The tap dancing droplets glided along the shimmering glass. As much as he hated being out in terrible weather, Andrew just had to get out of his house. He could no longer bear the constant anguish he faced in his own home. He tried to fight it off, but the heavy feelings continued to weigh him down. With nowhere to go at one o’clock, Andrew hopped into his car and sped off into the night. His tires screeched as they fought to grip the flooded pavement.

He flipped off his radio. There was no point in having it on; the pouring rain muted everything out, even his thoughts.

Suddenly, he stopped driving. He jerked his car off the main rode. A variety of misplaced rocks ground together as the wheels of his SUV crushed the rocks below him. He allowed his car to slow, eventually coming to a squealing stop.

There he sat. Underneath of a lamppost in the abandoned parking lot he and his daughter used to play at. Linda, Andrew’s wife, never forgave him for Suzie’s death. It was his fault that Suzie was left alone on that summer’s day. Even after all these years Andrew didn’t have the heart to tell his estranged wife that she was the one who left the pool gate open after she passed out on the lounge chair after her third glass of wine. How was Andrew, who was upstairs changing out of his work clothes, to have know Suzie opened the sliding glass door and ran outside when he last left her watching Teletubbies in her playroom?

Andrew’s thoughts returned as the gushing rain slowed to a soothing drip. By the singular lamppost’s light, Andrew pulled something from the passenger’s seat. He tilted his seat back and reveled in the soft tapping on his windshield. For the first time in years, he finally felt at peace.