He that Controls the Rain 
By R.W. Parker




Rain never fell on Rura-Kallan. The Sun shined bright and nothing more than a stiff wind ever blew. The city was ideal, but problematic as all ideals are. The people who lived in this small seaside town never wondered about the rain, or the sunshine, or the lack of seasons. They just went about their business certain that sometime the rain would fall again, after all the sun can’t always shine, and sometimes the wind blows fowl.

 It was the third day of the seventh month when they arrived. Three figures dressed in long silver cloaks each emblazed with a symbol, a sickle in a circle. They had come to many towns and too many people. Sometimes hiding in the shadows and sometimes,like today, walking in broad daylight. They had no name that the average person would know, they weren’t interested in average people.

There was one man who loved the town of Rura-Kallan. He loved the streets, he loved the buildings, he loved the trees, the grass and the air. He was the happiest man in town and everyone knew why. Because it was his town and though others may have enjoyed it from time-to-time he alone found limitless pleasure in it. He forged it with his will, he kept the rain clouds and stormy seas at bay. He kept away the cold air of winter or the swelter of summer. His name was Alexander Rura-Kallan and he loved his town, it was his own little slice of heaven.   

On the third day of the seventh month Alexander was basking in the shade of sycamore tree that sat on a hill overlooking the coast. He smiled to himself as he watched the gentle rolling waves crash against the shore. It had been ten years since he came to Rura-Kallan, in those ten years he had never once had a bad day, nor a sleepless night, nor a dreary afternoon. It was a far cry from how he found it, a dreary unhappy place, with rain storms and surging seas. It was called Laughton Square back then. Back then no one would of called this place anybody idea of paradise, no one would of thought twice about it. But Alexander saw it’s potential and with nary a word to anyone set about fixing it. Within a years time the town was a picturesque paradise and the people so grateful for what he had done for them renamed the town after him. It was all as it should be.

 Shops closed their doors, houses turned out their lights, and the streets were vacated long before the cloaked strangers even arrived. It has often been demonstrated that long standing contact with people or peoples working at higher levels of understanding can lead to an increase in even the most simple minded persons perception of alternate realities. Strangely a corollary can been seen where those who normally have a great deal of extra sensory awareness find themselves growing dull around those who lack it. This is perhaps to blame for Alexander’s slow reaction to the changing of events. For it wasn’t until he noticed the odd dark cloud creeping in overhead that he recognized something was amiss.

 In all his ten years there no clouds had ever came to Rura-Kallan, and now it seemed he lacked the ability to push it away. Something had to be working against, a will on par if not greater then his own. A wiser man would have retreated, waited, and watched. But sadly despite his talents Alexander had never faired well in the game of wisdom.

 He set out for the town certain something must be amiss, something he alone would be able to fix. There were three cloaked figures waiting for Alexander when he entered the town square. Though he had never seen their like before they still held an odd sort of Deja Vu. At first Alexander couldn’t think of anything to say to these new arrivals but when the dark cloud had began spray rain he finally spoke up.

“New to town?” He asked almost immediately feeling foolish for it.

“I mean to say, you don’t like you’re from around here. I mean I know most everyone in town and ain’t nobody got fancy overcoats like that.”

The figures did not so much as move, but somehow he knew they were watching him, assessing him. The rain continued to pour down and Alexander grew anxious.

“Hey uh how about we get out of this rain, I don’t want to catch a cold and I can’t imagine you could be comfortable in those things.”

Still no response, the rain increased it drops become loud and intense. Alexander found himself shivering in the cold rain and growing almost despondent over what was happening.

“Strange weather huh...I mean it almost never rains here in Rura-Kallan..”

The wind began howling now blowing the rain right into Alexander‘s face. He had his raise voice over the noise of it. 

“We should really get inside, this weather it’s...crazy”

Still no one moved and for the first time Alexander noticed that he himself felt somehow rooted to the ground.The rain just kept coming and wind blew even harder till Alexander helt like he would fall over. Scared and confused he lashed out.

“Now listen I don’t know what this is all about? But this is my place, my town, they even named it after me and...and well it ain’t supposed to raining today.”

When is it supposed to rain?

The voice came seemingly from nowhere, it wasn’t loud, but still perfectly audible over the rain, as if it weren’t a voice at all just some thought in Alexander’s head.

“I don’t... I don’t understand..”

Alexander’s mind was racing , where had that voice come from, why was it raining for the first time in ten years, why did he suddenly feel an intense pang of guilt and fear.

It has to rain sometimes, even in the desert and this is hardly a desert.

So why does is not rain here?

There were two voices now each distinct but yet both seeming to originate from within Alexander’s own mind. He wasn’t sure what was happening but he felt as though he was being interrogated.

