The Endless Rain

I was walking the short distance home from the bus stop when I started to feel a couple of rain drops on my arm. It was midway through the summer; the weather forecast did not forecast any rain. I looked up at the sky and saw a dark grey cloud looming in the distance with light grey tendrils creeping out through the sky. It was an interesting shape and thought it would be a cool design. I snapped a photo on my phone, and continued on my way, only a block more until I reached my destination. In the few short minutes as I was entering my house, the few droplets had already turned into drizzle.

I called out my entry to notify my husband, removing my shoes and dropping my bags. We both came into the living room at the same time and exchanged our greetings. He looked me up and down, tilted his head in confusion, “Is it raining?”

“Yes.”

“It said it’s supposed to be sunny and warm today.”

“I was surprised to, but you know the weather forecast.”

“It’s never right, right.”

“It looked like it’s going to be a pretty harsh storm, check out this cloud.”

“That’s a crazy cloud; it looks like an octopus spreading out it’s tentacles.”

“Haha, it does! Well, hopefully we get a nice thunderstorm, maybe we should order in.”

“Pizza or Chinese?”

By the time the pizza had been delivered, the rain had begun to come down more steadily. We set the table, we sat down to eat, and as we cheer our drinks – the thunder came in a loud boom. We laughed at the obvious start of the storm, but I must have looked a little nervous. He reached his hand across the table, “Is everything alright?”

“It’s just a really sudden thunderstorm, especially since it wasn’t forecasted. What if it’s worse than a normal rainstorm?”

“Well, I have flashlights, you have candles”

“We have a lot of snacks, and many blankets.”

“Even if the power goes out, we can find things to do to pass the time.”

“You’re always thinking about one thing, huh?”

“Board games and card games?”

“Haha. The cloud and the suddenness are just a little odd, don’t you think?”

It was odd, the cloud, the storm, and the suddenness. We certainly did not expect it. When my husband and I checked our phones later in the evening, we saw the strange updates online and across the world. There were rainstorms world-wide. Not a single place in the world had a clear sky, and like me, there were multiple sightings of a large dark cloud that was spreading through the sky shortly before the rain started. The amount of rain was the same, it was the same amount of precipitation, and it was the same amount of force, the thunder would boom across the world at the exact same time. There was no clear reason for the synchronous storm, just that it was happening and that we didn’t know what would happen next.

The next day, the rain had kept up at the same amount consistently. The measurements gathered worldwide starting at 15mm. Worldwide, 15mm. This was a moderate amount of rain in Quebec, where I lived. It was enough to cause flash flooding in the middle of the continent, drier countries in Africa, and in Central Europe. Some places were prepared for this level of rain, some places weren’t. The rain continued.

In the next week, the rain increased to 25mm per day. There were many floods, many evacuations, and quite a bit of damage to some of the infrastructure. This was only affecting the areas that were not prepared for the massive amount of rain that was flowing down on us. No one could blame the countries infrastructure for not being prepared. The storm still was not appearing on any of the weather forecasts; the meteorologists were confounded by the inability to see the storm in their reports. Since no one could see what the storm would look like, there was no way to warn anyone or prepare any place for the amount of rain that was coming down.

The week after, the rain slowed back down to a drizzle, but persisted, nonetheless. There were still rain droplets falling steadily, but many people took this as a sign. Our politicians came out and explained that the rain would end soon, they said they will start working on better emergency preparations in case this ever happens again. I didn’t believe it was over. There was still the rain. If it were to be done, it would be done. I convinced my husband that we needed to make better fortifications, and we worked on them the entire week.

We set up barrels to catch the rainfall; the clean water was sold out of the stores anyways. We took the time to clean the attic, and ensure there was no leaks, no exposed dangerous materials, we made sure that the attic was accessible at all times. We bonded over our mutual neurotic preparation habits when we first started dating. This was just proof that we both took that seriously. We moved our preparations up to the attics - canned goods, a battery-powered stove top, a pot to boil our water, and a series of books and games that could keep us occupied, things we would need to survive, and a variety of other daily life things that weren’t necessary but would be nice to have.

It was the right thing to do. It was the only way to survive. I understood that people wanted to have this endless rain be done, I did too. That endless rain was endless though. At the end of the weeklong break with just drizzles, the real rainstorm came gushing in.  There was no build up like last time. Worldwide, the drizzle became a downpour at 00h00 GMT. The measurements turned from 25mm at the worst to 75mm at the lightest. The temperature globally stayed the average temperature that would help the rainfall. This went on for 3 years. Every single country, every single region, every single biome. None of them were prepared to help their people during the storm. Lives were being lost, at the thousands, then the tens of thousands, then the hundreds of thousands.

The communications globally were lost as many of the towers were destroyed in the floods. The stormwater overwhelmed the sewer systems, releasing contaminated water into the drinking water. Only the people who had access to clean water, whether they bought it or had a system, were able to stay healthy.  The floods damaged crops, damaged the soil, damaged the future. The roads became unusable, the skies became dangerous, the generated power was lost. As the people realized there was no one coming to help them, the world became chaotic. The world became about survival; the world began to lose their humanity.

Every four weeks, 28 days like clockwork, the storm would subside to just a drizzle. The drizzle would last exactly one week. The water would flow to the ocean; it was possible to explore out into the world. That one week was the only time to repair, to build, and to prepare for the next bout of rain. My husband and I made our camp in our attic, the main floor became a point for irrigation, giving us a few reoccurring plants. We figured out how to make wind powered generators, which we would charge our batteries with. We gave up on our phones being any kind of aid, and we spent our days together. Our preparations helped us to survive, and each other’s company helped us to stay alive. We couldn’t save the others, we knew the desperation to survive would put us at risk. We weren’t ready to run a colony; we were only capable of saving ourselves. My husband would hold me and whisper pleasantries to me when the loss would feel too strong, and I would hold him when the pressure of survival would weigh him down.

One morning, 3 years after rain started, I was laying in bed with my husband. We were having a moment, lazily daydreaming with each other about where we might be if the rain had never come. It’s when I noticed it, “Do you hear that?”

“No, what is it?”

“That’s what I mean. Where is the rain?”

“Where is the rain? Shush for a moment, I need to be sure.”

Nothing.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing!”

“Do you think it’s done?”

“The rain has never stopped before this.”

“The rain has only every gone down to a drizzle.”

“Is this what I think it means?”

“Let’s check outside.”

The world was shining bright, the sun reflecting off the not dried droplets. There are puddles, and ponds, and lakes, made up from the endless rain; their surfaces are still, no loose raindrops, expect those that fall from any tree that has survived the world’s catastrophe. There is a clear sky, there are no clouds, there is only a fresh breeze. The temperature seems as if it is picking up from before the clouds, sunny and warm.

My husband and I hold hands, look each other in the eye, and understand that the endless rain has ended. From our vantage point, we can see one or two people standing on their roof, a few blocks away. We know there will be work to do, and that the world will never return to what we knew. We know we survived. We know we can continue to live. We get to be the next steps.