "What was that!?" he looked down and saw a rock starting to sink underneath the mud, and back at the ginger-haired girl. "Did you just hit me with a rock!?"
Grinning, she pinched her index and thumb together.
"Yeah, I know it was a small rock, but you didn't have to throw it that hard!" his back was hurting. He was sure that it was going to bruise later on. Sheldon made an incredulous expression, and said, "What is wrong with you?"
She shook her head and pointed at him.
"What is wrong... with me?" she nodded, "I..." she gestured for him to continue, "Not a lot." she rested her other hand on her hip and raised a brow, "What would you know? You're not real."
Once again, a glare was sent his way, this time with frustration. She picked up a rock, making Sheldon flinch just in case she was going to throw it and pointed at it.
"You threw a rock at me I know, please don't do it again!" but when she just continued pointing at it, Sheldon had to take another moment to understand, "You threw a rock... so, that means you're real?" she nodded and dropped the object, "But you are surrounded by glowing butterflies."
The girl threw one of her arms up, giving up on that particular topic, and pointed at him.
"Why do you want to know so much?" Sheldon asked. Looking around, the rain was still going on.
The girl frowned and held the umbrella's handle with both hands, her eyes losing their sparkle, and her mouth was pressed into a thin line. In another attempt to communicate with him, she brought her hand to her mouth, and then to him.
"I don't really want to talk about it." he fidgeted from where he stood, and dragged his foot across the mud, making random smudges and symbols that made absolutely no sense.
The girl held her hands together, her face just begging him to tell her.
"I have trouble....... with a lot of things," Sheldon said slowly, but still, enough for her to hear from the other side of the road. "I can't handle crowds very well, I'm not comfortable with talking to people, I don't- this is... this isn't normal I-" the rain suddenly resorted to a small shower, the sun starting to peek its way through the clouds.
She raised her hand to stop him from saying anything with a smile.
"You're going to go already?" She nodded and waved him goodbye, "But- I..." she stopped in her return towards the forest to listen to what had to say, "No, nothing... goodbye." the girl smiled and nodded, before disappearing.
It took a few more minutes, but soon the sun was already out and blazing with sun rays. Sheldon sighed and went back the opposite direction the girl went to. The walk home was silent, the sun was glaring in his eyes, but it helped when he looked down.
Maybe next time.
Sheldon's panic attacks don't usually happen at specific times or situations, although he likes to think that they do. There are some coincidences, but Sheldon can have a random breakdown whenever his disorder felt like he hadn't had enough anxiety thrown at him.
It was a little unfair at times, but he couldn't really do anything about it, and it was mostly his problem so he wasn't able to complain about it.
"Where is it that you go, Sheldon?" asked his uncle John. Right now he was doing some maintenance Josie's car, and in order to be polite, Sheldon went along to help him out. "Sometimes you disappear from your room, and come back sooner later. It's raining a lot these days, you wouldn't want yourself to catch a cold now, do you?"
"I go walking," Sheldon replied while wiping the windows with a dry cloth.
"Really? Where to?"
"To the roads."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"..." His uncle slid out from under his car and raised an eyebrow at him, "You don't really talk a lot now, do you?"
Sheldon blinked then looked down, "No..." he looked closer at the window, and tried to scrub harder at this little patch of dirt that was starting to annoy him because it just wouldn't get off.
"Well I'm sure people just love you at parties," joked his uncle as he slid back underneath the car. "You know, when I first saw you, you were so little. Barely a year old. Your mother was so happy holding you, and your father wouldn't even let me go a meter close within ya."
"Is that so," said Sheldon. He mentally winced, he didn't mean to seem disinterested. In all honesty, that information wasn't new to him.
"Yep. She never left your side not once, was even afraid to let Auntie Josie hold you."
Sheldon knew that his family wasn't always as dysfunctional as it seemed to be. There were happy moments, but those moments were a little before he started having panic attacks. He could still remember them clearly.
Mom chasing him around with a dinosaur toy laughing because he was afraid.
Dad showing him his work and grinning whenever he sounded the least bit interested.
Mom and dad at the dinner table playfully arguing about if the sauce was made out of an apple or not.
Those were the best times.
"Welp, I think we're done over here!" Uncle John slid out and stood up, "This here old car really needs to get a new engine or something. It's been years since the last time it was checked by the proper guy." he slid out his gloves and patted Sheldon on the back, to which he responded with a painful grunt, and said, "Thanks for cleaning up the car for me, boy, go and get a cookie from Auntie Josie. You deserve it."
"Okay." Sheldon nodded and headed inside of the house where he found Josie baking some cookies upstairs. "Hello."
She turned and gave him a big smile "Hey there! How's the old gal doing?" right next to her was a bowl filled with the delicious sweets.
"Uncle John said she's doing fine." he continued to stare at the bowl, wondering if he should get some or not. He didn't really like sweets in particular, but for some reason, those cookies were looking very delicious.
Josie smirked and rested her hand on her hip, "You want some?"
"Yes please," Sheldon said out of reflex. He wasn't supposed to say that, darn it. Oh well, at least he said please.
She laughed and threw him a cookie, "Here you go then!"
Sheldon clumsily caught the cookie and sighed in relief when it didn't drop onto the floor, "Thank you, Auntie." after that, he walked into his room.
Once again, he sat down on his bed and opened his laptop, trying to see if there was anything he can do with the limited internet he had right now. Looking out the window, it was still pretty sunny. Still no sign of rain.
Going online, Sheldon wanted to see the next episodes to the series that he was just starting to get into. He searched out the episode and pressed enter... but what he got was a loading screen.
"Why!" he yelled and shut his laptop off. He lied down and made a grouchy face. Well, it could be worse. He could have no bed and no home. Maybe having no internet was a good change for once, this would give him the time to actually think about his life.
No, that's not something that he would enjoy doing.
Maybe a nap was in store. He gobbled up the rest of the cookie and sighed, he had spent the afternoon helping out Uncle John, and so he deserved this nap.
Scrolling down his phone, Sheldon was looking for some music that would help him go to sleep. He was looking for a certain lullaby, but he came across a particular soundtrack called "A Rain's Melody". He paused and stared at it.
He remembered he got it after one night where he wasn't able to sleep, he listened to this once and fell into a world of sweet dreams right after. It wasn't often that happened due to the fact he rarely ever dreamed.
Sheldon tapped on the song and resumed his lying position.
Was he adjusting well to his new life here in the country? It was better than the city, that's for sure... but he still wouldn't know how well it really is until he started going to school.
Ah, he really didn't want to go to school.
With the sound of rain coming from his earphones, Sheldon closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. Feeling somehow soft... and light.
The Rain had always calmed him.
"Why does the sky cry, momma?" asked a little Sheldon whose hands were placed on the cold surface of their window.
"It's because the water in the clouds are already too heavy that they need to come back down." replied his mother who was holding him on her lap, making sure he wouldn't tip off and bumped his head against the glass's surface. "Do you like the rain, Sheldon?"
Sheldon nodded and tapped his hands on the glass, trying to get one dewdrop to start racing downwards. "I don't want the sky to be sad... but, Momma, I think that rain is happy. I like happy rain."
His mother laughed, "That's a sweet thought."
ns 15.158.61.42da2