“Well.. our town don’t need no rain... on account of the ocean, it fills the ground with water so the plants grow. So you see we don’t need no rain.”

He tried for a feeble smile but even he was unconvinced by the explanation.

Why does it not rain here?

The voice asked again and Alexander shivered at the sound. This wasn’t right, he hadn’t done anything wrong. He made the town better everyone thought so. Why were these guys picking on him, he didn’t do anything wrong. He wanted to give voice to these thoughts but something stopped him. Something kept the words trapped inside him.

You don’t like the rain do you Alexander?

This was a new voice, softer, kinder, almost feminine. It gave Alexander a surge of hope.

“I just think it’s dreary is all.”

You don’t like dreary things?

“Well no, no one does that’s why it’s better that it doesn’t rain.”

Better for whom?

This was the first voice again, the once Alexander liked the least.

“Better for everyone...I suppose”

So you speak for everyone.

The voices began to ring familiar to Alexander, this was the second one, not as nice as the third but better than the first.

“Well I mean everyone seemed happy with it, like I said they named the town after me”

Did they?

The first voice again.

Or did you make them?

“Make them? How could I make them?”

How did you make the rain go away?

“I didn’t! Who said that I did, I..I can’t do something like that.”

Can’t you?

He hadn’t realized it until now but the cloaked figures were surrounding him. He was terrified but stubborn still.

“I don’t know what your talking about, it just ain’t supposed to rain that’s all.”

It rains everywhere sometimes.

The second voice again.

“Not here, it don’t.”

And why not

“I don’t know it just doesn’t.”

Doesn’t that bother you?

“No...I... I don’t think about it.”

You don’t think it’s strange?

“I said I don’t think about it!”

But you notice it.

“Well...yeah so what?”

So how do you feel about it?

“I... I like it, the sunshines, the birds sings, everything is better when it doesn’t rain.”

So you don’t want it to rain?

“Of course not.”

Not ever?

“No not ever.”

So you would stop the rain if you could?

“I can’t, nobody can, that’s ridiculous!”

I can.

The third voice said and the rain stopped, and the clouds cleared and the sun shined down bright and happy. As if nothing had ever happened. However this brought no joy to Alexander. He stared up at the sky with a sense of mounting dread.

And I think you can to.

The third voice said all it’s earlier warmth seeming to melt away.

“This ain’t real... yall ain’t real... nobody can stop the rain... if the rain don’t come it just don’t come... nothing to be done about it.”

No one to blame.

“That’s right, no one to blame.”

The cloaked figure standing directly in front of Alexander pulled back their hood to reveal a black veil covering their face.

“But there is someone to blame.” The figure spoke using their own voice now, this was the first, the worst.The one whose words filled Alexander with the most dread.

“There are laws which no normal man can break, laws that order the very universe in which we live.”

“It’s just rain... I just don’t like rain...” Alexander started but trailed off. He could see just slightly threw the veil into the eyes of the stranger.

“These laws govern all things from the largest supernova to the smallest atom. They govern all that lives and all that doesn’t.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” Alexander looked around feebly hoping to find an advocate but none of the people who had so graciously renamed the town in his honor were around now. Even after all he had done, all that he had made right, they were just gonna leave him, abandon him.

“You seem upset Alexander?” The voice came from behind him, they had all pulled back their hoods now, and all were wearing the same black veils.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Alexander asserted trying to keep his voice from breaking.

“Then why do you feel so guilty?” The voice came from in front of him.

The rain began to fall again, but this time it was different. It wasn’t as harsh or as loud, just big thick droplets of water splashing down on the ground. Alexander’s tears mixed with the rain as he stared up into the clouds.

“I didn‘t do anything wrong,” He said again his voice broken and open sobbing.

“You stopped the rain from falling” The figure in front said, with the slight hint of disgust.

“Just for one town”

“One or a thousand the rules are the rules” The second voice said

“Why can’t I have it? Why can’t I have my own place, where everything’s nice? What’s wrong with that?” He asked to no one in particular.

“You have your own place,” The first voice said touching the top of Alexander’s head.

“In there you can create whatever world you choose, and populate it with whomever you see fit. But when that changes, when you try to impose your world onto our world. That’s when it becomes our problem.”

“Then what’s the point of it, the point of any of it? What’s the point of power if you can’t use it?” Alexander asked feeling slightly indignant.

“Oh you can use it, in fact you’ve used it well. But the problem is I can use it too.”

Alexander never felt it, he was never even sure of what it was exactly he only had a sense that everything was slipping away, his town his own little slice of heaven, all disappearing into the ever present dark.

 None of the townsfolk had bothered to inquire about their former master. In fact they never much spoke about the strange man who once lived there. They went back to calling the town Laughton Square.To them it was all like a dream, a strange summer that never seemed to end. Back when Laughton square was heaven for one.