It was raining the day Mom died. Ariel woke up to the sound of rain droplets hitting her window, the comfortable feeling of the rain on the leaves evoked in her body, and the sweet smell of sand mixed with rain.

It was the next morning after the day she had sent Dylan to go get her mother. For some reason, he has not given her a response since yesterday but she was not worried. She knew Dylan was capable of protecting himself and her mother.

It was strange, however, rain falling in the middle of summer. Ariel had never been a fan of weather predictions, yet we can all...