Rainxfalls

She woke with a jolt. The car horns blaring down on the street startled her out of sleep and into the stark reality that awaited her. Main Street was busy this time of morning; everyone headed to work. She lifted herself slowly onto one elbow, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and nearly falling off the couch as she struggled to sit up. She hadn't meant to fall asleep. Noise from the street below their second story apartment was unrelenting as it rushed into the room. Both of the apartment's windows had been left open, and a cool breeze made her shiver and pull the ratty, old blanket closer around her. The room was drafty, and the windows did

I lay there in his arms, the last day we'd be free together, thinking to myself that tomorrow my world would end. I'd be here; left alone with my mother and Lio, and Joey would be gone, vanished overnight. I buried my face in his chest as tears flowed to my eyes. "Don't think about tomorrow, mio amore," he whispered into my hair, "I'm here with you now." "Was it worth it?" I asked a minute later between sobs, my voice shaky and muffled from my stuffed up nose. He stroked my hair as he thought. "Yes," he said at last, with an unmatched sureness in his voice,"yeah, it was very worth it." I held him tighter. We watched the sun go down this w