When It Rains: The Umbrella Collection by Prudence Hayes

moved into the same River Road house that he lived in with his parents before his imprisonment.  The house sits within the same town that I live.  He goes to the same stores as me, enters the same movies, walks the same streets and breathes the same air.  I have a habit of searching every car and every face I come in contact with to see if it is him.  My fear is that one day I will come in contact with him and I don’t know how I would react.  Will I confront him with full fury?  Will I break down and cry?  Will I grab the sharpest thing near me and attack?  He, also, lost his license for six years, probation for ten and had to do 75 speeches to schools about the dangers drinking and driving.  My parents can’t breathe anymore.  Not exactly justice.
     
     
     
     
     
    5
    The Rose Garden
     
     
        I can hardly breathe!  I have to calm down. If I keep breathing this heavy there will be no air left.  Where am I with all this dirt around me?  Am I buried alive?  What is happening?  Oh my God.  I can’t breathe!  I can’t swallow! What is that beeping?
    I awoke and flung myself half off my bed making the pillow that laid on top of my face fly across the room.  I took notice of the that was wrapped around my neck .  No wonder I couldn’t breathe , I thought to myself as I untangled that one and the ones tying my legs together.  My heart was pounding and I was trying to catch my breath when I heard a beep indicating that my phone had a voicemail.  I must have had a restless night’s sleep.
    “Get up you worthless piece of shit. You should have just died like you were about to in your dreams,” the voice called out.
    I got up to check my phone that was in a pair of jeans that I threw off last night, forgetting to take it out, I noticed that I had several text messages from Skylar and shockingly, Lauren, along with a few new voicemails.   I decided to check them first.
    The first one was from Skylar, “Hey, it’s me.   Give me a call as soon as you get this.” I erased that message and went to the next one, “Hey, it’s me again.  Just trying to get a hold of you because I have to tell you something.”  As I pulled the phone away from my ear to erase that one I wondered what was so important.
    I moved on to the next one.   This time it was Lauren, “I can explain. Please call me back. Bye.” And another, “I’m so sorry. Please let me explain.”
    The final one was from Skylar again, “Me, again.   I’m coming over.”  I looked at the time of that call and it was five minutes ago, so I called her back.
      “I’m right down the street.  I’m going to stop by,” she said as she answered on the first ring.
    “What’s going on?”
    “I’ll be there in a second,” and she hung up.  I was swimming in bewilderment, wondering what it was that she needed to talk to me about and what Lauren needs to explain and apologize for. 
    Before I responded to Lauren, I decided to talk to Skylar first.   I had a funny feeling they were related somehow and I headed downstairs to get a cup of coffee as I waited for her to show up.  I had my mug in my hand when she let herself into the front door and yelled for me.
    “I’m in the kitchen,” I replied.
    She walked in and she had a look to her face that only suggested that she was pissed off about something.  Her lips were smushed together making them barely visible.  She threw her keys down on the counter by the phone and jumped up to sit on the counter, “Listen, we need to talk.”
    “Obviously.   I’m assuming that it has something to do with Lauren.”
    “Yeah, and you can add Adam to the list.”
    “What do you mean?”  I said, slowly pulling the coffee mug from my lips and placed it down on the counter.
    “So, there are reasons why we can’t get a hold of Lauren and you can’t get a hold of Adam.”
    “Spit it out!” I said and she cowardly looked in my direction; it looked like she was struggling to put what she