[ WP ] `` It 's just the rain ''

The door is just there. Waiting. Beckoning. I can almost feel the freedom. Jane is ahead of me, her white dress crumpled with her sleeve torn off. I immediately think of the punishment Big Brother would give when he knew of her disorderliness. Then the memory of what happened 30 minutes earlier snapped up in my brain, and I try to suppress the memory of Big Brother's blood pooling on the floor. 
 
 `` Come on!'' Jane squeals. Her fingers reach the latch of the door and pries away the lock. I stop, feeling heavy all of a sudden. All of my life I was raised in this compound, never wondering what the Outside was. They showed us books, told us of grim tales and vile people lurking in the streets. They scared us with their stories. But Jane changed it all. 
 
 When she came here, everything changed. She told us stories filled with hope, happiness and most importantly - freedom. Big Brother knew of her stories, and wanted to punish her for her insolence. Why would he do that? Her stories were filled with wonderful things - never a bad guy in any of them. It gave me hope. When she told me of the door, it filled me with hope. Of freedom. 
 
 She opens the door. 
 
 The light was n't as bright as the compound's electric lights. It took me a while realizing it was n't a light, it was *the* light. I watch Jane stand outside and immediately get soaked in something. I scream at her to get in - the rush of water from the sky could drown her. But she only laughs at me. 
 
 `` Come on, Fernie. It's just rain!'' She laughs, howls with happiness. Her arms outstretched to the heavens, her feet in the mud. She is absolutely filthy now, but she looks the most happy I have ever seen her. 
 
 *It's just rain. * So this was the evil'water' that the compound taught us, the'water' that when touched by human skin, sizzles like acid. I take a tentative step forward, and stretch out my hand. The rain collects on my palm. I half expect my hand to disintegrate from the acid, but it leaves me feeling breathless and cold. 
 
 It was a feeling I had never felt before. It was n't long til I joined Jane, just us dancing in the rain. Dancing for our freedom. Dancing for what may lie ahead of us.
