The Purpose
‘That’s it, I can’t take it any more. I need to get out of this room. I’m going for a walk’. I threw my book down. It was boring anyway. The kind you have to force yourself to get through in case the ending surprises you, but you know it won’t.
‘If you’re thinking of going outside I insist you don’t, you’re going to catch a cold in the rain’. He didn’t look up from his book until he heard me stomp my feet into my combat boots and head towards the door.
‘How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not fragile. I won’t melt in the rain.’ I opened the door and didn’t bother to close it behind me on my way out.
I heard Loki curse behind me before he conjured outerwear for himself and hurried to catch up with me.
‘I would be rather appreciative if you wouldn’t drag us out there. Like I said, we can find many interesting ways to pass the time.’
‘I didn’t force you to follow me.’ I threw the motel lobby doors open; Loki hesitated, but ultimately continued walking.
‘At least use an umbrella’ he said as he conjured one up and held it above my head. I flicked my fingers and with my magic it flew off into the nearby ditch.
He conjured another one.
‘An umbrella defeats the purpose of walking in the rain’ I held my head back and closed my eyes. I flicked the umbrella out of the way again, letting the rain fall onto my face.
‘And what exactly is the purpose of this?’ I tilted my head to look at him. He had conjured another umbrella, but held this one above himself. He was annoyed, with his eyebrows scrunched together.
It was kind of adorable.
In an infuriating way.
I huffed and turned away from him again. ‘I was suffocating in there. I needed air. I am fifteen hundred miles from my own bed in what seems to be the smallest, most boring town in the entire country for the foreseeable future and the only book I brought is shit because I was not planning on this taking longer than a day. That’s the purpose of this. To just stop thinking of everything else and just feel some rain on my face.’ I noticed that Loki stopped walking a few feet behind me. I also noticed that I was raising my voice slightly. Not in an angry way, just in the way that when all the words spill out of your mouth in a rush with such importance they can’t help but seem a little loud.
I turned back to look at him. He was annoyed, entertained, and slightly uncomfortable with his shoulders hunched to his ears and his hands in his coat pockets. I noticed that he ditched whatever magical umbrella he was holding to keep himself out of the rain.
We stood like that for a few minutes, staring at each other. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, the sound of thunder followed.
‘Are you done with the rain yet?’ Loki broke the silence.
‘Absolutely not. I’m waiting.’
‘Waiting?’ I realized we looked ridiculous to the singular farm truck that drove by us, and that we had to slightly shout at each other over the rain and distance.
‘Waiting for something to happen’. I tucked my hands into my jacket pockets.
‘Something?’ Him echoing my words was starting to annoy me. ‘Something like what?’
‘I don’t know what, that’s why I just said I’m waiting.’
Confusion and annoyance spread further across his face and I rolled my eyes. I didn’t want him following me in the first place. I turned back around and took in where we were. There wasn’t much to see, just a lot of corn. We were near a corn field.
On the other side of the road there was grass, so I headed in that direction.
I didn’t know if Loki was following me anymore and I didn’t care. I made it across the street, found grass that had been flattened down by the rain, and flattened myself down with it.
I closed my eyes, limbs spread out. I felt exposed for the third time within twenty four hours.
The earth seemed to curve with my back, and the breeze matched my breathing. I took it all in. The rain was falling harder now, stinging my face. My brain was un-clouding from the mess that had been the past day and a half of my life.
I don't know how long I was laying there until I felt a rustle beside me. I open my eyes and turned my face to the left, only for my nose to meet Loki’s nose. My breath hitched at the sudden closeness. I looked to his eyes, and I saw a softness mixed with that same old something else that I just couldn’t figure out.
‘I think I get it now. The purpose.’ He said.