Back into the storm

The bug-eyed red convertible sat on the curb's edge, its high beams shooting off into the darkness, trailing behind the blue shadow.

The rain flicked off Mitsuko's broad shoulders. Unperturbed by the growing downpour, he stood, leaning on the car's open door. The wind ruffled his shirt as he directed his gaze past the fading beams clipping the closed stores.

Mitsuko moved away from the car, the door lightly shaking in the wind.

The once-dry, loose-fitting buttoned-up shirt was now clinging to Mitsuko's skin, sapping the warmth from his body as the rain washed over him.

Maria: 'Confused.' What are you doing? (Leaning across the black leather clutch.) Mitsu, get back in here before you catch a cold! 

Maria's soft white hand lay on the still warm seat in which Mitsuko had just sat, supporting her leaning body. A sensation fell on her bare knuckles: it was damp coming from outside, and the cold gust was whipping around in the car's interior, growing with every passing second. Maria was no longer shielded by the door or Mitsuko's body.

Maria:  'Annoyed.' What's he doing? (Under her breath.) He could have at least taken his coat.

Concerned eyes turned from the still-open door, ignoring the storm beyond the bleeding of the interior light casting outside; now they were looking through the speckled-covered windshield.

Mitsuko walked in front of the small red car, hastily passing through the streaks of light from the LED high beams, his shadow dissolving into the night.

A call rang out.

Mitsuko: 'Shouting.' AKIO! (Voice echoing.) AKIOOO!

Maria heard the shouts. She immediately lifted her hand from the still-warm seat and began to move to the still-open door's handle. The soft clunk of the latch silenced the bellows of wind and unwanted damp that were whipping in.

Maria: 'Sighing.' Mitsuko, you idiot! (Looking around.) Where did I put it?

The sound of bags and coats rustling in the car's small interior couldn't drown out the constant taps of rain on the roof.

Up the street, away from the fading red car

Mitsuko: 'Shouting.' AKIO! (Hands cusped around his mouth.) 

Mitusko's voice grew, only to fade away as the person in front moved out of sight, almost dissolving in the slaps of rain and wind. A faded blue bur turned the corner ahead. Brown-tanned leather shoes pounded into the puddles that formed all around him, splashing and drenching his once-dry black pin-striped trousers.

Mitsuko: (Rushing forward.) Akio, wait! 'Shouting.'

The fading calls echoed down the street as Mitsuko's voice carried on the wind, only to fall on deaf ears. Dark brown eyes flicked to the right as Mitsuko's feet followed Akio's tracks. A veiny hand grabbed onto the lone pole. Keeping his momentum, Mitsuko slid on the pavement, scraping his heels into the ground as he swung around off of the pole, until he found himself facing a pitch-black, narrow path.

The fragmented moonlight grazed Akio's shoulders; at first glance, Mitsuko could barely make out Akio in the distance as the light fought through the thick canopy above.

Mitsuko: 'Muttering.' The kid can move! (Wiping his face with his soaked palm.)

Mitsuko's cheeks flinched from the rain dripping down from his brow and the gusts slapping across his face. The shifting trees danced in the wind along the long gulley ahead, and the loose needles of the conifers sprinkled down, mixing into the rain.

Mitsuko: 'Muttering.' Pieces of shit street lights never work when you want them to. (Wiping the conifer needles from his shoulder and neck.) 

Akio stopped in the middle of the gulley, roughly ten metres away. Mitsuko slowed, noticing the figure ahead coming to a halt.

Akio turned, neither looking back nor ahead, he was looking to its side at the concrete wall, away from Mitsuko.

Mitsuko: 'Jovial.' About time. 'Calling out.' Let's get out of the rain. (Reaching into his pocket.) We are both going to catch the death out here. 'Laughing.'

A blue cloth appeared. Mitsuko frantically wiped his face as he skirted under the towering trees on the left side of the narrow pass, trying to keep out of the unforgiving weather.

Behind a rusting chain-link fence, something watched as Mitsuko came into view. It began to growl, catching Mitsuko's attention.