Congratulations to New Voices author, EC Belli for her wonderful flash fiction story, “Outside The Window, The Savage Rain.” We were taken with the mysterious notion behind the veil of this story. It’s one of those pieces you simply can’t forget. Enjoy!
The first meeting they discussed the schedule.
Once a week wouldn’t work.
Anything could happen in between, and they had material to cover.
Someone in the back, I think it was Vida, suggested three meetings a week. But there were other obligations. They had to see everyone beforehand; they couldn’t just disappear for hours on end like that. And the lawyers had questions. They asked questions like they expected you to know the answers. Weren’t they getting paid to give answers? Fuck. How about meetings at night, when the others would be sleeping? In the middle of the fucking night? I’m done with this charade, Dave said. Maybe you should fuck someone, Tess said. Maybe you should just go fuck yourself, Paul said, barking like a dog when you break them.
Someone chuckled in the back. That was pretty funny, a voice that was porous and thin said. Enough with the cursing, Jesus, another voice that was unrecognizable, unaffected, common said. You just can’t wait, can you? was tossed across the room like a plate thrown at a lover, obliquely, obscurely, by someone as cold as a sidewalk at four in the morning. You’ve been waiting for this your whole fucking life, haven’t you? Well, yes, I suppose I have. Someone chuckled again. I think at night sounds best, Colleen said. It’s fair to them. Colleen, at sixteen, commanded a certain respect from the group. So it was. Twice a week from that day on.
Nobody expected anything from them.
So they would expect things from each other.
The second meeting they practiced breathing in the darkness.
Dave didn’t come.
Read the rest of this story, here.