Today marked the first day of autumn. The season had just begun, and already the days were cooler. The morning dew lingered longer. The daylight was shorter, and night came sooner.

The leaves on trees were still green, but not for much longer. Soon they would lose color, turning shades of brown and orange, grow brittle, and fall off. Leaving the branches barren, lifeless.

Soon, the world around me would begin to die.

…

As usual, I hadn’t spoken to anyone since then. Nothing had changed that day, as expected. I tried searching for that girl, to return the jacket, but among the thousands of students, I failed to find her.

It was as if she had been consumed by the endless sea of faces, like casting a pebble into a lake, never to be found again.

Strangely, though perhaps reasonably, it seemed no one even remembered I had passed out. It wasn’t like I ever stood out much, even after the scene I must have caused. At the end of the day, I too was just another face in this sea.

Which made me wonder, that conversation, did she even remember it?

To me, it meant so much, just to be able to talk to someone. Yet to her, it must have been just another interaction. That, too, was only reasonable.

I was the lonely one after all.

Realizing that… it made me feel pathetic.

…

I searched once more.

Today was the last day, I had told myself, that I would try to find her. After that, I would give up. It was just a jacket, after all. Had she really wanted it back, she would have looked for me.

I slipped out during PE and went to walk around the area. Based off the design, the jacket was most likely gym related. Perhaps not Physical Education, as our uniforms were much different, but it could always be from athletics or strong body – two of the other choices one could pick as a gym class.

That said, I hadn’t seen anyone else wearing this kind of jacket, even among those in the other gym classes.

It was possible that this jacket wasn’t part of a uniform, but rather a special jacket made for a single person. If that was the case, tracking down the owner became that much more impossible. Not to mention, it made it less reasonable that she would have just left something like this with me.

But, at the same time, if that was the case, that was a clue towards finding the owner. Of course, that would mean I’d have to ask around if anyone knew or had seen someone with this sort of jacket. And… that was something I was incapable of doing.

I was far too shy to be able to do something like that.

“It’s impossible,” I sighed, “It’s best to just give up.”

…

In the end, I failed once more to find the owner. I knew her face and I knew she had a gym class at this time – how else would she have been around to help tend to me when I passed out. And even with that information, I still couldn’t find her.

Instead, I found myself, somehow, wandering to the far end of the campus, where the open field ended at a cliff. There was a simple wooden fence to guard the edge, at stomach height, meant to protect people from falling off.

It was a stylish fence, pleasant to the eyes and tying in well with the overall design of the school; but as a guardrail, it was hardly practical.

I placed my hands on the fence and lightly shook it. It seemed sturdy and, being the prestigious campus it was, it obviously complied with the safe codes of the city. Even so, I just couldn’t bring myself to trust it.

Perhaps, rather than the fence itself, that was a result of years of coming across safe-looking wooden structures while exploring back home, only for them to crumble at a touch. Like some sort of hidden trauma that made me subconsciously distrust wooden fences.

I peered off the edge.

It dropped off some 20 odd feet. While mostly slanted irregularly, a good 10 of those feet were a straight ninety degrees angle. That alone wouldn’t have been too bad, but what really made this cliff so dangerous were the sharp rocks scattered at the base of the cliff. It went without saying, a fall from here would be fatal.

Just beyond the cliff, and past the rocks, the city skyline unfolded before me. Countless residential houses that slowly transformed into sky-bound buildings. Clouds casted over the buildings, stretching out across the entire sky. They seemed to slowly be enveloping the city, like a blanket of thick, dark wool.

Suddenly, a strong gust pushed against me, sending me stepping back. My hair blew about wildly, as the strong wind, as well as the strands of hair that blew into my face, made it hard to see. I raised my arm over my eyes to block the wind, as I turned my face away.

As I did, my eyes were met with an unexpected sight.

There was someone standing behind me, just a few feet away. A girl, with long black hair that danced chaotically in the wind. She had narrow, reddish-amber eyes and a straight face, that seemed unfazed by the gust. She was wearing a fall gym uniform, with a track jacket tied around her waist. The sleeves and loose ends of the jacket floated in the air, as the wind lifted them up.

She had a strong presence, which stood out even against the landscape of the area. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that the scenery, the gust of wind, and the way her hair and jacket danced in it, all existed only to complement her.

This moment, now, in time. This strange, fairytale-like moment. This unusual string of events. Like a fated meeting orchestrated by a higher power in some grandiose story.

Captivated by this moment in time, all I could think was this sole word, as it escaped my lips in a single breathe.

“Beautiful.”

…

We sat at a wooden table, covered overhead by a canopy.

I was torn away from the moment abruptly as a shower of rain came pouring down. We both ran to this canopy close by to take shelter.

We had been fortunate enough to get a few seconds to run to cover before the rain began to come down hard. That said, the fact alone that we had gotten stuck out here in the rain was anything but fortunate, as neither of us was carrying an umbrella.

For now, we were safe and dry, but class would eventually end and we would have to walk back to the locker rooms. And judging from how hard it was raining, it didn’t seem like it would stop anytime soon.

I was turned facing away from her, as I looked out at the distant city, now engulfed in the rain.

It really had a way of changing the atmosphere, the rain that is.

When I remembered how the rain drenched the apartment buildings, making the already dark walls more opaque, and how the clouds concealed the sun, casting a grim darkness over the city, the rain felt almost ominous. Perhaps, even, melancholic or oppressive.

However, this time, it almost felt, somehow, different.

No, it truly was different.

Even as the rain roared, crashing against the grass as if it were asphalt, violently pounding the roof of the canopy. Even so, there was something oddly different about the rain this time. The way it flowed off the ends of the canopy, the serene sound it made as it passed through the trees, leaving behind beads of rain on the leaves.

“Beautiful,” she muttered, softly to herself. While her expression remained neutral, her eyes were transfixed on the rain, as if hypnotized by an enchantress.

“It’s the first of the season… the first shower of fall.”

Here, underneath a canopy, sitting next to a stranger, I shared this wonderful moment. Basked in it.

I could close my eyes and just listen… feel… letting my senses soak it in. A pure, unadulterated sensation. A raw sensation, that shook the core.

Without needing to talk. Without needing to say a word. Merely experiencing it. Together. Losing ourselves in it.

…

Eventually, the rain slowed down enough for us to make our trip back to the gym. By then class had long since ended. Captivated by the moment, we hadn’t even noticed.

As we walked back, with the sky still sprinkling down unevenly, we shared a few words. It wasn’t much, you could barely call it a conversation. As we slowly walked side by side, without even looking at one another.

“Your name?”

“Finn.”

“Marilyn.”

“You’re new, aren’t you?”

“Yea.”

“…”

“…”

“Hey… we should hang out again.”

“Yea?”

“Yea.”

For the first time, since running into her back at the cliff, she turned to look at me and our eyes made contact. Her amber eyes, with flecks of red and gold. Like staring into the gemstone itself. So narrow and cold, and yet so brilliant.

“Okay, cool. It’s a promise. Then… see ya’ around.”

Saying that, she turned around and ran on ahead, disappearing into the gymnasium. I stayed behind, without even having gotten to properly say bye.

Once more, a gust picked up. I shivered, as the wind blew against my wet cheeks. I let out an awkward breath, halfway between chuckling and exhaling…

And smiled.