New York Rain

Well, here she was, living out the dream of a fictional character in a movie. She was living in a warm place, by the Pacific, which took away all memories.

“It really is as blue as I think you imagined it to be, Andy,” she whispered, imagining that she was talking to this fictional person. “And I can feel my memories slipping away, pulled further and further with every wave that rolls back into the ocean.”

The sun had almost sunk behind the horizon now, and the first stars of the evening were lighting up in the sky. Jade stood up, brushing the beach sand off of her dark legs as she prepared to make her way back home.

It was then that her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her handbag, glancing at the screen to see who had just messaged her.

That was odd; the message was from Maeve, a high-school friend in Missouri who she spoke to once every few months just to catch up. Maeve had been far better friends with Jenny than her, so Jade wondered why she was messaging her. She opened the message to read it.

“Hey Jade! CRAZY news, girl! Jenny's gone and got her ass ARRESTED! It's all over news and social media!”

Jade was shocked to hear this.

“What?!” she texted back. “That's insane! What happened?!”

“She got busted for stealing a diamond ring from some rich white dude in New York. Investigators got hold of her phone, and someone in the police leaked a list of all her incriminating texts online. It's everywhere girl, everywhere! Facebook, you'll see what I mean.”

Jade logged on to Facebook to see if the rumors were true. Sure enough, people were sharing the story left, right and center. However, it was the headline of the news story that really caught Jade's eye:

'RICH WHITE CHUMP IN A MASERATI' TAKES HIS WOULD-BE ROBBER TO THE CLEANERS BEFORE HE GETS CLEANED OUT HIMSELF!

Rich white chump in a Maserati.

That was the phrase that Brenton had read, in the text that Jenny had sent Jade. Those were the words he had thought Jade was using to describe him. Those were the words that had destroyed their relationship.

And here those awful words are again, splashed out for millions to see all over Facebook.

Jade shook her head and sighed. She felt sorry for Jenny, although she couldn't say that she was surprised that this had happened.

Those words, Jenny – they destroyed my life. And now they've ruined your own life too.

She felt bad for her old friend, but really there was nothing that she could do. And, she thought sadly, Jenny was most likely guilty of the crime she had been accused of.

As the night began to settle in, Jade started the long walk back to her car. She heard something loud approaching in the distance – something deep and pulsing, not the usual hum of traffic. She looked up to the sky, and saw a bright light stabbing through the low haze of Los Angeles city; a helicopter was flying this way.

“That's weird,” said Jade to herself as she strolled slowly along the beach. “I wonder if that's a TV crew flying out here now? I wonder why, nothing newsworthy has happened out here at the beach.”

The helicopter was flying lower, and was now speeding closer and closer, the sound of its whirring blades thrumming with bassy fury through the evening air. The chopper switched on its searchlight, roving its light across the beach.

“What the hell is going on here?!” exclaimed Jade. It seemed now as if the chopper was coming straight for her, and she was starting to feel worried, and more than a little bit alarmed.

The spotlight focused its glare on her – her exactly – and the chopper hovered above the beach, lowering from its height in the sky and preparing to land, kicking up a little tornado of beach sand as it came closer to the ground.

As it got lower, the wind from its propeller blades began to buffet Jade, rippling her summer dress and blowing sand into her face. She raised an arm to shield her face from both the roaring air currents and the blowing sand as the helicopter landed on the beach. A figure jumped out of the helicopter as it touched down on the beach sand, and it started to run towards her. She couldn't make out any details of who it was; the bright light from the chopper's searchlight reduced the figure to a mere silhouette.

But it was then, over the bassy thundering of the helicopter's whirling blades, that a familiar voice called out her name.