The Rain on the Porch Roof

696 words.
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Peter stood at the door of his cabin listening to the sounds of the rain hitting the roof of the porch roof. A tear traced a track down his cheek. It had now been three years since Karen’s death. The guilt he felt tugged strongly at his heart. Though it had not actually been his fault that the accident happened he still blamed himself. They had needed some items from the grocery and she had asked him to go to the store to get them, but he was busy playing a game on the computer and asked her to go instead. It had rained that day too and Karen had always complained that she could drive well in the rain.

Later, the police had explained that she lost control of the car and run into the light post. Apparently, according to the reports, a witness had reported that an eighteen wheeler was making a turn in the intersection just as the rain started coming down even harder making visibility poor. The police had speculated that Karen had trouble seeing the truck until the last second and pulled on the car’s steering wheel to avoid the larger vehicle and ran straight into the tree.

After the funeral, Peter decided to sell the house they had just bought and used the proceedings and their savings to buy this cabin. It had been a lifesaver of sorts. Having a place to get away from everyone gave him a much-needed opportunity to heal slowly. He spent many days and nights exploring the surrounding area. Walking through the trees at night especially gave him solace. Just the simple act of chopping down a tree for some project he was working on gave him the comfort he would not have gotten elsewhere.

On the other hand, grief knows no time limit, and he would often stop in mid-swing of his ax and tears would stain his face as they tracked their way. In those times, he would just sit right where he was and cry. He would cry until there were no more tears, even though there continued to be pain.

During one of those times, Peter suddenly stood and ran as fast as he could through the forest. He ran so hard and so long that by the time he stopped he found himself several miles from his cabin. On that day, since the sun had gone down, he chose to make camp and spend the night in the forest instead of trying to get back to his cabin. That was the night he was able to focus on his feelings, grief, anger, and guilt. This gave him the opportunity for self-contemplation because he knew that he would eventually have to decide what to do with the rest of his life without Karen.

One of the results of that night was that Peter decided to buy a new pickup truck. He knew that the cabin was in much need of repair and improvement. One of the things he would need to accomplish that was to have the means of carrying lumber and other materials to the cabin. He knew that he could not change what had happened to Karen but he knew he could make changes to his present circumstances.

Peter worked tirelessly on each project he came up with. He put so much energy into each improvement, repair, and project. He had made a significant difference to the old cabin. He had bought it as is, and he had found that it did indeed lack luxuries and was in some disrepair, but he had now resolved all of that. The cabin was better as he was also now better. Each repair he had made had also seemed to make a repair in his heart. The cabin was fine now and Peter knew that he would be fine as well.

As the sun slowly slid over the side of the earth, Peter watched the yellow and orange hues, which had painted the sky, fade away just as he felt tensions fade away from him. He walked over to the cabin door and opened it and stood there listening to the rain.