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Soon, her energy started to drain her. She stopped, staring down at the hole she had dug into the Earth. Had she gone mad?

She could hear buzzing noises back and forth. Perhaps she might get struck by lightning.

She has been getting little to no sleep lately her mind could never sleep. Yet there was nothing to think about, but she simply lay there, trying to dream. She never could.

Alyssa had been busier than usual, attending many balls without her. She missed her, but there was nothing she could do about it. Duty comes first.

As the rain tried to bury Selina in the train tracks, she looked up at the sky hopelessly.

Her schoolwork was spiraling, and she felt as though there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she could do about Jim either. He would just hate her for all of eternity.

It was hard for her to figure out if she was crying due to the intense battering of the rain, but as she hunched down, staring at the mess she had made, she could hear her sobs over the thunderstorm.

A crunch.

She looked around once more. There seemed to be nothing around her, simply a wave of trees dancing in the rain.

Selina finally decided she had to continue her path home. She quickly got up, wanting to dismiss the mess she had made. She strutted towards her bicycle, the wind whipping her clothes. She grabbed her bicycle, cleaning off the mud on her seat now. The rain quickly washed her hands as she hurried to adjust herself.

As she slowly walked with her bike across the tracks, she saw it.

A rose.

She dropped her bike. The rose grew near the mess she had discarded. How could she have not seen this?

It was so clear. Had she lost her mind?

Stuck in the furry of the storm, Selina did not mind. She almost raced towards the flower, tripping once over the tracks. But she pursued.

The rose was next to the messy hole she had dug, quickly filling with rainwater. It fought against the rain and the wind, holding its ground. Selina crouched in awe, wondering how the elements had not taken away the small bush of a rose.

She continued to hear a buzzing sound in her skull. It had intensified since her first encounter with the sound. It seemed much louder away from her bicycle and closer to the rose. The resilient rose.

"What is wrong with you?" Selina whispered, puzzled as to why she was talking to a plant that should have been dead long ago.

More buzzing. Surely, she was about to be struck by lightning: this was no good.She felt the petals of the flower, soft as a feather. She lightly brushed the thorns on the stem, feeling the sharpness barely bite her fingers.

More buzzing.

The rose stood so pretty from its bush, embracing the rain dance. It seemed to sing along as well. She couldn't help but smile. She almost wanted to pluck the rose for how pretty it was. But then, she would no longer be in awe of it. It would simply just be a rose at that point. A rose in her hair.

Her headache from a few days ago seemed to kick back in, as intense as last time. Bad night's rest?

Or intuition?

Selina held her head in her hands, trying to cope with the drumming in her skull. She realized staying in the rain for this long had finally taken a toll on her physical health. Would she be able to reach home now?

Biking was her only option, as walking home would only prolong the fury of the storm against her.

She got up, eyes still glued to the rose. She tied up her hair, gaining more vision around herself. She wiped away the rain from her eyes and scrunched her hair. Of course, the beating of the rain bombarded her again. She started to walk backward, almost like the plant would start chasing after him at any moment.

She could feel the track making noises. She was about to be struck.

She started jogging backward before realizing there was no use. She turned around and put the rest of her energy into a sprint to her bicycle.

Maybe it was too late for her.

As she got to her muddy and wet bicycle, she lifted it off the ground. But just as she did, she looked at the rose but realized something more fatal. A bright light blinded her, hearing finally, and came back to her senses.

A train was fast approaching her.

Her mind had been too focused on the dance of the rain, tuning in only the rain and not the buzzing noises. Something was terribly wrong, and she turned to her bicycle, wondering if she should save it. Suddenly, she hit the ground with a terrible jolt.

The last second before her fall, she heard her hearing finally come back to her in full force: the horns of a train. It didn't seem to be a big one, but regardless, it held a furry. Almost against her.

As she felt her ears filling up with rain water, she heard a disfigured, muffled voice. She tried to lift her head, but the pain in her head was too much. On one side of her head, she could feel something almost like needles piercing through the side of her head. A few had well damaged her ear on that side of her face.

Selina tried with all her might to use her arms, which seemed to be in a better condition than her head. As she pushed herself up, groaning in pain, she sat up with her eyes still closed. She could still hear the beating of the rain against the crown of her head. She felt a rush in her head, and she felt her consciousness slip away.

This time, she woke up with her eyes first, observing her surroundings. She saw leaves and a big trunk soaked down with water. She shifted her eyes to meet Jim. He let out a sigh.